"You Must Have a Really Good Camera!"
Imagine this...
You invite some family and friends to your house for a dinner party. You spend time leading up to the party planning a nice menu which is flavorful and exciting. You spend time shopping for all the perfect ingredients for your amazing meal. Then you spend hours preparing and cooking the meal before everyone sits down at the table.
The moment your guests see, smell and taste your well prepared meal, you hear the "ahhh's" and "mmmmm's". You are relieved to hear the sounds of happy dinner guests... until... a thoughtless and somewhat dim, foolish guest loudly exclaims for all to hear, "This is DELICIOUS... you must have great pots!"
Absolutely ridiculous, is it not? Unfortunately, this is exactly the same as when some thoughtless, somewhat dim person states, "This picture is beautiful... you must have a really good camera!"
Let me explain a little by going back to the well-planned meal analogy.
Let's take two people in anyone's family... say, Aunt Jane (Doe), and Aunt Betty (Crocker).
Aunt Jane and Aunt Betty have both cooked Thanksgiving meals for the family. They are sisters and share equivalent cooking equipment... nice kitchens, nice cookware, nice utensils, thermometers, basters, a stove to provide even heat, and a functioning oven. They even share the same recipes handed down from their mother!
Even with all this equivalent equipment, same recipes, and same ingredients, the entire family knows that Aunt Jane's meals always require a few drinks to help wash them down! Meanwhile, Aunt Betty's meals are always amazingly delicious, succulent and even a beautiful sight to see with mouth-watering aromas.
Is it the pots that made the difference? Is it the type of stove that makes a difference? Hmmm... maybe because Aunt Betty has a wall oven, her 350 degree oven is magically better than Aunt Jane's 350 degree range? No, we all know that isn't it.
We all know that Aunt Betty always plans her meals. She prepares. She carefully measures her ingredients. Aunt Betty always follows the recipe, basting as recommended, paying careful attention to time and temperature. Aunt Betty has an acute attention to detail, knowledge and experience. Aunt Betty even has some creative and artistic flair.
On the other hand, we all know that Aunt Jane kind of flies by the seat of her pants. She just throws all the ingredients together, carelessly measuring if she even measures at all. She just slides that big bird into the oven, leaves the room, and only returns when someone reminds her that everyone is there for her dinner party. Aunt Jane didn't prepare. Aunt Jane didn't pay attention to the details in the recipe.
The fact is, Aunt Jane thought she could just pick up this recipe, magically put the whole meal on "Auto", and it would be just as succulent and delicious as Aunt Betty's well-planned Thanksgiving meal last year.
This is the same with photography. Photography requires planning. Photography requires precise measurements of light... it requires precise measurements of shadow... it requires a deep understanding of colors, tone, contrast... it requires the experience and knowledge of how to present the photo as related to composition within the frame and angles of view. It requires paying attention to time as related to exposure. Photography requires creativity and the ability to see art in the world around us.
In cooking, the primary and most influential variable is the chef... not the pots.
In photography, the primary and most influential variable is the photographer... not the camera.
So, my advice is the next time you see a beautiful photo and you find yourself about to say something embarrassingly foolish, such as, "You must have a really nice camera"... bite your tongue... remember this article and the cooking analogy... laugh to yourself about the foolishness of what you were about to say... and instead simply smile and say, "Wow, you are a really great photographer... this is a beautiful photograph."
You invite some family and friends to your house for a dinner party. You spend time leading up to the party planning a nice menu which is flavorful and exciting. You spend time shopping for all the perfect ingredients for your amazing meal. Then you spend hours preparing and cooking the meal before everyone sits down at the table.
The moment your guests see, smell and taste your well prepared meal, you hear the "ahhh's" and "mmmmm's". You are relieved to hear the sounds of happy dinner guests... until... a thoughtless and somewhat dim, foolish guest loudly exclaims for all to hear, "This is DELICIOUS... you must have great pots!"
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| Photo shot using a $79 camera... |
Let me explain a little by going back to the well-planned meal analogy.
Let's take two people in anyone's family... say, Aunt Jane (Doe), and Aunt Betty (Crocker).
Aunt Jane and Aunt Betty have both cooked Thanksgiving meals for the family. They are sisters and share equivalent cooking equipment... nice kitchens, nice cookware, nice utensils, thermometers, basters, a stove to provide even heat, and a functioning oven. They even share the same recipes handed down from their mother!
 |
| Photo shot using a $350 camera... |
Is it the pots that made the difference? Is it the type of stove that makes a difference? Hmmm... maybe because Aunt Betty has a wall oven, her 350 degree oven is magically better than Aunt Jane's 350 degree range? No, we all know that isn't it.
We all know that Aunt Betty always plans her meals. She prepares. She carefully measures her ingredients. Aunt Betty always follows the recipe, basting as recommended, paying careful attention to time and temperature. Aunt Betty has an acute attention to detail, knowledge and experience. Aunt Betty even has some creative and artistic flair.
On the other hand, we all know that Aunt Jane kind of flies by the seat of her pants. She just throws all the ingredients together, carelessly measuring if she even measures at all. She just slides that big bird into the oven, leaves the room, and only returns when someone reminds her that everyone is there for her dinner party. Aunt Jane didn't prepare. Aunt Jane didn't pay attention to the details in the recipe.
The fact is, Aunt Jane thought she could just pick up this recipe, magically put the whole meal on "Auto", and it would be just as succulent and delicious as Aunt Betty's well-planned Thanksgiving meal last year.
This is the same with photography. Photography requires planning. Photography requires precise measurements of light... it requires precise measurements of shadow... it requires a deep understanding of colors, tone, contrast... it requires the experience and knowledge of how to present the photo as related to composition within the frame and angles of view. It requires paying attention to time as related to exposure. Photography requires creativity and the ability to see art in the world around us.
In cooking, the primary and most influential variable is the chef... not the pots.
In photography, the primary and most influential variable is the photographer... not the camera.
So, my advice is the next time you see a beautiful photo and you find yourself about to say something embarrassingly foolish, such as, "You must have a really nice camera"... bite your tongue... remember this article and the cooking analogy... laugh to yourself about the foolishness of what you were about to say... and instead simply smile and say, "Wow, you are a really great photographer... this is a beautiful photograph."
You are a really great photographer and I feel very lucky and blessed to have your photos in my office and my home! :-)
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