It's About the Image
What's Really Important in Photography
August 28, 2004

A few weeks ago my wife and I went to an old friend’s house for dinner, conversation, and to look at some of our host's recent photographs. Some of the images were made in a place where I have never done any photography. The images were excellent, and inspiring enough that I am sure to go there in the future. The photographs were made on film with a camera that was manufactured in the 1980s.

I still own a Minolta SRT 201 and a couple of lenses that I bought back in the mid 1970s. A few years ago my wife ran several rolls of Provia 100F through it, and the resulting transparencies looked great under a loupe. If those images were printed and hung on a wall, no one would suspect they were made with a thirty year old camera.
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In the midst of the digital revolution, with new cameras hitting the market at a record pace, it’s easy to get wrapped up in mega-pixels and lose sight of the fact that photography is simply about making images. It doesn’t matter what camera you use. The latest and greatest camera can make lousy images and an old one can produce true works of art. Light, composition, and creativity do not come in a box with a price tag attached. This fact is the great equalizer in photography, and that's something every photographer should remember.

Happy shooting!

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Copyright 2004 Dean M. Chriss
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