How Much is That Camera in the Window?

by Linda

 



Two articles written by two different people came into my airspace a week or so ago. Both were written about the equipment we use to take pictures and explored the values and detractions of this equipment. For me, they resonated the same truisms I recognize to be part of this hobby of mine. A hobby to me, a profession to them. I thought they were similar in their message and interesting and insightful. I invite you to click on the links and read them yourself. I would enjoy any comments you may have about them.

Craig Mod wrote the article called "Goodbye, Cameras" for The New Yorker and a blog post "Photography, hello"
The New Yorker says "Craig Mod is an independent writer and designer who divides his time between Tokyo and New York. He is co-author of "Art Space Tokyo" and author of the forthcoming novel, "Stosh" "
Craig Mod is new to me, but I enjoyed reading these articles.
His blog post goes into more detail about what he wrote for The New Yorker.

David duChemin wrote the article called "Toward Mastery, Again"
Craft and Vision website says:
"David duChemin is a nomad, a world & humanitarian photographer, the accidental founder of Craft & Vision, and the author of Within The Frame, VisionMongers, Vision and Voice, Photographically Speaking, and The Print and the Process, along with over a dozen Craft & Vision titles. David is also the Editor-in-Chief of, and a regular columnist for, Craft & Vision's quarterly magazine, PHOTOGRAPH."
He is familiar to me, I enjoy and have learned from his books. 

A few things that stood out to me in the articles follow.

Craig Mod admits he loves cameras and reading about all the new and improved equipment that is available but seems to think that cameras, as we know them, will be a thing of the past as we all now carry perfectly good cameras with us everyday on our smartphones.

He recalls a time when he wanted to capture a deeply personal moment and he used whatever simple camera he had at hand at that time. At that moment, for that circumstance, whatever camera he had available captured exactly what he wanted. A moment in time, a personal memory.  He argues that the tool he used to capture that moment didn't matter, what mattered was capturing it.

He states how important the story is to the picture, that without it, there is no point.

Of course, absolutely.  There must be a story or else looking at pictures would be like sitting in the basement with all the rest of the trapped and guilt filled family looking at the millions of slides/pictures from aunt Mary's California vacation. (yawn)

He then begins to discuss how "box" type cameras as we know them will fade away, to be replaced by the cameras on our smartphones. He argues that smartphones can't handle low light, create bokeh or high quality pixel data and don't have RAW image support but believes this will all change in time.

He seems caught between not wanting the complexity of a camera and equipment and obsessing over it.

I find myself caught in this dilemma sometimes-it is so easy to pull out my phone and snap a picture. Everything will be in focus. It will be a wide angle shot. I don't have to fiddle with dials or think about which lens to use or decide how I want this shot to look, it will look the way it looks and there's not much I can do about it. Will it tell the story I want? That is the question.

On the other hand, I do have a lens or 2 that I like the bokeh and DOF I get with it. I do like knowing how the picture will look based on how I set the camera. It feels creative as I take the picture. Granted, there is much that can be done to a phone camera shot after the picture is taken, but sometimes it's just better to do it as it happens. I would reach for my DSLR, if only I had it with me! Sometimes you just gotta travel light! Or plan ahead. Or plan to travel light.

(nevermind)

His assessment of smartphones is the ability to quickly network with others through various places like facebook and Instagram. But also with like minded people who find creative uses with these smartphones.

This is to me, the shortcoming of the smartphone, the fact that people have a decent camera with them at all times and use it to take pictures of their Big Macs to post online to show their friends.

While it is exciting what can be done with pictures taken with a smartphone and there are some wildly creative and imaginative people out there doing amazing things with pictures taken and processed on a smartphone, the majority of people using them don't take their pictures that seriously. They are very much for in the moment, spur of the moment shots that they want to upload to a social media site to share with their friends, toss in the virtual trash bin and then they are on to the next thing.

David duChemin talks about our chase for the newest and best gear. Is this what will make our pictures better? Does new and "improved" camera/lens make pictures better? Do we need more pixels? ISO? Full frame sensors and all the other wonderful and shiny new things that are available on the next generation of camera?

I found it interesting that he has also heard, from other professional photographers, that a picture is good because of the gear that was used.

hmm. Thought it was only hobbyists like myself that suffered that nonsense!

It seems that David duChemin, like Craig Mod, enjoys playing with all the different equipment. They also state that the best camera is the one you have with you.

Yes, absolutely.

David duChemin says
 "What will make my images better is more time with my cameras in my hand. Using my tools until they just fit and do what I want without a thought, the way my Leica already does because it’s so similar to cameras I used years ago that I feel like I’ve just put on an old pair of jeans – and that’s worth more to me than the ability to make a 48 megapixel photograph at ISO 16ooo. What will make better photographs is studying photographs themselves, not the ads for gear in the latest photography magazine. Photographs are made better by curious, patient, passionate, people with vision and imagination, not sharper glass. To paraphrase Ansel Adams – if the idea is crap then it doesn’t matter how big or sharp it is. Nobody cares how much damn chromatic aberration there is in your photograph; we care if there’s no heart."

I like this statement.

I also like that he tells us to get the camera that makes us happy, to use it, to learn about it, that creative energy and new ideas will make better pictures than new and shiny equipment.

This means that maybe I don't need a new camera, a new camera will not make my picture of the bridge better. What will make it better is more practice, more field work, more time out with the camera that I have and the equipment that I have and am most familiar with, and slow down and look at the story in my lens.

This also means that it's OK to use my smartphone. That even with it's shortcomings, it can capture a moment, a memory, and this is important.

I could even take a picture of my dinner on burger night and share it online!

What do you think? What do you need to take a good picture? Do you get the newest camera equipment as soon as you can? Do you think we will abandon our cameras and equipment in favor of our fancy smartphone camera?

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We love seeing your "beginnings" in our FOL flickr gallery! Share your smartphone pictures in our FOL Phoneography gallery too!

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