My rant about photography

Finally...I must say that this had been quite some time coming with regards to photography andwhat I feel about it. Granted, I do feel somewhat handicapped by my inability to lay my hands on a DSLR whilst every other Tom Dick and Harry newbie photo buff is getting the newest Canikon D480XYZ SLR. So now I am making do with my trusty FZ50 and honestly I am loving every minute of it. what a fine little camera it is! Granted there are some gripes about the camera but overall it has allowed me to do much more than ever before... So why the rant? The rant is in protest of whoever A%&%* who commented that I must be using a DSLR to take the photos that I have uploaded online... So what the hell are they thinking of, is it the camera and not the person that took the picture? Sadly thats the mentality that most people new to photography have it seems, that great equipment will generate great photographs... Thankfully I had a great foundation to this hobby and I know one thing for sure... True the newest and best equipment is good, go ahead and get the best you can afford. But a good camera will generate a good photograph but not a great photograph. What generates a great photograph is the eye behind the camera. Digital photography has allowed us to make mistakes and learn, and thus the digital revolution had brought the hobby to a much wider audience. The manufacturers sensing this brought out more and more consumer oriented DSLRs. These cameras have automated everything and advanced systems that guranteed a good picture (meaning technically well exposed picture). Indeed compared to the days of film its much harder to screw up with so much technology. But this also means that people are now snapping away indiscriminately and at everything. Sure most of us would have heard of the stuff like the rule of thirds for composition et cetera, but so what makes a good photograph? To use the words of a very famous photographer (one whom reading the following phrase the reader will know immediately if he or she is into this...), it is to capture and preserve that 'decisive moment' (this of course applies to portraiture and street, less applicable for landscapes!) The art of this is hard to grasp, and of course digital lets us make mistakes without too much pain (like an entire row of underesposed slides....). What I question is how many of us learn to keep the finger on the shutter without firing away? Heres a lesson I learnt recently...

While at a recent event, there was a show where the models will move from location to location. So everywhere they went hordes of photographers will follow, blasting away...the flashes are firing away with the sound of the shutters making the whole scene looking like a warzone. And I know few got a decent photo. This was what I and another guy did. We stake out at the next location the models were due to move to and did the usual stuff(tests, adjustments and looking at the lighting...). So when the models arrived I had my fingers on the shutter and was ready to shoot the moment all the models were looking at my direction, knowing confidently that I got THE shot. And the rest? I don't know...perhaps firing away hoping that one shot (out of perhaps hundreds) turn out the way they want it to be...

Photography is an art as much as a skill. The skill involved is the technical bits of exposure, shutter, aperture and all else. That part is well known and understood by all, and indeed all whom call themselves photographers strive to get this right. But what I see is some who are obsessive about the technical issues that they plainly forget why and what they were shooting, which was the whole point of the photograph and photography itself. So there you go...my long long rant on photography and what I am seeing happening in the world around me...Long live digital, and film when we do need it!