Ansel Adams,
Clearing Winter Storm,
Yosemite

Ken Rockwell – a kickass photographer (nature, primarily) – has a great entry about how people think the latest camera (or circular saw and so on) will make one that much better a photographer (or carpenter yada yada).

Bullshit, he basically says.

He quotes some other photogs, and sums up with this:

Just about any camera, regardless of how good or bad it is, can be used to create outstanding photographs for magazine covers, winning photo contests and hanging in art galleries. The quality of a lens or camera has almost nothing do with the quality of images it can be used to produce.

You probably already have all the equipment you need, if you’d just learn to make the best of it. Better gear will not make you any better photos, since the gear can’t make you a better photographer.

Photographers make photos, not cameras.

It’s sad how few people realize any of this, and spend all their time blaming poor results on their equipment, instead of spending that time learning how to see and learning how to manipulate and interpret light.

That’s how Ansel Adams – with his now antique equipment – was able to get such great pictures. He trudged out to the ledge overlooking Yosemite Valley a billion times, in all kinds of weather, at ungodly times.

And when the time was right, he clicked the shutter.

And – my guess – a lot of times he never printed the negatives he took. That’s part of the job: Every picture is not a masterpiece. Even from a master.

Excellent article; read it to get over the “I need a 100-megapixel camera to take better vacation shots!” syndrome.