More inspiring stuff coming from the Epic Edits photography blog. This time, it’s short and simple: Do you take photos, or do you make photos? There’s even a poll. I voted, and found that I’m in the minority. The overwhelming majority of votes were split between “take” and “both”.

The power is in your hand.

Well I’m sorry, I don’t like to take photos. I don’t enjoy it. I’m not a documentary photographer. Anybody can try to “capture a moment”. Any hack can pick up a camera, aim it at the action, and with a little timing (or just blind luck) capture what happened. But that’s not why I am a photographer.

The phrase taking a photo sounds dirty to me. It sounds like an attempt to steal something. Something was there. Then you took it. Now it’s not there any more. And here you are clinging to the memory of what was. To take a photo is to live in the past. It’s holding on to what was.

For me, photography is a performance art. It’s smoke and mirrors. It’s illusion. Photography is both black and white, truth and lie. My camera sees the world the way I see it; the way I want it to be seen — a beautiful, emotional, controversial, fantasy world where fact is fiction and up is down. But you only get that when you make a photo.

The photo on this page is an example of the kind of shot that can’t simple be taken. No amount of luck or timing can make up for the thought and planning that went into the shot before the shutter release was pressed. This is what I live for. This is why I make a photo.

Related posts:

• Taking Photos vs. Making Photos, continued
• Making a photo: Controlling your lighting
• Making a photo: Choosing your subject