When Kodak introduced the Kodamatic with its cubic flashes and 126 film; terrible were my first shots using that camera. Most of the shots were blurry because I was pressing the shutter with too much force.

 

 

A few months later while planning a trip, a neighbor named Joan lent me her small mechanical camera. A Bolsey B22 Set-O-Matic. Never had I used a camera that I had to load a film canister, set the aperture, shutter speed and ASA. My first shot was of Joan and my youngest sister standing in front of artwork at John F. Kennedy International airport.

 

  

Many years later in High School, I took a photography class with Mr. Spandorf. There I learned the art of the darkroom and that photography was an expensive hobby. We only did Black & White.

 

At the university I used my photographic skills to pay for my education.

 

Since I had taken too many pictures using film, I decided to cull all my albums. Now I have less than 20 with each page holding between 4 or 6 photographs and each album having an average of thirty pages. I gave all of my negatives to my aforementioned sister who also loves photography.

 

When the digital age of photography started, I was a member of an Eastman Kodak advisory group that was given film and other items to test and evaluate. Since I was a film only snob, when Kodak asked me to evaluate digital cameras, I told them that I wasn't interested in ever switching to digital.

 

Kodak, the 131-year-old film pioneer struggled for years to adapt to an increasingly digital world. They filed for bankruptcy protection on January 19, 2012. I felt responsible for having rejected their offer to test and evaluate their digital cameras.

 

The film cameras I've worked with are: Nikon F3, Bell & Howell, Pentax, and Canon AE-1 Program.

 

In the digital age I started out with a Nikon 4500 and quickly found out how much I disliked its time lag when taking pictures.

 

I've also used many point and shoot digital cameras from Samsung and Sony.

 

Now I'm using a Canon SL1 that fits my style of photography. I will not switch to a full frame sensor, because I can't stand the size and weight of the body of those cameras.

 

But to make it clear to all who read this, the camera you use is not as important as the eye of the photographer that actually takes the picture. Ansel Adams could take a better picture with a pinhole camera than any amateur with a $5,000 Canon EOS-1D X Mark 2.

 

I'm going to quote Dave Ward Photography who explains clearly what I couldn't do in a few paragraphs.

 

WHAT MAKES A PHOTO GREAT?

 

People want to believe there's a lazy, easy way to become a good photographer. They want to know, "What can I buy to be a good photographer?"

 

You can't buy it. There's no camera, no add-on, and no lens that does it. There's no film and no process, not even any Photoshop filter for it. You have to earn it through practice.

 

People often ask a photographer they admire, "What camera are you using?" But the camera doesn't matter. A good photographer can take excellent photos with a $5 disposable camera. The camera is just a tool. Crediting the camera for the photo is like crediting the screwdriver for renovating your kitchen. Like a screwdriver, the camera is merely a tool.

 

The subject doesn't matter, either. There is no subject that can't be photographed beautifully. Anybody who's seen beautiful photos of run-down buildings, collapsing barns and dirty urban alleys should understand that. Beauty is everywhere and in everything. Any subject can be photographed well.

 

The be-all, end-all of what makes a good photograph are two elements:

 

(1) The photographer's eye. The photographer must be able to spot a good photo before that photo can be taken. The photographer can't show you something that she can't see herself.

 

(2) The photographer's ability to capture what s/he sees in an image so that other people can see it the same way. That's an admirable skill that takes years to learn, and a lifetime to master.

 

Those two elements are what it's all about. Don't credit the camera for good photos; a good photographer can take beautiful shots with even the worst junk camera. Don't credit the subject for good photos; even the most beautiful people can be photographed poorly, and even the ugliest subject can be photographed beautifully.

 

Credit the photographer's eye and skill. That's where the key to good photos lies--in the vision, and the ability to translate that vision to paper or pixels.

www.flickr.com/people/daveward/