Photogs Slang

I thought I'd lighten the mood here on The Travel Photographer by introducing you to some of the more colorful slang used by photographers and photojournalists (according to a lighthearted post on Lightstalkers).

So learn the slang, get yourself a pre-used keffeiyeh or krama, a third-hand Leica M7 (it doesn't have to work) and join the group! You'll be welcomed with open arms.

Photog: short for photographer
Shooter: slang for a photojournalist.
Snapper: rather derogatory term for amateurs.
Chimping: shooting a digital image, looking at it in the LCD, shooting again, looking...
Machine Gunner: A South African term for a photographer who always shoots at 6 fps and above.
Hail Mary: Photographing while holding the camera above one's head without looking through the viewfinder.
Big-Footing: Describes when a famous or staff photographer arrives at a location which has become newsworthy, and thereby pushing the freelancer who has been covering it aside.
Bang Bang: war or conflict, catastrophe, etc.
Goat Fuck: My very favorite expression! When a dozen photographers all elbow each other to photograph one person weeping at a funeral, or holding her dead child, or even (in the case of travel photographers) a preening monk-dancer holding a wooden penis at a Bhutan festival. A similar expression is “cluster fuck".
Fuck Job: Any scene overly set-up, arranged, posed, or directed. Also applicable to many top-end travel photographers, by the way.
Spec: To work without guarantee of pay. We see a lot of those recently.
Guarantee: Some pay but not an assignment.

Now go out there and look the part!!!

Posted in: POV