Making Photographs vs. Taking photographs and Documenting Scenes

I find myself torn between these things all the time. For the first several years of my photography (for lack of a better word) involvement, I tended to document scenes and take photographs.

The difference between the three are simple enough, making photos consist of YOU deciding the exposure, aperture, lighting, etc. taking is simply letting the camera decide and documenting scenes is an extension of taking photos (usually), though if you know what you are doing you will be able to manipulate SOME controls and therefore end up somewhere in the middle of the road between making/taking.

At first, I started in Program Mode, you know the one where you get to remain an idiot and trust solely in the engineers of the day. It was an old Minolta Maxxum 7000.

I took that thing with me often all over Los Angeles and whenever I went north, back to Seattle.

Flying to Los Angeles from Seattle, 35mm

You see I can only imagine that documenting a scene such as what war photographers do in the middle of action is something akin to throwing your camera in program mode and holding it up from behind your protective piece of wall or tree or whatever and snapping a few shots before bringing it back, taking a deep breath, and acknowledging that you still have a hand and arm. I also imagine that if you can actually think in those situations that perhaps you will get more elaborate and throw things into aperture mode and perhaps get more focus out of the scene. I don’t know. I’ve never been a war photographer but I’ve always been excited by the prospect of bullets whizzing by my head while I am trying to snap off some great action shots.

Well, at least until I saw Saving Private Ryan’s opening scene at Omaha Beach. If I was going to be a war photographer I think I’d rather go to Somalia where they can’t shoot as straight.

My point is, when I began photographing things in Los Angeles it was not too different from being a war photographer. I was on the streets of L.A. and it was the early 1990’s. We had a couple of big things that happened then. The Rodney King riots and the 94 Northridge quake, both of which I got to experience but thankfully more so the quake.

LA Bike Police, 1999 LA Marathon, 35mm

In those learning days I “documented scenes” trusting my camera to make the right choice for me and most of the time it did. I remember when I started getting more into the use of aperture and different films (Tri-X, T-Max, Velvia or Portra) and ISO’s (or ASA) I kept a handy notebook with me to record the data settings of each image (well not every image but whenever I was testing out a (new to me) film). I used many different films because it was a whole different world to me and I had not the teacher to tell me what to stick with using. I had no judgment so I needed to create my own.

Ahh film. But thank god for digital because it’s faster, more expensive, cheaper and I can chimp and the only reason I carry a notebook is to sketch out a lighting diagram before I make it (otherwise I pan out and just take it). We are truly blessed for digital. My biggest fear is some EMP that wipes out all the hard drives and storage discs erasing years of photos (hmm, maybe I should print more).

Okay, so documenting a scene can be fun and there is a lot of event photography that gets done that way. I do that some of the time too. I sometimes walk around in program mode, though most of the time I am in aperture mode. So that’s documenting scenes and taking photos and that’s where most of us start in photography. Well at least that’s how I started. Maybe you were lucky enough to take a good class somewhere and started with a working theory and knowledge base in contrast to my fly by the seat of my learning pants, trial and error and hundreds if not thousands of dollars in developed film that was … so-so.

Polar Bear Dip 1 Jan 2009, Seattle, Washington Olympus E-3

Fast forward now. I am a hound for information. I read books, magazines, forums, study photos like there is no tomorrow. I am not a gear-head by any stretch so I don’t waste my time on the forums debating what modifier is better or what lens or brand is better. Whatever works for you works and most professionals I notice can take just about any camera today and churn out some good stuff.

Making photographs. I think I heard Ansel Adams say this expression first. You know, there is a difference between taking photos and making photos? Yep, I heard Chase Jarvis say this again in Hangar 30 up in Seattle during a Flickr meetup demonstration, pow-wow, shoot-out.

Sometimes these things take a while to seep into my brain. Sometimes I just know them instinctively but my brain doesn’t put them together for me to be able to communicate to anyone else.

But there really is a huge difference between taking a photograph and making a photograph. One, any idiot can do. I was one of them and most people that start out start out, inadvertently in this category. I’d say the real difference these days between the actual professionals, not whether you derive the majority of income from your photography, but people who photograph to a professional standard and those who don’t is the taking versus making of a photograph. I say this because cameras are so darn good these days!

"Taking a photo" sometimes you can get away with this if lighting and circumstance permits.
Olympus E-3, on the streets in Seattle

The characteristics of someone who makes a photograph are simple. From what I see here and now, those are:

1) a working knowledge of their camera, lenses, lighting gear, and equipment.
2) a working knowledge of the basic theory and rules of photography, the rule of thirds, how aperture affects an image, shutter speed, ISO, light to subject distance, and on. One has got to know the basic rules so that he or she knows when and how to break them.
3) Some creative input, being able to visualize something and then knowing how to make it. Or even if not knowing exactly how, knowing where to start and building it up to meet “the vision”.
4) Being creative. A little different than number 3, this is improvising with what you have versus what you need and figuring out how to get the shot anyway. You know, like you came all this way and forgot X modifier at your house, okay, I’ll roll up some cardboard, gaffer tape it, throw in some tinfoil, whatever. It’s kind of like having a little bit of that MacGyver in you.
5) Determination, persistence and patience. Without these fine points the above is useless.

"Making a photo" and if you find yourself in the situation of happening upon and taking a photo like this, run quickly. Olympus E-3, Los Angeles

Alright, that’s all I really have to say on this for now. I find myself wandering between the two (taking versus making) on occasion though I seldom just “take” anymore. I usually have a lot more creative input and manual control. I suppose that’s where everyone eventually graduates to.

As a practical exercise do more of the other. If you are always making photographs maybe try throwing a straight 50 on your camera, putting it in P mode and get back to your earlier days of just documenting things. I tell you, it can be therapeutic seeing what you can do in terms of composition and forgetting about everything else. Often I won’t show others, but under the right circumstances and for me, usually converted to B&W, some very interesting scenes can be produced.

If you find yourself taking photos a lot, then try to make some photos. Throw it into aperture priority and go see how this affects a scene. You know, shoot it with a wide aperture and a closed one then go home and compare these. This gives you a good working knowledge of one very important function – the aperture. Or use some off camera flash and throw it throughout the scene. The more familiar you are with your gear and how your settings duplicate in your camera the more mastery you will have and the more competent you will become.

Competence breeds action.

Happy shooting.

"Making a photo" during an event, Olympus E-3, 1 Nov 2009