Snapshot (noun) – an informal photograph taken quickly, often with a small handheld camera.

“A good snapshot stops a moment from running away” – Eudora Welty

For many photographers, the term “snapshot” often tends to be something akin to a dirty word. Its use is typically dismissive in context – meaning that if one were to say “nice snapshot”, that was just a polite way of saying “you really didn’t put much time or effort into that image, did you?”.

But honestly - are snapshots really all that bad?

I think in order to get to where I am eventually going with this, we need to step back in time a bit.

Photography emerged in the early 19th century, but even by the late 1880’s it was a difficult, time-consuming thing to do. Images were shot on large-format cameras on chemically treated plates and paper, with very slow film speeds. Meaning, the subject or scene had to stay still for often 30 seconds or more. That’s why, I imagine, everyone in images from that time looked so stiff and certainly weren’t smiling.

Things changed quite a bit when George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera in 1888. At $25, it was pricey but did put photography into the hands of the upper middle class. The cameras came with a roll capable of 100 shots, and when done one would simply mail the camera back to Kodak and in a few weeks 100 images would show up in the mail like magic. “You press the button, we do the rest.”

Suddenly photography became different. No longer was it stiff, posed images that were reminiscent of old painting. It became ALIVE, with images of people playing, enjoying life, and yes, of course – cats. A lot of this change came from surplus. Meaning, that if you had 100 possible shots in your camera, each image became less important – so people shot more.

By 1900, Eastman produced the Brownie camera, costing only $1. It sold so well that nearly 1/3 of American households now had a camera by the year 1905. Think about how radical that was – within the span of 12-15 years, photography went from being something that was nearly out of reach for most people to being part of their daily lives. Sound familiar?

The term “snapshot” originally meant “a shot taken quickly by a hunter” and had nothing to do with photography. But after Eastman’s invention, a game emerged among among camera owners called “snapshooting” - a photographic version of tag. The camera “shooter” tried to catch the “prey” on film while they raced around and tried to avoid being photographed. This eventually lead to people using the term “shooting pictures” or simply “shooting” when describing photography, which still holds true today.

People’s need to document their lives propelled Kodak, and eventually other camera companies, into a huge industry. Family albums had A LOT of bad snapshots in them that made everyone smile, or cringe, when they looked at them years later. I’d venture to say that 99.99% of all images ever taken were snapshots. Think about that for a moment. How could snapshots be bad or dismissed, if they brought joy to millions of people and propelled the camera industry and technology forward?

During this past month of quarantine and working from home, I have found myself less and less motivated to take pictures. Being creative has become difficult for me – at one point I found myself saying “why bother?”

A week or so into the quarantine, our beloved family cat Cole became sick and stopped eating, and we were forced to admit him to the local ER. After a long weekend, we received the prognosis: lymphoma. The ER Vet told us he wasn’t eating and only had a few days at best, and recommended we have him euthanized. After having a pet pass away years ago while in the care of an ER and we weren’t able to say goodbye to him then, we decided to bring Cole home to spend at least a day or two with him.

After a few days at home things worsened, and his skin turned really yellow. Cats have liver problems if they don’t eat, and this was starting to show. I had been trying to be the strong one in the family but finally broke down and cried. I was certain the next day would be the day.

And then Cole started eating. And he ate. And he ate. He started doing the things he liked to do once again. Jumping up on the bed, looking out the windows at birds, chasing our other cat around. His skin went back to being pink again. It’s been three weeks now since we brought him home and he’s getting around fine and acting like his old self again. We’re continuing to monitor him and are watching for any signs that he’s in pain, but for now he’s doing OK. I think we’ve been given a little more time with him – and I’ll take that. And he has to put up with me taking even more snapshots of him.

I stated earlier that I’ve been struggling to be creative during this time, and that’s true. But also, or maybe in spite of it, I’ve forced myself to carry a camera with me. I’ve taken a lot of random shots, during times I’ve been sad and times I’ve been happy. Of little things that stand out to me or represent a feeling I had at the time. And of course my cats. All of those images are truly snapshots. None of them are going to win any awards or sold as prints. But they are my snapshots. And they have meaning to me – if for nothing else, to remind me of this time and my feelings during it.

On a related subject - If you find yourself struggling to be creative, don’t let it stress you out. Just do what makes you happy. Also know that a lot of great works came to be by just “doing”. This means just getting out there and doing something is better than nothing.

There is a great channel on YouTube that I follow named “The Art Assignment”, hosted by Sarah Urist Green. Its definitely worth a watch, and has lots of interesting videos on artists, art theory, etc. One of the latest videos gets at the fact that you don’t need to be creative or inspired to make art – just get out there and do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcXNSierbPU

That’s all for now. I hope that you and your family are being safe during these turbulent times. Be kind to your neighbors and friends, and take joy in the little things.

This too shall pass.

Jeremy

POSTSCRIPT: All of the images in this blog article were “snapped” during the month of April 2020 with varying cameras/lenses – both digital and film. They were taken during time spent at the house, in the yard, and on walks thru the neighborhood.

“As the warm air blew in the car, simple snapshots of the life they'd lived together surfaced in his mind; but as always, those images led inexorably to their final day together.” – Nicholas Sparks