Waxhouse Loc: Tampa Via Philadelphia

Chasing light

kvanhook Loc: Oriental, NC

our only time machine

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

an art of observation.

Jimbolarue77 Loc: Hampshire, UK

"It costs a packet!". Lol!

geodruid

The Art of Capturing Experience

timcc Loc: Virginia

a very expensive hobby

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Will, if it were just the manipulation of light, we also would be talking about lamp builders, candle makers, theatrical lighting designers, and Boy Scouts with flashlights making shadow puppets on the tent walls (or hunting "snipe").

The root words are 'phōtos' and 'graphé' from Greek. Put together, the meaning is "drawing with light" or "light scribing". That's a pretty narrow subset of "the manipulation of light".

20 years ago, in the heydays of PMAI, the Photo Marketing Association International (now defunct, as far as I can tell, killed off by the Internet, digital photography, social media, and smartphones), around 40,000 to 50,000 people would converge on a convention center and "discuss" photography for four or five days.

Just walking the trade show floor at the convention center was an education in the breadth and depth of the industry. I was amazed at the range of usage. Medical, military, forensic, scientific, industrial, commercial, portrait, wedding, school, sports, and other photographers were there, along with all the suppliers and manufacturers and dealers who supported them. Even the professional framers were there.

There were few areas of the industry that missed those annual meetings. To over half of attendees, photography wasn't about manipulating light, but rather, about the tools and techniques that form light *into an image.* Early morning seminars presented the latest tools and techniques and trends to the serious students. Evening classes taught business skills, imaging skills, marketing strategy...

Now, nearly all of that has been folded into CES, the gigantic Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas every January. That's fitting, as over 90% of photographic images made today are made on smartphones, never printed, and used primarily on social media sharing sites on the 'Net.

But still, the photography industry is about making images. Manipulation of light (and other frequencies of radiation) is a key part of the process, but making images — drawing with light — is a very specific subset of playing with photons. The point is most often to enable some form of communication — inducing an emotion, jogging a memory, facilitating instruction, providing inspiration, telling a story, recording an historical event, influencing public opinion, or eliciting some other reaction on the part of the viewer. It may also be some industrial usage, such as printing integrated circuits, making wallpaper or fabric, or making medical X-ray images.

Can we please, please, not limit it?

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

all about capturing light.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Light is just the base medium. Photography is, specifically, what is done WITH the light. It has a point. Photons can be manipulated for thousands of classes of usage. Making images is but one class of them.

Ernest 2

Keeping memories alive forever

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

...a poem without words.

ChiefEW

Capturing a desired image.

hookedupin2005 Loc: Northwestern New Mexico

Images of our world

Papaofnine Loc: Green Bay, WI

the writing of light

blackest Loc: Ireland

harder than it looks :)