Take vs. Make

Carl Chiarenza is very sensitive to the language that we use when discussing photography. Here he is in 2019 discussing the critical difference between taking and making a photograph: Well, one of the things about the history of photography is the words that have been used since the beginning, and since the beginning there has been this notion of “taking” something, “capturing” something, or “shooting” something! And none of those words seem to make any sense to me, and that’s partly because some people before me asked these questions. Like Ansel Adams, for example, said, “I don’t take a picture, I make a picture.” And I couldn’t agree more. I don’t take, I make. Source: Gabriella Chiarenza Interview (December 20, 2019)