"The best optics and the most advanced camera make you a better photographer!"
Anybody for Zeiss or Leica? Or maybe just the Canon L lenses and nothing without the original RED ring on it? Sometimes we are all so caught up in the race for the "best" lenses, the "best" cameras (D3X, 5Dmk2...) that we often forget good photographs have nothing to do with best equipments. Define "Good"... my definition of a good photograph is one that stirs emotions, one with depth in character, a unique vision and deep meaning in it. This kind of photographs make me stare at them for minutes, impresses so deeply in my mind for years, make me feel, and make me wanna re-look at it again and again. Each time I look at it again, it seems to speak deeper.
Are we just so bogged down with how sharp a leica lens could be, or how nice a "bokeh" can a F1.2 lens create, that we are constantly missing out precious photographic opportunities just near us? It could be your baby smiling, it could be a reflection in a puddle of water on the streets or it could just be a simple door knob bathed in morning sun...
Should we be enjoying photography by buying and upgrading equipments OR should we be enjoying photography without the distraction of equipments but just by our each and individual pure and unique vision God has given? Photography should be a pure enjoyment of unrestricted freedom in self-expression without the fear of losing to others, not getting recognition, or not passing someone else's standards!
