Why do you take pictures?

Everybody takes photographs, but true photographers understand that there is a difference between simply taking a picture and actively making a photograph.

For the typical happy-snapper, pictures are mostly just a visual diary of their lives. By contrast, for a photographer, a successful image is something that can stand on its own; that can be understood and appreciated independently of its creator’s individual life story.

On the occasion of our 75th edition, I thought it would be colleagues responded to the question posed in the title of this column. Technical editor Margaret Brown’ whose photographic work appears in every edition, replied to my email query in characteristic fashion.