Don’t Shoot - Why Language Matters

September 29, 2024 Written by Jennifer Leigh Warner

What we say matters because our words can influence others and the world around us in many ways. For nearly a decade I worked as a photography trainer for a well-known portrait photography company, training photographers how to photograph preschool-aged children.

In the customer service section of our training manual we covered the importance of not using certain words and exchanging those words with more appropriate alternatives. Examples of these included:

Don’t Say                                       Say this Instead

Snapshots                                     Portrait, Photographs, Prints, Images

Shoot Date                                    Picture Day, Date of Photography

Shot                                                 Photographed

Shoot                                              Photographed, Captured

                                                                      Portrait of a child dressed as a pumpkin

We explicitly deterred our photographers from using these terms in order to disassociate what we were doing as photographers from the horrific notion of “shooting” children. These exchanges in terminology make complete sense when talking about photographing people, yet I still hear nature photographers regularly referring to the practice of photographing wildlife as “shooting.” We hear photographers say things such as, “I shot this beautiful moose yesterday,” or “I really want to go to Africa some day and shoot the wildlife there.” More often than not these statements are met with confusion by non-photographers who are trying to understand why this nature loving individual all of the sudden wants to start killing animals.

These terms are not only confusing, but can be harmful in the pursuit to get people to care about the natural world. So where does the term “shoot” come from? Well according to the Dictionary of Archives Terminology website the word “snapshot” was coined by Sir John Herschel in 1860, by analogy to the hunter's term for a quick shot made without careful aim. Snapshots became common after the introduction of point-and-shoot cameras, such as Kodak's, in 1888.

                                                Alaskan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) and her three cubs in Lake Clark, Alaska

I caution photographers from using terms like “shot” or “shoot” to describe their photographs as well, because it infers that the image that they created was done, as the definition describes, “without careful aim.” Photographers of all genres work tirelessly to create images with meaning and with artistry and to describe their work as such is to demean the work that goes into making it.

Other language we use to describe our photographs can also influence the way people view photography. I often see galleries or even artists refer to visual artists as “Artists and Photographers” as if to say that photography is not art. When we do not see photography as art, we devalue the work on display.

Lastly, we need to take special care to describe our subjects appropriately as well. Just as we were told not to use the term “shoot”, we were told not to use the word “kid” but, instead, were told to use the word “children.” (A kid is a young goat.)

Properly labeling our subjects gives everyone a better understanding of the world around us. A good example of this is the American Bison being referred to as Buffalo. The term "buffalo" was used to describe American Bison by early settlers in the United States because they thought the animals were similar to the buffalo they knew from Africa and Asia. We now know that Bison are in fact not closely related to buffalo, yet many people still call American Bison, buffalo.

                                                              American Bison (bison) Grand Teton National Park, WY

The same goes for labeling people. We need to take special care to label the people we photograph as they prefer to be called, whether that is cultural, social or gender related. How we identify people demonstrates respect for their identity, heritage, and self-designation, preventing stereotypes and misrepresentation, and allowing for accurate understanding and communication about their practices and beliefs.

                                                              A young girl from Kolkata, India sits in an open doorway.

Language is a powerful way to communicate the messages we are trying to convey in our photography, and it is important that we as photographers are doing our part to help move those messages forward in the way we describe the people, places and subjects that we photograph, as well as, the act of photography itself.