Are photograph titles important?

[jnantz]

i used to think that if i titled something i made people's minds rigid
and not see for themselves but i realized if there was no title they
didn't know where to begin. so now i title everything,
even abstractions i make without negatives.

i don't know what galleries think. i used to part own a gallery, and
haven't really shown my work to galleries since i was told my photographs weren't photographs.

[Nate Battles]

I've given titles to bodies of work, but not the individual pictures.

I like that idea. When showing a series or group of work I think a collective title would mean much more than individual titles. You would still be providing some guidance to the viewer, but not holding their hand through the viewing/interpretation process. They can still play a role in the what does it mean to me? thing.

[SchwinnParamount]

Do you always title your work? Or sometimes title it or never title it? ...

~Nate

If you must title your work, for God's sake... don't use "The" in your title! For example: "The Old Man". Is there really only one old man? And you photographed him? Lucky guy!

[Nate Battles]

...since i was told my photographs weren't photographs.

I just viewed your webpage. FWIW, I think your "cameraless+hybrid" stuff is pretty awesome and pretty photograph-like!

[jnantz]

I just viewed your webpage. FWIW, I think your "cameraless+hybrid" stuff is pretty awesome and pretty photograph-like!

thanks nate!

your mind is much more open than the galleries i showed things to.

john

[steve barry]

i usually title things just nonsense words or phrase or sentence or something - mainly to help me remember whats what on the computer....and they usually stick when i print the thing. or i just leave it untitled. depends i guess.

[John Kasaian]

A title or descriptive title is far more interesting than a number assigned to a negative.

I can see it now.... Patrick McGoohan in a Lotus Super 7 racing through London (on the wrong side of the road of course) to the tune of White Rabbit. A guy in a topper and a hearse puts a gas hose through the mail slot of the flat. The room starts to spin...he wakes up in a fairytale town guarded by weather balloons and there is no escape! In frustration he cries out:

"I am not a number--I'm a descriptive title!"

[Renato Tonelli]

I cringe with embarrassment when I think of the titles I used to give my photographs during my college years and beyond.
I now limit myself to who or what, when and where.
I've seen brief text with accompanying some photos here and there (some issues of LensWork) that works really well also.

I don't like titles that sound pretentious to my ear, titles that influence how I should feel or think.

[domenico Foschi]

I cringe with embarrassment when I think of the titles I used to give my photographs during my college years and beyond.
I now limit myself to who or what, when and where.
I've seen brief text with accompanying some photos here and there (some issues of LensWork) that works really well also.

I don't like titles that sound pretentious to my ear, titles that influence how I should feel or think.

I agree Renato.
Title that give a direction to my experience of the photograph, might preclude a more personal experience on some viewer.
That is why many of my images are "Untitled".

I am playing around with the idea of incorporating Poetry with my images, but only in form of a book.

[Vaughn]

Titiles, and the absence of titles, are very important...if the photograph itself is important.

Vaughn