Pots and Pans

One thing I’ve discovered among people is that they believe that a more expensive camera must take better photos.  It’s like eating a truly excellent dinner and telling the cook, “you must have great pots and pans.”  The very idea is absurd. 

I always take pains to point out that it’s not the camera, the lens, the light, or the subject that makes a photograph great.  The single most important element in making a good photograph is the photographer.  Surprised?

All things being equal, a good photographer will make good photos with poor equipment more often than a poor photographer will make good photos, whatever he’s using.

Case in point #1: 

This photo, of a bracelet by jeweler Keith Monsour, was taken at the spur of the moment, on an overcast day, with an iPhone.  Keith arranged the bracelet on a stone he’d found on the beach, set onto a field of clover, and I composed the shot in the viewfinder and snapped it.

Case in point #2:

This photo was taken by a friend of mine, using my digital SLR and a very good zoom lens.  Note that the background is in perfect focus, but the subject is not.  If the expensive camera were better, this photo should have been better.

So how does a poor photographer become good, and a good photographer get better?  Practice.  So go make a great photo today!

About Perspicacity

Since I’m not posting a Photo of the Day every day, I decided a name change was in order.  Since the URL uses the word perspicax, the Latin root of the word perspicacious, it seemed a good place to start. 

To be perspicacious is to be discerning.  Literally, it means to be “clear-sighted,” which has an extra meaning when applied to the practice of photography.  A photographer who intends to make good photographs needs to be clear sighted, to have goals, and to know what differentiates a good photo from a mere snapshot.

I’ve been thinking hard about how to proceed with this blog.  My Photo of the Day project was fascinating, but it was mostly successful because it relied on regular – indeed, very regular – posting behavior – on my part.  I have to decide how this will carry over with the name change.

My current goal is to use this blog to talk about photography.  It won’t give photography lessons, per se, but instead will go into the whys and wherefores of how I come to make an image.  Obviously, I’ll be relying on my own experiences, and perhaps the experiences of my photographically-inclined friends, to decide what to blog about. 

I’m open to suggestions as well.  If you have questions, please post them in the comments, or e-mail me with them.  If I can answer them intelligently, I will.

Meanwhile, I’m going to get to work on my first “new” blog post.  Wish me luck!

Returning to the blogosphere

I'm back.

I did pretty well keeping up with my Photo of the Day project for most of last year. The onset of multiple stressful situations did that project in late in October, two months shy of its completion, but it accomplished a lot of goals. It made me more aware of my surroundings, and though the pursuit of the daily photo led to some questionable choices, it did keep me thinking.

I have to retitle this blog in the near future. I'm going to work on posting more interesting photos as they happen. I won't be posting every day, but I hope I can put something up once a week or so.

I may also wax on about the philosophy of photography from time to time. Not often, I promise; I don't do philosophical well.

Meanwhile, here's to blogging again on a regular basis.