It’s that time of year where the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes excellence in cinematic achievements in the film industry, and so many people tune in to see who will win awards for their creative talent.
I love seeing people excel at their art, whatever their art might be. The Academy Awards is not just about excellence in art. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes politics that goes on, and jockeying to make sure “their” film gets noticed. It’s only normal that would be the case because there are big bucks involved. Still, I’ll try to not be too cynical about it all, and just celebrate success in art.
I think about so many artists I know who are not “winners” in the sense of having gotten an award, but I look at the art they are creating and I very much see them as outstanding artists. I see them as “winners”, even without an award. And I see some artists who are getting better, gradually perfecting their craft, and maybe still have a way to go (hey we all do, honestly) but when I look at how far they’ve come, I cant help but see them as “winners” also.
Photography is a form of ART that is really pretty technical. For some folks, the technical stuff can be a little overwhelming. For others, they just love the technical stuff, and in some cases get obsessed by it. (Ok, self confession, I have a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, thus I have a degree in being a “nerd”) For us nerds, we have to be careful to not let our nerd-ness get out of hand.
Especially when you are bombarded with all the marketing out there, you can be lured into thinking that you simply must own all the highest quality technical gear available today: the absolute sharpest and fastest lenses, the “highest quality glass” (lingo for fancy lenses), cameras that go to ISO 3,280,000 or can shoot 11 frames per second or have a huge sensor, the most expensive lights available, etc. Now I am NOT saying that having good quality gear is bad at all. But what I am getting to is that as much as we might be tempted to think that our photographs will turn out so much better if we had the best gear available to us, that just doesn’t turn out to be the case.
This is ART. Creativity, talent, skill, and knowledge of how to make the best use of what you own matters way more than having the most fancy equipment available. Ultimately, “technical perfection” is not the “winner”. Strive to create great art, regardless of what camera you own.
Or here’s a musical analogy: You may have seen this youtube video of a street drummer doing some pretty cool drumming with plastic buckets. No fancy drums. Just plastic buckets.
I encourage you to push yourself to excel at your art. Don’t worry about how fancy your gear is. Just focus on using it better. Sharpen your skills. Ask questions. Learn. Make mistakes. Learn some more. Get better.
And don’t worry if your work is not as good as others’ yet. Just keep striving to be better. If you keep doing that, in my view, YOU ARE A WINNER.
Happy Picture Taking,
Kevin Gourley
