So what is it we do anyway

[Bruce Dempsey]

I'm old enough to have used an Arri bl 16mm camera for work and even then calling it "filming" seemed a bit presumptuous for that term was really reserved for features and such (so I thought)
Then along came videotape and "tapeing" worked as a handle
Tape's gone and I notice we are back to "filming" or "tapeing" but what is it we're doing.
What's a good term to coin?

[Tim Lewis]

With the prevalence of flash memory recording media being used these days, I hope we are not "flashing".

[Donald McPherson]

Just stick with. "Videoing" as it seems more appropriate than Flashing.

[Greg Smith]

As an old chemical film guy myself, it bugs me to hear my students say they are going to "film" something using a video camera.

I insist that they use the terms "shoot" or "record" to describe what they're doing -- these don't seem to be tied to any particular technology.

- Greg

[Boyd Ostroff]

I'm an old guy too but it doesn't bother me at all that somebody calls it "filming". So, as an old fountain pen guy, I suppose it should bother me when someone calls it "writing" when they type something on a computer? Come to think of it, as an old typewriter guy, it bothers me when someone says they "typed" something on a computer :-)

I'm sure we could think of many other examples where the technology changed but the language did not.

[Bruce Dempsey]

Originally Posted by Greg Smith

As an old chemical film guy myself, it bugs me to hear my students say they are going to "film" something using a video camera.

I insist that they use the terms "shoot" or "record" to describe what they're doing -- these don't seem to be tied to any particular technology.

- Greg

I don't know about "shoot" as in I'm here to shoot the kids because the parents won't?
Record is strictly an audio term in my book.

[Bruce Dempsey]

Originally Posted by Donald McPherson

Just stick with. "Videoing" as it seems more appropriate than Flashing.

"Videoing" is just a silly tongue twisting something that uncle Bob does

[Roger Gunkel]

Call it what you will, but there are three types of basic camera, stills cameras, film cameras and video cameras, so you are either photographing ,videoing or filming depending on what sort you are using.

Of course there are those using video cameras who don't want to be called a videographer, so they will call themselves film makers, cinematographers, moving image recordists or anything that sounds more impressive. To the layman though they will still be a photographer or a videographer :-)

Roger

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Roger Gunkel

Call it what you will, but there are three types of basic camera, stills cameras, film cameras and video cameras, so you are either photographing ,videoing or filming

Really? So if you are shooting digital still pictures then you are "photographing" and if you are shooting stills with a film camera you are also "photographing"?

If you are shooting digital moving pictures you are "videoing" yet if you are shooting film moving pictures you are "filming"? Why do you think cameras that shoot still images are all the same but cameras shooting moving images are different?

I guess you can't be a "director of photography" if you are shooting moving images on either video or film? IMHO, you need to think this through a little more. :-) You might say there are two types of basic cameras, moving and still and each of those types can be either digital or film. But that doesn't quite cover the direction the market has gone today either.

[Roger Gunkel]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

Really? So if you are shooting digital still pictures then you are "photographing" and if you are shooting stills with a film camera you are also "photographing"?

If you are shooting digital moving pictures you are "videoing" yet if you are shooting film moving pictures you are "filming"? Why do you think cameras that shoot still images are all the same but cameras shooting moving images are different?

I guess you can't be a "director of photography" if you are shooting moving images on either video or film? IMHO, you need to think this through a little more. :-) You might say there are two types of basic cameras, moving and still and each of those types can be either digital or film. But that doesn't quite cover the direction the market has gone today either.

I was being tongue in cheek, but I'll put my tongue back to the other side and modify to say that in that case there are two types of camera - moving image and still image:-) I think it would be fair to say So if you are taking still images with digital or film then you are photographing., if you are using a moving film camera you are filming and if you are using a digital moving image camera then you are videoing. You can call yourself whatever you want of course but in relation to this thread if you are using a moving image digital camera then you are videoing, so that makes you a videographer!

Roger

[Boyd Ostroff]

Here I am back in 1963, I was "filmmaker" then. Now I'm a just a videographer. :-)

[John McCully]

Not infrequently when I'm out somewhere, my Lumix G85 digital still camera (that also just happens to do video) or my Sony AX100 camcorder (that also just happens to do photographs) on a tripod and I'm filming, shooting, recording, capturing, videoing a landscape a person passing by asks 'Are you getting some nice pictures?'

This is more or less a rhetorical question, the person is just being polite and could well have asks if I'm having a nice day. When one stops and thinks about it a huge amount of what we say and hear should not be taken literally. As language slip-slides away and idiomatic utterances separates the boys from the girls, the young from the old, this tribe from that, it is no wonder misunderstanding arise and with them comes the raised hairs on the back of the neck.

So I reply to the person passing by 'No, idiot, I'm not getting pictures, not even photographs, but shooting digital film; moving pictures if you like'.

No, of course I don't say any such thing. I say 'Yes thanks, lovely view eh? Sure beats sitting at home watching TV'.

What do we do? Well me; I'm enjoying being out there, enjoying the views, simply enjoying being alive, and now and again I do get some nice 'footage' (centimeterage!)

Now you poor sods who are still working for a living will probably see things in a different light.

[Bruce Dempsey]

the graphy part of photography to my surprise doesn"t have anything to do with graphics as I'd always assumed. Rather it implies a certain expertise on the topic of photo, therefore it might be ok to say cameragraphy or I'm a cameragrapher except it doesn't come out right somehow
Camographer or camography is a little better but not strictly correct

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Bruce Dempsey

the graphy part of photography to my surprise doesn"t have anything to do with graphics as I'd always assumed. Rather it implies a certain expertise on the topic of photo

Where did you get that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photograph

The word "photograph" was coined in 1839 by Sir John Herschel and is based on the Greek φῶς (phos), meaning "light", and γραφή (graphê), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light".

[Bruce Dempsey]

I am talking about the suffix grapher or graphy part of the word photographer, photography meaning having skills or expertise in the prefix of the word ie photo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-graphy The English suffix -graphy means either "writing" or a "field of study"