Thursday, July 28, 2011

Fair

Woaaaaaah! by corinne.schwarz
Woaaaaaah!, a photo by corinne.schwarz on Flickr.

I saw a lot of people wandering around the fairgrounds with dSLRs.

I wonder what kinds of pictures other people take. They buy big fancy cameras, nice lenses, cool straps and facy cases. Do they know how to use them?

I always have people telling me that they wish they knew how to use all the settings on their cameras. They say they want me to teach them, but the time never comes. They are always too busy.

So do they really want to learn, or do they realize how silly it is to buy equipment that they aren't sure how to use?

A lot of websites make fun of people who buy cool cameras without knowing how to use them. "Every girl you went to highschool with that has a nice camera calls herself a photographer" type stuff.

It is true. Of course there are people who know how to use their stuff... I talk to a lot of them on flickr. But really, there is a disporportionate number of cameras floating around, set to "auto" at all times.

Not to mention the people who ask me what kind of camera I have. They see a cool picture, and out pops, "oh wow, this is such an awesome shot! you must have a nice camera!". I've also had quite a few people ask me to help them make a camera purchase.

They really seem to be under the impression that there is a direct correlation between money spent on equipment and awesomeness of pictures.

Mind you, you can be an awesome photographer and get some good images out of a point and shoot. I've got some pictures I took with my phone that I absolutly love.

There are two things about photography.

1). Technial Knowledge. You must know about shutter speed, ISO and aperature. You have to. You have to realize how these three things interact. You have to have some idea of how to process images (Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, etc).

2). Aestetic. You have to be able to see beauty before you can capture it. You have to have the perspective of an artist.

Anyway, back to the fair... I was wondering which of these people walking around with a dSLR around their necks were techincally good, which were aesticially good, which were both, and which were neither.

And what did they think of me? Were they looking at me the same way I was looking at them?

Either way, my kid had fun riding rides, and I had fun taking pictures. :)

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