Can Anyone Be A Photographer?

Someone once told me that "Anyone can be a great photographer, as long as you have an expensive camera." I was quite shocked to have someone say that to me! 

You would never say "That art work is only good because the artist used expensive paints and brushes" so why would you say that the photographer is only good because of her camera?? 

Good photography requires knowledge of light, exposure, composition and depth of field. It then requires skill to use that knowledge to make the picture the photographer wants to make. 

 "Pictures are not taken, they are made." Ansel Adams. 

In your view of the camera, the camera controls you, because you are limited to its auto settings. If you are relying on the camera, the only part of the image that is in your control what you choose to shoot. But in my view, I control the camera, giving myself full control over the image adjusting exposure and depth of field and shutterspeed and iso and focus points and so on. In other words, the camera is only doing the work if you rely on auto settings. If you are choosing your own settings, all the camera does is open the shutter allowing light to hit the sensor or film. 

 "Photography is a medium of formidable contradictions. It is both ridiculously easy and almost impossibly difficult. It is easy because its technical rudiments can readily be mastered by anyone with a few simple instructions. It is difficult because, while the artist working in any other medium begins with a blank surface and gradually brings his conception into being, the photographer is the only imagemaker who begins with the picture completed. His emotions, his knowledge, and his native talent are brought into focus and fixed beyond recall the moment the shutter of his camera has closed." -Edward Steichen

Now, its true that the camera impacts the image. Very few people can get good pictures on their camera phone. You DO need a good quality camera. BUT, the camera can only do so much, and the more knowledge and experience the photographer has about photography, the higher possibility of producing better images. 

Sorry for the rant. In the future, don't ever tell a photographer that "anyone can be a photographer, as long as you have a nice camera". 

-Britt 

Photo By Heather Bybee