Good vs. Great

Perhaps I shouldn't be blogging tonight--after a mostly good weekend that was only spoiled by work stuff, or rather, having to do some work, I find myself in a mood of sorts. Mostly it is self reflective and it is about photography.

Several of us have been asked this weekend if our pictures look the way they do because of the camera, and heard comments that "you must be able to take really good pictures with that camera." Admittedly this is a long standing "peeve" of mine. I recall telling a reporter once who said this to me that "he must be able to write really "good" stories because he had a good typewriter." That tells you how long this has bothered me--a typewriter? Really.

The thing is, I have been feeling that these people might be right. I have a zillion dollar (at least in my economic world) camera that I put on automatic and autofocus and take snapshots of flowers. Yes, I move around and zoom in and all that, but mostly, it's a point and shoot. And it makes me think that it's the camera that is making the pictures.

I over state this, of course. Thirty five years of experience has given me some edge on the general public--repetition is a form of learning, you know. But I think this is weighing on me right now because I realize that what I am posting and what I have been posting has been pretty and perhaps accomplished in some ways, but really it doesn't mean anything. This was brought home to me when I saw a friend's postings of pictures. I perhaps could have been bold enough to offer technical advice in a few instances--remember, when taking photos of water or people in the water, set your camera to "plus 1" for exposure compensation! But I quibble and they would only be inconsequentially better with that advice. The pictures were absolutely stunning. And they were so because they meant something to so many people.

I am not going to chuck my cameras in the Mississippi River or anything. If nothing else, I enjoy taking meaningless photos! They are pretty. But I am more aware than ever that there is a difference between great photos and good photos, and the difference is not because of the camera, but because the results, the pictures, mean something.

I will have to work on that. In the meantime, enjoy a few pretty pictures. Click on the sunflowers to see how they attract bees as well as photographers with really good cameras...