August 7th, 2011
While sitting here on a lazy Sunday enjoying the view of the forest from my deck, I thought I would post my opinion on cameras, “pixel-peepers” and such (we’ll see if anyone who reads this and may have a conflicting opinion).
So, here goes…., by the way a “pixel-peeper” is someone who spends more time testing and critiquing their equipment than actually using it to do what it was intended for “taking pictures”. This is usually done by taking pics of brick walls and then lamenting on various forums as to how terrible their choice of camera was and how the camera company needs to come out with something better because what they have just can’t be used to take pictures (I’m not kidding, goggle it). Now this is fine if you get paid to do that (on YouTube) otherwise…, it’s a waste of effort unless again you’re only interested in the technical aspects of the equipment. But mostly it’s an excuse or a crutch, that holds you back from expanding your creativity.
Professionals use their cameras everyday in harsh and unforgiving conditions and their equipment needs to work perfectly and flawlessly. The professional is the one who needs to test, check and know their cameras inside and out in order to always come back with a picture (even then, it’s good to always have a back-up camera). If you’re getting paid as a photographer and you don’t know the “in’s and out’s” of your equipment before you go out on a job then I hope you have a good lawyer or insurance because your reputation is at stake.
Amateurs and non-professionals (who are lost in the specs and details of the camera) unfortunately lose out on the joy of photography and capturing the world around them. To quote Chase Jarvis “the best camera is the one that you have with you” and he’s right. I’ve seen and taken some amazing pictures with my iPhone. I just recently saw a gallery show where ten professional photographers shot only with the iPhone and their work was incredible. It was the style and content of the imagery that got your attention, the camera used was irrelevant.
So the point is to have fun, shoot, experiment.
Another “myth” in my opinion, is that you need the latest and greatest model of camera out there to produce great pictures and at some point your ability will outpace your current camera’s abilities. This would only be true if your camera does not have a long or short enough lens available and you consistently “see” from that point of view. Even then we have a ‘built-in” zoom that we take everywhere – it’s called our feet. Move around to determine the best angle of view for what you’re seeing. If you know your camera and your subject you can get great pictures from a manual (no automation) film camera (i.e. Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Henri Cartier-Bresson among countless others did just that and very few can duplicate their efforts). Some of my best images were taken with a Hasselblad 500 CM, where all of the settings were manually set and there was no auto focus or program control.
Nothing that I’m saying is new or unheard of, I think people just get caught up in the marketing and commercialism of photography (I’ve done it too, so I’m speaking from experience). I’ve owned a lot of cameras over the years (most were used professionally) but none of them ever made me a better photographer – only I could do that.
Go fourth and enjoy the act of seeing and creating.
By the way the orchid image shown above was shot with my iPhone.
DCF