Photo Term Series Post #2: Grab Shot

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A “grab shot” is a spontaneous capture of a scene or moment. Usually grab shots are far from polished. They may be at an angle, slightly out of focus, composed less than ideally or display other qualities of a rushed or incompletely thought through image.

There is nothing wrong with a grab shot to document a fleeting moment. A grab shot can have a negative connotation if the photo being displayed is being hyped or sold as well conceived or planned capture. As a photographer setting viewer expectation through description or title is key to managing viewer perception.

An example “grab shot” although humorously playing on the term can be seen in the following blog post “Grab Shot”.

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Posted by Jim on 03.23.2007 at 9:13 am
Tagged: Photography, Terminology

Oskar

Hey Jim,

I love that you are actually taking the iniative and start educating people on photography termonology. Please keep doing that! Maybe you can add it to your podcast?

As a street photographer I disagree with a few comments from this post, not meant personally, though.

First, I am little put off by the use of the word “document” in “There is nothing wrong with a grab shot to document a fleeting moment.” Documentation to me sounds like newspaper image with little artistic merrit. But if you look at people like Kertesz, Giacomelli, Winogrand, Friedlander, Cartier-Bresson, even Martin Parr, they do much more than just document.

I also disagree that the title / description is key to understanding the image. Look at any of the photos of the photographers mentioned above. Each of their photos has a compelling narrative aspect to it that is part of the image and that let’s the image speak for itself. Even your “Grab Shot” does not really need a title. It’s funny even without.

That’s my comment on this. Of course, there is a chance that I misunderstand the concept of the grab shot (never actually heard the term before) and that it’s actually very different from street photography. Delete this post if that’s the case

Oskar
http://www.jmg-galleries.com jim

Oskar good feedback. I used “document” versus “documentary” to be sensitive to the aspect of photojournalism. There is a distinct difference. Capturing a spontaneous scene or moment for the sake of showing a friend is one thing and documenting an event with photojournalistic intentions is another.

Granted my definition is a generalization and its good to note that there is a spectrum of style that runs from “grab shot” to documentary photographic work. Documentary photographic work may contain grab shots, but not all grab shots are documentary photographs.

As for titles or descriptions its not the law that you provide them, but context can be helpful. It just depends on the subject and the viewing audience.

Good idea about the podcast and thanks for the feedback.