The photograph he posted is one he said was inspired by me (he said this after I saw it on his Instagram post). I found it sweet but I didn't realize how I inspired the image. Since reading his post, I realize that image was a reflection & I had no idea when I saw the image initially - I just couldn't figure out how the image was taken. Prior to this Instagram post, I had shown Eugene my 60+ images from Holland & many of my reflection shots so it makes sense to me now. I am happy to inspire anyone with pretty much anything & I'm glad he found my images inspiring to see the world differently, even if only for a photo or two.
What I find about photography is that yes, now everyone thinks they are a photographer. This all came about (obviously) since the digital camera is so inexpensive & taking photos doesn't cost the same as film photography once did. I think this is fantastic in it's own right. Granted, not everyone is a GOOD photographer. Anyone can take a photograph but is it telling a story or do you care if it does? I know there are often times that I take an image then look at it later & wonder what I was thinking. I am not a professional photographer by any means but I do think I take better than average photos. There have been times when I've shown my friend Dave (a photographer) my images & he flips through them like they are a stack of playing cards with nothing of interest on them. Maybe I am reading him wrong but I did see the difference in how he looked at my images from Holland when I showed him. He paused... more than once. Cool. (: I'll take that as a compliment.
I take most of my images with my Canon 7D and with various lenses. It is certainly purposeful when I venture out with said camera to take photos. I do not have it with me at all times nor do I keep it in the car "just in case". I also do not take with me my Canon S95 for no reason aside from not thinking about it & I do not carry a handbag to keep it with me every day. I do take the occasional photo with my phone's camera but my old iPhone 3GS takes terrible images so why bother? I was out with Peter last Saturday at his golf club & I tried to take an images of his friend & it just didn't turn out like I wanted - not even close. I realize if I dug deep into my pockets & bought a new phone, I would in turn have a better phone camera. But ultimately? How many cameras does one person need? Maybe only one. Maybe only the camera phone & nothing more if you just want to capture everything in focus all the time & be able to post the second after you take the shot. What I like about an SLR is it's flexibility. Mind you with that being said, there are some pretty cool 'point & shoot' cameras out there that allow this flexibility without the cost of the SLR, lenses, flashes, etc, etc... And there's certainly the weight factor! There is none to speak of when you only have your phone.
All I think is if you take an image with any sort of camera & you are thrilled with how it turns out and who knows, even sell it, who cares what you used to capture it? It's still art in it's own right. Sometimes using your camera phone to take images can be the most challenging but the most rewarding in the end due to it's limitations. I say this as an artist & a person who loves capturing life on 'digital film' (if you'll give me this liberty).
Eugene's post made me think about art & photography as an art. Is it lost? Not if you don't let it. Tell your story how ever that may be for you since that's what art is. Story telling. At least to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment