Have some rhubarb. It turns out that I don't have photos of photographers.
Boys come in blushes. Dolphins come in schools. Hawks come in casts. Magpies come in tidings. Prisoners come in pitys. And zebras come in zeals. The Oxford Dictionaries have an official list, which Sophie Goldsworthy, author of the Rough Guide to Digital Photography, pointed me the way of on Friday. Most of the list was compiled in the 15th century by one Dame Juliana Barnes, so it's hardly surprising that it includes a 'glozing of taverners' but that photographers are passed over. Court jesters weren't generally found playing around with Polaroids. Now, however, I think that the time has come to bring a little currency to this venerable collection of collectives.
What is the collective noun for a group of photographers?
Photojournalists scrambling for a headline image; music photographers leaping about the pit before a stage; wedding photographers valiantly marshalling slightly tipsy bridal parties the globe over; even if we don't always hunt in packs, I am firmly of the opinion that the worldwide community of photographers is deserving of a collective identity.
Early suggestions have included a click, an exposure, a flash, a kitbag, a shutter, and a spectrum. But what do you think? We have to at least pretend that we have some consensus about this. Suggestions or indications of support can be left in the comments section. (Should you be concerned about being mistaken for a paparazzo or an Instagrammer, feel free to diverge into sub-genres.) With any luck, we might've settled on something by the time that I return from my travels at the beginning of April.
