> -----Original Message----- > From: Cotty [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Not for the viewer to know if > it was a grab or the result of hours of painstaking work > culminating in an exposure of a fraction of a second. > All good photography is the result of hours and years of painstaking work. Consider the portraits of Karsh, which are probably as far removed as can be from the idea of a snapshot, but each one is an exposure of a fraction of a second. But behind each one there are years of work and experience. Think about Ansel Adams' photo of the moonrise. That is without doubt a snapshot, by most definitions. He was not planning to take the photo, but saw it as he was driving along the road. He had the background knowledge, experience and ability to make a good snapshot of it. Think about somebody like Cartier-Bresson who for many people is the quintessential snapshooter. But he could only do what he did because of the years of looking at art, the years of painting and drawing, the study of formal composition, and the lifetime of immersion in cultural life that enabled him to recognize, in a fraction of a second, etc. etc. -- Cheers, Bob
