Two from Amsterdam, with thanks

A short and sweet post today (update: or maybe not!) just to bring you a couple other photographs from my digital “archive” and, like those I’ve published recently from Edinburgh and Copenhagen, these too were captured with a Fuji Finepix A204 point-and-shoot – my first digital camera.  Someone might correct me on this but I think the Amsterdam trip was in 2003, with many of the same people who were on the weekends away in Edinburgh (earlier that year) and Copenhagen (the following year).  In the context of a recent post, I had to chuckle when I came across the photo above on the laptop last night.

A few days ago I posted a failed attempt at capturing motion while on a day trip to London, with the idea prompted by a fellow photographer who is chasing a shot that conveys motion in a public space.  Looking at the photograph above, and remembering that previous post, two things struck me:

1) Photographers (me included) have been trying the same kinds of photos for years.
2) A better camera does not mean better photos.

I’ll elaborate.  The photo above is proof that one of the earliest shots I took with a digital camera was an attempt to capture a photograph that showed motion.  7 years later I’m still at it. And I approached it 7 years ago in the same way that I approached it last week.  A steady camera, a slow shutter speed, and moving people.  In fact, I think you’ll agree the shot above is better than the photo I took last Friday.  Which brings me nicely to the second point.

The photograph above was taken, as mentioed already, with a point-and-shoot.  Last Friday I used a high-end digital SLR camera and possibly the best standard zoom lens money can buy.  Even allowing for digital cameras being, relatively speaking, more expensive 7 years ago, last Friday’s equipment was probably 10x the cost of that Fuji compact camera.  The photo produced by that expensive equipment is not 10x better.   As I said, I don’t think it’s even comparable.

Photographers can get caught up in needing the latest and greatest camera, lens, flashgun, whatever, and camera manufacturers market to that.  “Unrivalled high ISO performance”; “gain two stops of shutter speed for hand-held shots”; “throw light further than ever before from a hot shoe flash”… or words to that effect.

But the truth is, it’s possible to make great shots on mediocre equipment, just as it’s possible to make mediocre shots on great equipment.

Now that’s not to say I don’t still need that Nikon 70-200mm VRII lens [this sentence is primarily for the benefit of my wife!]

But seriously, it is true that often what’s in your camera bag is good enough – if you’re not getting good shots, it’s more likely user error than equipment shortcomings.  Just something to keep in mind.

Now, if you’ve read this far, you’ll be looking for that second photo from Amsterdam that I promised you at the outset.  I publish it below mainly because it’s from the same trip, but also because I think I should ‘reward’ you today for reading this far…

I had a short conversation with a few people on Twitter yesterday where it became obvious to me that more than a few people actually read all that I write here.  I’ve known all along that there are two types of people who view my blog – those who just look at the pictures (perhaps even just one), and those who look at the pictures and read the words.  I’m equally grateful for both, but those who go to the effort of reading what I write are especially appreciated.

I started this blog as a means of keeping track of how I was capturing images I took that I liked.  Not really for anyone’s benefit but my own.  I hit 300,000 pageviews here a couple of days ago 17 months after I started the blog.  That’s about 295,000 more than I would have thought I might ever have by now day I started blogging.  It’s been a rewarding experience to watch the viewership/readership grow, and it definitely keeps me blogging.

So if you read this far every day, or just once in a while, or even for the first time today – thank you!   And to say thank you, here’s that shot – a mediocre picture from a mediocre camera [there is a recession on, you know?] also captured in Amsterdam: