Re: [Leica] snapshot! insult or compliment?

[Guy Bennett <gbennett@lainet.com>]

>Last year in "American Photo", Cornell Capa called one of his brother's
>photographs (the little girl running on the street with her mother during a
>German bombing) "a snapshot". He called it a masterpiece, too.
>So I do not suppose it really is an insult. It just depends on the image, I
>think.
>Matteo Persivale
>Milan, Italy


On a similar note, Andreas Feininger has said of his brother's (T. Lux)
photographs: "They are just snapshots. Occasionally he'd do a good one. But
that came as a surprise probably. I don't know. I may be totally wrong."

While he feels he *could* be wrong, the use of "snapshots" in the above is
clearly dismissive, as it was in the post that spawned this whole thread.
And while the discussion of the "snapshot ethic" has proven interesting, it
think it probable that, when used in reference to the work of a
professional photographer, the word has undeniable pejorative connotations.

Guy