The Camera: The object of our desire. The zenith of all that we wish for, a box of wizardry and technology for us to master and hang upon the wall its byproducts triumphantly in declaration of our success. Or merely a necessity, a door which must be passed through to enable us to expand our vision and enlighten our minds.
Like many things in life, the journey is often cyclical. Whether we start with the most basic of cameras and progress through the ever-increasing technological range, only to ‘return to our roots’, or start with ‘the best I could afford’ (or if you’re lucky enough, the best that money can buy) and through natural inquisitiveness then try to replicate ‘The masters’ using basic technology, then returning to the bells and whistles of modern technology, the fact remains that we cannot produce an image without a camera.
I like the technology, and have recently discovered the dichotomy of my (relatively) new camera lurking amongst its multitude of buttons and knobs. Having explored and made best use of the ‘idiot-proof’ modes of aperture/shutter-speed priority modes, I now find myself ‘regressing’ to ‘fully manual’ mode. That is to say, I now have to concentrate on two variables to achieve the desired effect!
With the advent of the Phone-camera, much grumbling and muttering can be heard within the rank and file professional photographers of how the art has been debased. Some may say that the veil has been lifted and the playing-field levelled. This was also said with the advent of digital photography, and also the Polaroid, and the Instamatic before that. Mastery of technology is of course only one facet of photography, much like driving a car, passing your test and driving on the road is one thing, but to become a ‘Lewis Hamilton’ or ‘Sebastian Loeb’ requires much more than the pressing of pedals and turning of the steering wheel.
I see! 