Neighboring genres, Part I

Earlier I took a stab at defining snapshots. My angle had to do with snapshot cameras and maybe snapshot labs, but whatever approach you take, it’s really just a technicality. In practice most people who call themselves snapshot collectors allow (meaning they accept in their own and other people’s collections) pretty much any small photo that doesn’t seem to be the work of a professional or has something about it that doesn’t seem to be the work of a professional. Along with snapshots in the strictest sense, that includes certain discrete subcategories, such as photobooths, wallet-size portraits, and “real photo” postcards. (Real photo postcards are photos—often originally true snapshots—printed directly onto postcard stock; they were marketed during roughly the period 1903–1930.)  I’ll come to the point in the next post.

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