On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 3:11 PM, frank theriault <knarftheria...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 11:05 AM, John Sessoms <jsessoms...@nc.rr.com> wrote: > >> The camera is just one tool in the photographer's toolbox. > > I think that deserves a "MARK!", even though I kind of disagree with you. > > Surely the camera is more than "just one tool" in our toolbox. It's > ~the~ tool, isn't it? Without it there's no photograph. No matter > what other hardware, software or storage devices you put your images > in or through, the camera is the necessary starting point of the > photographic process (no, the photographer is not the starting point, > because s/he only becomes a photographer when s/he has a camera with > him/her). A photographic idea without a camera is still not a > photograph, is it?
I first liked the "one tool" quote. Then thought Frank had a point. Then realized that that both are correct. It depends upon what your definition of photographer and a photograph is. Vivian Maier was a photographer. She used a camera to make photographs. But she also left a box of film, that never became prints. If a photograph is made when the image is captured (latently) on a medium (in digital form or on film, for example) then you are a photographer the moment you press the shutter button, even if you never produce a single photograph (finished image) for anyone to see, in any form. But I think what John is aluding to is a photographer that completes the process... "delivers the goods", so to speak. Puts film in the camera. Develops the film. Makes the print. Post-processed the RAW file. Uploads the jpeg. In that case, the camera was certainly a prerequisite tool (even if it is a lens-less pinhole camera). But it was only one tool needed in that chain from opening the shutter to presenting an image that one can appreciate. Without ANY ONE of those tools, a photographic idea is still not a photograph, is it? -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
