BY FAR THE MOST POPULAR QUESTION I HAVE
BEEN ASKED DURING MY CAREER.

 

This question undeniably represents among people, the growing misconception between an instrument and its use during a predictive/creative process. Let me elaborate on the subject.

 

You want to play the flute; It's simple, all you do is blow here and move your fingers over these holes and Voila! Music magically created.

 

REALLY? 

 

NOT QUITE...  

Using something with Skills, competence & experience with the aim of achieving something totally specific and predictable is quite different and so much more difficult and challenging than just knowing how to press a key or button with one finger. 

 

You can't expect to just buy a flute, a piano, a typewriter or a new camera and expect them to create great music, poetry or fine-art shot perfectly composed, with perfect planes of sharpness with just the right amount of contrast and colors all filled with emotion. If you want to create music, play the piano, write poetry, or take exquisite shots, you need to know the theory & how what you are aiming to achieve before using the tool... You can't just buy a Grand piano hoping to become Beethoven on the spot. This is about as meaningless as someone asking their Steinway dealer what kind of piano to buy so they can play like Horowitz, Elton John, or Billy Joel.

 

People ask me all the time what best camera and lenses to buy so they can take great landscapes fine art shots. Buying a better camera without having the skills, competence, experience and the predictable know how is as pointless as buying a Steinway Grand piano and not being able to play keyboards in the first place. It, unfortunately, seems like most people just want to buy "the best camera and lenses" and expect every picture to just come out pitch perfect all the time. What is quite striking is the fact that no one ever wonders about what photographer want to achieve in pre-visualizing his or her shots. Luck is never part of the equation when shooting great & unique shots. For experienced photographers, the "luck factor" is not a meaningful success strategy it just doesn’t ever exist. 

 

A skilled photographer has no need to shot thousands of shots to capture what he wants. Genuinely knowing how to pre-visualize a future shot in a predictive way, the photographer shoots less and because he knows exactly the result he will achieve, he can shoot with any brand of camera and will always get "his own signature style of photography"; the expected results he anticipated & predicted without the "hope" of getting a "lucky shot". You can ask Elton John to play on any type of pianos, Grand piano, child electronic keyboard; you will always recognize his sound, style & talent. It's the same with a camera.

 

HOPE & LUCK ARE NOT AN EFFECTIVE STRATEGY FOR BECOMING A TALENTED OR SUCCESSFUL MUSICIAN, POET, ARTIST OR FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER. AN INANIMATED INSTRUMENT BY ITSELF CREATES'S NOTHING, AS IT NEEDS A SKILLED, COMPETENT, KNOWLEDGEABLE AND EXPERIENCED DRIVER IN THE DRIVER SEAT.

 

The moral of this lesson is that music and photography are far more than just knowing what buttons to push. Before you buy the latest an greatest camera to take better pictures, know that until you predictably know what and how you're trying to do, all you're going to get are the same snapshots you’ve got before but maybe with more pixels; nothing more. A well-tuned Steinway will play a kid's chords with brilliant tones, but there won't be any music coming out of it until a real pianist pushes his stool in. To learn to play piano take endless music lessons.

 

TO LEARN HOW TO TAKE REAL GREAT PICTURES, REQUIRES TALENTS, SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, COMPETENCE, EXPERIENCE AND IF POSSIBLE ART AND COMPOSITION CLASSES.

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