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09/06/2005 07:54:40 AM · #1 |
I've sometimes stopped and wondered why, in photography, we talk about 'aiming','shooting', 'capturing' etc.
These are military terms. Who are we at war with?
Maybe there are some better words waiting to be discovered? |
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09/06/2005 08:20:48 AM · #2 |
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09/06/2005 08:37:04 AM · #3 |
They sound like hunting terms, to me.
Aim, shoot, capture, take, bag, trap, stalk, sneak up on, spot....
Nothing unusal about bringing such terms to a newly portable technology.
Story: In 8th grade I had two science teachers, team teaching was all the rage. They often went out together during hunting season--one carried a gun, the other his 35mm camera mounted to a shotgun stock with the remote release positioned where the trigger would be. I've always thought this was a great metaphor for how two people can agree on some things without having to change their basic views. |
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09/06/2005 09:37:50 AM · #4 |
Thought to add that I don't think its a surprise that hunting terms have been applied to warfare....
....which came first, do you think....hunting/warfare, chicken/egg....? |
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09/06/2005 11:26:57 AM · #5 |
Right; from a military (not political) perspective hunting and warfare are analogous, more or less. It's not surprising they share a vocabulary. I'd go so far to suggest warfare is a subset of hunting, with the specific "game" being other humans... Of course, in warfare the "game" shoots back, but I digress.
The vocabulary, in a sense, reflects the difference between photography and other arts (sorry, coolhar...); a painter creates an image, a photographer seeks an iamge out and captures it. This isn't completely accurate, of course; a landscape painter, for example, may set his/her easel up and "capture" a scene just as a photographer does, but it's still a valid distinction. I see the photographer as very much a hunter, with the "trophy" being an image, not a et of antlers.
Robt.
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09/06/2005 07:02:53 PM · #6 |
Is it really fair to let bear_music have the last word (again)?
(He might start thinking he's a thread-killer, ya know...) |
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