Can't get privacy anywhere nowdays......

Sure.

I'll swing big and will probably get shouted down. Im a huge Ansel Adams fan. I recognize him as the greatest landscape photographer we have seen and have lots of his best on my walls. That said don't feel that " Freeway Interchange" is worthy of his great name. I find it to be boring and lacking emotion. First time I saw it I was very confused as to why it was even in the book.
Just my opinion .

As mentioned above, the Worhol soup can paintings and all the ones in the same style are just stupid. Don't get them at all.

And there are many musicians I don't think have talent. Disturbed, Tesla, most modern pop stars (sorry beliebers), and Dixie Chicks are just a few that I don't think are as good as thier popularity or even close.

Of course. Same with any art form. There are many popular paintings I personally don't like at all. There are LOTS of popular musicians that lack talent. And there are popular photographs that I don't care for. These are, of course, my opinions and apply to me only. That's the great thing about art in all it's forms, subjectivity.

Absolutely. I don't take my little "snapshots" for anyone but my family and myself. 95% are candids of my daughter, family, and friends. The other 5% are of something of significance to either myself or them and can only be important to us. And I feel many of them are worthy of the term "photograph" since they evoke an emotion from me and the ones close to me through subject, event or both.

Aaaah, there's the belittling I was talking about.

Yes, the photographs in your links are great. The hard work shows in the end result. I am not saying that me or any one else here is on that level. I fail to see your point or contribution to the OP other than "my pictures can beat up your pictures".

Oh, and I have no desire to sell any of my photographs, er, snapshots.

I am no professional photographer, hobbyist at best, so I suppose by definition of some here I can only take snapshots. And of I call one of my snapshots a photograph I will of course be talked down to and belittled to validate someone's self image. Sad.

To the OP, my opinion on the difference is that the question can only be answered by yourself since photography is an art form, and by it's nature subjective. Many factors such as preparation, technical ability, timing, maybe equipment, all come into play but in the end I think it's how you personally respond to the image that creates the distinction. Yes, a "professional" with great equipment, good anticipation, and lots of experience will more likely produce what most people deem a photograph. That does not mean an ameteur, hobbyist, child, or drunk monkey couldn't produce what most would call a photograph, it's probably just less likely.

Very nice work. SAA was great in it's day and is still great today.

Oh, and that is completely false by the way.

When you say we, you mean the criminals, gang bangers, and people that don't own guns legally. Law abiding legal gun owners (the vast majority of people who possess guns) account for a small amount of the killings committed with guns. So, being law abiding, I choose to protect myself from the people who wish to do harm with thier illegal guns. I love my family enough to spend the time and money in training and practice to be effective at doing so if the second worst day of my life were to manifest.

Ask some of the victims of recent crime. Home invasions done by multiple people, robbings of train cars by gangs, and political violence by "tolerant" groups against people who wear a hat that says something they disagree with. And that is just in Sacramento.

That's right. And if you did know you would be carrying something much larger. And have a friend or two with you.

Great shot of a cool little piece!

Nice to see there are some other gun people on here. I wasnt sure when I joined and that wasnt the point, but its still nice to have a few "friendlies" around. I would like to learn how to better photograph my small collection of antiques.

And to the people who say photographers shouldnt carry, it is actually pretty smart. Photographers tend to walk around with a bag that screams "expensive stuff in here!", sometimes in remote areas, and often paying more attention to the scenery and potential shots than other people around them. So yes, photographers are PRIME candidates for criminals looking for an easy score in a potentially violent way. JMO

Thanks, I'm going to do that. Great idea. The more pictures I have, the more likely I'm going to get a great one of that little blur of a child.

Gotta say, its quite intimidating posting any of my VERY amateur pics here after seeing the quality of work being shown here. Beautiful work!

Thanks all.

I dont have many pics that are share worthy yet but here is one from easter of my daughter, mid easter egg scramble. I got the d5300 the day before and actually threw my old Nikkor-H 28mm on for this one and went with manual settings and focus (of course). Not easy getting a 2 yr old to slow down enough to focus, take a shots to check few exposure, and check composition but I ran around like a fool trying.

Kinda wish I would have gone with a larger aperature to soften the background but, hey, still learning.

I know its not the best, but for the day Im fairly happy with the results.