I caught the photography bug at the tender age 14. Someone gave me a book that featured the most awe-inspiring images my young mind had ever seen. For the rest of the year I begged and pleaded with my parents to buy me a camera. I left Sears and Service Merchandise catalogs opened to the camera section laying around the house along with various other not-so-subtle hints. On my 15th birthday they caved in and bought my first camera, a Canon AE-1 Program!
Over the years I’ve purchased many other cameras and shot many different genres of photography. The quest to produce images of the same quality as the ones that mesmerized me as a child has never changed though. I’ve thoroughly learned the technical aspects of photography, but more importantly I’ve learned that those technical aspects are only 10% of what makes a great photographer. A camera is only a tool. Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO are simply instructions on how to use that tool. The remaining 90% is derived from one’s artistic capabilities, not the camera itself!!! Learning new ways to compose a shot and build on my “eye” is where my passion for photography lives. Personally, I believe the minute a photographer feels he or she has “mastered” this is the minute that photographer’s work ceases to improve.
For this reason I’m always looking for something new. New subjects, new lighting techniques, new points of view, and new equipment if I feel it will allow me to do something I can’t do with what I already own. Maybe one day I’ll feel there just isn’t anything new when it comes to creating great photographs, but today is not the day!