Saw this quoted on a photo site, attributed to The Amateur Photographer’s Handbook by Aaron Sussman (pp. 116, 117):
After Edward Steichen had put together that monumental photographic exhibition, The Family of Man, he summed it by saying: “No photographer is as good as the simplest camera.” What he meant, of course, was that the wonders of even a simple camera are not fathomed by one man in a lifetime. Whether it’s a ten dollar Instamatic, or a three thousand dollar Hasselblad loaded with accessories, there is one magical ingredient that brings the inanimate machine to life: the brain of the photographer.
Needless to say, if a good photographer does not match the simplest camera, a bad photographer (me) is lost with a more complex one.
But hey, it’s fun trying.
That’s a good quote, and so true. I saw something somewhere that was similar. A couple was invited over for dinner and showed their hosts some of their photos. The hosts said, oh, you have a really great camera. After dinner, the guests remarked to the host that it was a great meal, and said “you must have some really good pots and pans.”
It’s the same thing with golf clubs. A pro could go play eighteen with a garden rake and beat me up and down the course even if I was playing the most expensive set of custom Pings.
But camera companies, and golf club companies, are in the business of selling hope…
But camera companies, and golf club companies, are in the business of selling hope.
Ha. “Hope” generates pretty big business, doesn’t it?