When people ask questions about what I do, my typical answer is: Who me? I’m just a photographer…—Joe Farace
Today’s Thoughts by Joe Farace
“A technically perfect photograph can be the world’s most boring picture.”—Andreas Feininger
There are all kinds of photographers in the world and I’m not just talking about portrait shooters, landscape photographers or astrophotographers. All of these different genres also include (at least) some of the categories of photographers I’m about to describe.
So lets get started:
Pixel Peepers: A photographer and former magazine editor once showed me a portrait that he made of a strikingly beautiful model and proudly said, “look how sharp her eyelashes are.” I guess they were sharp but the expression on her face said, “when is this session ever going to be over?” If you don’t get what’s wrong with the “sharp eyelashes” approach, check out this post Photographing Different Kinds of Portrait Subjects.
I’ll readily confess to shooting pictures of brick walls but only when I’m testing a lens and writing a review. When it comes to lenses or even cameras that get used for my personal photography including portraiture I just shoot’em and use’em. Ditto for DxO scores; I never look at them for myself but will occasionally refer to them, just for grins or to make a point, sometimes for both reasons.
Let me tell you something else: The best hands-down, all-world best ever mirrorless camera that I ever tested was the Samsung NX1. When looking at the images from the camera on my 5K iMac’s screen, I was blown away by their stunning visual quality; it was better than anything I’d ever used before. Others photographers, including YouTube’s Jordan Drake, have agreed with me about this camera. But Samsung didn’t get the memo about camera size for mirrorless cameras and the larger body of the NX1 made it disappear as quickly as the Nimslo. ( still have one of them, btw.)
How I made this photograph: I photographed this historic home in Georgetown, Colorado with a Nikon 28ti film camera using it’s panorama mode. While smarter photographers than me have said, “The most useless feature of this camera is the panorama mode,” I loved using this particular mode. The film was Kodak color negative film, I don’t remember which emulsion and the exposure was unrecorded, I traded this camera in on a Contax G1 and while I loved shooting the Nikon, I miss the Contax more.
Camera Collectors: Speaking of Contax, there is no doubt that some people admire the elegance and construction of photographic hardware, seldom take pictures but often care if the camera is the latest or “the best. ”When Shutterbug was a real magazine, I once wrote that “if carpenters could hang a belt sander around their neck, they might not treat it as the tool it is” but that’s not the way it works out here in the real world. Lets face it, we’re all camera collectors to some extent.
I’m not bragging but currently own a Leica M6 TTL, Zeiss SW, (barely working) Seagull TLR, Minolta Prod 20, Leica Z2X, Contax 167MT and all six of the SLRs in the Canon A-series, none of which I would part with. But it’s called, photography not cameraography and it’s all about making photographs and not just collecting beautiful mechanical and optical Objet d’art. Although I think that’s no excuse for manufacturers producing ugly-looking cameras.
Happy Snappers: We are all snapshooters to some extent. I’m not talking about using cell phones to make selfies but actually shooting pictures, like you and I and everybody else does for birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions. For some people, like my friend Renee, it’s all they use their camera for and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s one of a camera’s best uses and something that makes photography the universal language.
Photographers: I suspect there’s a bunch of people, much like me, that just enjoy making images of all kinds and genres. Yes, we love cameras and lenses, although mostly (for myself) as tools not as objects of worship and make pictures of birthdays and anniversaries too but also try to make images that are technically and aesthetically pleasing to ourselves and others.
There are probably more and other different kinds of picture takers out there and if you can think of any—or if you are one—please click the Contact tab and tell me what you think. Maybe you’re just a photographer yourself and want to talk about what you kind of images you like to make. Either way, I’d love to hear about that too. The best reply win a small prize.
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