I love to take pictures, but have almost no clue about the technical side of things. My purchase of a Nikon D300 last year was intended to be a first step on to this learning curve: I was going to explore exactly what it takes to make really great pictures all of the time. The recent sale of the D300 marked the exercise as a failure, but it was not a disaster. One thing I did learn was that I have little time to get into the minutae of great pics, so I need a camera with a good auto setup. It also confirmed that I really enjoy photography – taking bad pics is very frustrating! My new armoury of the Nikon D90 and the Leica D-Lux 4 is working out well so far. Like I say, they only need to make me happy.
Who knows how many gearheads there are – camera guys who get off on the latest kit and big buck lenses but who take few inspiring pics. To me that would be the worst: having all the gear but no idea. Bit like a friend of mine who shocked me when he said that he had studied guitar for three years and at the end of it couldn’t tell a C from a G. I was devastated for him.
I came to guitar and photography late, but they are easily two of my favourite things. It’s great to see my middle daughter enjoying her guitar and my eldest trying hard with her camera. I also just found out that my nephew Kevin enjoys taking pics with his phone cam. He is good too, despite the limitations of the technology. Both pics in this post are by Kevin, from his holiday in Lourdes last week.
If you have someone in your house who loves an activity and has talent, however small: support, share and enjoy it. It can be frustrating when the focus is off, or there’s a finger in front of the lens but, if they really do love it and develop their skill to a point where they can make their living from it in the years to come, or use it to balance the world’s most boring job, how rewarding will that be?
