Often the words used to describe photography and image making have echoes of hunting, colonialism, and enslavement. We at Diversify Photo would like to imagine a vocabulary that uplifts authorship and creativity.
This list, below, is a living resource of alternative words that we commit to using as photographers, editors, and writers to describe our and colleagues’ work. For each term or phrase we find problematic in bold, we suggest several alternatives.
If you have any suggestions you would like us to consider please email David.
Cameraman [n.]
Lens-based worker, photographer
Capture [v.]
Make, create, collaborate, document, photograph, record, film, witness
Capture time [n.]
Write time, recorded time, creation time
Digital capture [n.]
Digital recording, digital image, digital file
Feature hunting [v.]
Enterprising
Freelance [adj.] (freelance photographer)
Independent
Grab [v.] (e.g. grab a shot)
Photograph, make a picture
Headshot [n.]
Profile photo, portrait
Just a photographer [phrase]
Just…don’t say it!
Man hours [n.]
Work hours
Man power [n.]
Labor force, workforce, labor, work
Master flash [n.]
Sender flash, leader flash, primary flash
My photographer [n.]
My colleague, the photographer, the photographer’s actual name
Sanity check [n.]
Confidence check, quick check
Shoot [n.]
A (photography) session, an assignment, a project, a photography job
Shoot [v.]
See Capture
Shooter [n.]
See My photographer
Slave flash [n.]
Receiver flash, secondary flash, follow flash, replica flash, standby flash
Subject [n] (e.g. photo)
Source, model, collaborator, sitter
Take [n]
See Shoot (n.)
Take [v]
See Capture
Other non-lens-based specific words
Blackhat [adj]
Unethical
Blacklist [v]
Denylist, blocklist
Grandfathered [v.]
Legacy status
Whitehat [adj]
Ethical
Whitelist [n]
Allowlist