Life vs Photo

[Tom Edgerton]

Marvin's point is well made, but you REALLY have to hear what he's saying. The camera is just another tool. If you master it, it becomes as fluid a tool as your favorite brush, and the possibilities for creativity are no less than with any other approach. But you have to dedicate yourself to the same mastery of it as you seek with brushes and paint. The guiding principle is that you will only be as creative and visionary as your weakest link will allow.

Perfunctory work with a camera will result in a perfunctory painting. I've made this mistake often enough to know it's true. The camera won't tap you on the shoulder and tell you to look at something from a higher or lower angle, for instance. If you imbue the camera with a creative mind it doesn't have, you do indeed relinquish your responsibility and your soul as an artist.

I've seen truly stunning photographs that beat the artistic pants off of mediocre paintings. Tools are neutral, skills are not. And tools aren't skills--we shouldn't confuse the two. The heart isn't in the camera (or not), it's behind it.