"Image Making" vs. "taking a photo"

Why do I prefer to call it "Image Making" as opposed to "taking a photo"?

Let's start here: someone with a disposable camera (the kind you expose at Walgreens) "takes" a photo. Button. Push. Boom, done. A moment in life is taken into the tiny bit of throwaway technology in your hand. No skill or mathematical understanding is needed in order to "take" that photo.

I hate to admit it but phones these days require more skill to use, not much more, but they offer more than a disposable camera. Thus, one can technically "make" an image with an iPhone. Perhaps you're catching my meaning...

Professional hardware, the cameras coupled with the lighting tech (both on and off camera) and any of the gadgets in between mean that an "image maker" knows what the fractions and numbers mean, how they will come together in conjunction with either natural or artificial light and any other influencing circumstances in order to show the moment, quite literally, in the appropriate light. This is the complicated side of "image making" that entire YouTube channels, yellow paged books and stuffy meetup groups made up of mostly middle aged white dudes are dedicated to explaining in mind numbing depth. I could go on, but I will spare you.

"Taking a photo", defined: Push a button.

"Image Making", defined: The combination of technical knowledge of photographic trade and storytelling aptitude coming together to build an image. The ability to deliver an image that has taken into consideration the following variables: (quality of) lighting, shadow, symmetry (or the lack thereof), weight, movement, hierarchy, color balance, narrative, value.

I threw value in as an image is never "made" as a throwaway. Intention to serve a need is a necessary quality of an image that is made. Just as one might make cookies for their new neighbor down the street. Sweets are welcoming as they ease the societal stress/pressure of randomly knocking on a door to see whether or not we need to tell our kids to steer clear of that driveway. Perhaps one might make a fruit cake as a gentle F.U. if a touch of jealousy is at play, no?

I'm meandering but the point is; one makes a specific meal to serve an intentional culinary purpose.