The Difference Between Taking Photos and Making Photographs

In the digital age, dominated by smartphones, watches, and glasses that capture photos in an instant, billions of photographs are captured every day. Sunsets, dinners, concerts, streets, people, places and things have never been photographed in history as much as now. People are constantly taking haphazard photos to publish on social media. Making photographs begins with taking photos. Make no mistake, there is a purposeful difference between taking photos and making photographs.

The instant access to a camera that everyone enjoys in the digital age makes taking photos a reactive exercise. Making photos is an international process. Take the sunset between the buildings, walking down the block, beautiful, snap it quick, that is taking a photo. Same sunset, same block, stop. Frame it with the buildings and environmental details, plan the angle, foreground, background, and analyze the lighting and its effect. That is making photographs. It is a shift in outlook, mindset, and purpose.

The question is, are you just taking a photo for an instant post on social media ormaking photographs to cherish beyond the instant?

The Mindset Shift From Casual Shooting to International Creation

Photographs express a vision of the creator, which lies beneath the superficial. It captures not an instant that happens to be in front of the camera, but it tells a story that the photographer wants to tell. Making photographs embraces mood, emotion, design, and a story. It goes beyond documenting the moment to shaping the moment as a shared experience.

The person making photographs is not asking the camera what to shoot; it is using it as a tool to say something. In making photographs, light and shadow composition, framing, and timing are of the essence. Taking a photo captures a subject, whether it is a person, animal, thing, or place. Making photographs interprets subjects to explore the artistic implications of essence.

Michael Grecco Photographs

Michael Grecco began his career as a news photographer. He went beyond documenting moments in time for newspapers and magazines; he was determined that his photographs should be able to tell the story. Beyond simple documentation, his drive as a photographer was making photographs that created an emotional response from the viewer rather than providing them with a mere documented record of a minute in time. Throughout his career, from the early days of shooting black and white snapshots for AP, Grecco has understood lighting was a key to making photographs.

Boston Marathon Wheelchair Winner photographed by Michael Grecco

Bill Rodgers photographed by Michael Grecco

Seabrook photographed by Michael Grecco

Nancy and Ronald Reagan photographed by Michael Grecco

In an article in Capture By Paul Clark titled, Light on your feet: How the pros solve problems, Grecco is quoted. “Think about the lighting as part of the scenario,” he says, “If the scenario is dramatic, then the lighting might be different from a shoot with a comedy theme where you use more ‘open’ lighting. How you light is part of the creative process.”

Actor Robert Duvall photographed by Michael Grecco

John Singleton photographed by Michael Grecco

Throughout his career, Grecco has encouraged photographers to explore lighting when making photographs. In his book, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait: The Art of Celebrity and Editorial Photography, Grecco shares his expertise on making photographs instead of taking pictures.