One of my favourite things about having access to a university library is the wide array of specialised journals that are available to me. In these posts I’ll be summarising and discussing an article I find particularly relevant or enlightening in regards to this project.




In this article by Ken Miller in the BJP, he discusses how the professional photographer has used the snapshot aesthetic and how it affects the boundaries between the amateur and professional photographer. Initially he attempts to define what differentiates a pro from an amateur and he draws the conclusion that the difference lies in the intentions. This is definitely a point I would agree with, especially in the case of art photography where, to me, the content is by far the most important aspect of a piece of work, rather than the aesthetic qualities. Personally I would rather see a photograph with poor technical quality but with depth and meaning, than an aesthetically pleasing image that has no meaning beyond the surface. A photograph that inspires you to talk about it, rather than just look at it.

Miller goes on to assert, however, that the implication of being a professional photographer is that you strive to take aesthetically pleasing photographs. I can see that in some cases that is inevitably true (in commercial photography for instance) but for many photographers, particularly those who would consider themselves to be artists, the aesthetic quality comes second to the content of an image. On the other hand, a professional photographer would probably have more technical training and knowledge than an amateur and thus their images would be of a higher technical quality than those of an amateur photographer. Then there is the question of how we decide what is and isn’t aesthetically pleasing when it’s so obviously subjective.

Later in the article, the writer suggests that the snapshot aesthetic brings the photographer and the audience closer together. The general subjects of snapshot photography are very personal and intimate so it’s obvious that they will reveal more of the photographer than other types of photography. Miller refers to this as “enforced intimacy” and in relation to this project I have often felt, whilst looking through someone else’s personal photographs, like an intruder. This intimacy with someone you don’t have a personal connection to can feel quite uncomfortable and awkward. Although it seems to be getting easier as the project progresses, I still feel some apprehension when I look at a film for the first time. The other side of that is the excitement of voyeurism, which is a subject I will come back to in another post.

Miller suggests that the line between amateur and professional has been blurred when the professional uses the snapshot style in their work. I would tend to disagree. The amateur produces images with a snapshot quality as a matter of course. The professional photographer has made a deliberate choice in employing these tactics. The fact that it is referred to as an ‘aesthetic’ implies that it is a conscious decision to produce images that have this appearance. He makes a very good point, however, when talking about the influence the internet has had on the boundaries between pro and amateur:

“The intention behind a photograph posted on the internet can be unclear – is the person behind the camera an amateur or a professional and is that self-distinction relevant to our appreciation of the image?”

Do we need to know whether the person that produced the image is a professional, or if it was the first time they had picked up a camera? To my mind, it comes back to the question of intentions. If we are examining a photograph purely on visual qualities, it doesn’t matter how or why it was produced. If we want to read deeper, the intention of the photographer becomes pertinent information. That isn’t to say that an amateur can’t produce a photograph with depth beyond it’s surface qualities, just that it is relevant to our reading of the photograph.

It is pointed out that to construct a snapshot style photograph actually takes a certain amount of skill on the part of the photographer. Snapshots have a quality of being ‘happy accidents’ and it can be difficult to fake that quality without the resulting image looking false or staged. It requires the photographer to have an eye for the split-second moments that make for great snapshots (similar in many ways to the concept of the decisive moment ).

In this project I have received so much great snapshot photography, with the qualities that professional photographers are so frequently trying to emulate. I’m building a fantastic resource and archive of these types of images that we can study and examine to try to seek out what it is about this kind of photography that makes it so appealing.

The article is available to read on the BJP website and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!