I had a fundamental shift in my thinking last night. I picked up a copy of "The Camera" by Ansel Adams at the local bookshop (and read through about half of it in one sitting, but that's another story). The thing that struck me the most was that he never talks about taking a photograph, he always refers to it as making a photograph.

Now that I've seen that statement, it seems obvious to me. I'm the photographer. I've got the control over the shot. I'm not taking anything form anyone/anywhere. I'm building something completely new. Funny how one little work can change the way you look at the world.

BTW, for beginners like myself... GET THIS BOOK! It explains it all clearly!

Thanks Taltos, I've been meaning to chase up a copy of that book...after reading this post, well, now I know what my mission tomorrow is! :-)>

I think I'll be after that book too ; ) Coming to photography from painting I think I've always felt it is more about creating an image than just taking a photo, it changes the way you look at the world... wait & see ; D

I prefer to think of the resulting image captured as a tool itself. It's merely a piece of the puzzle in my mind.

Is that the Basic Photo One, "Camera and Lens"? He also has one called, "Examples; The Making of 40 Photographs," which is really inspirational. Yes, very important point of view.

Unfortunately we are no longer makers of photographs; with the tools we have available now we are much more, imo. I see myself as an imagineer. (",)

Hah! "Imagineer". I thought I made that up! I used that word in a poem I wrote ages ago (high school, I think). Misha, yeah, it's the basic one, just titled "The Camera". I work with a little point-and-click digital camera at the moment, while I teach myself the basics of composition. I've been thinking about buying either a nice digital with manual features, or a a traditional film camera, but I didn't have a clue where to start. After reading this, I not only understand traditional cameras of all sorts, I can make a better decision about what type of digital to look for. I almost bought the "Examples" book too, but my six year-old pointed out that it wasn't fair that I should get two books, when she only got one (yes, I could have bought her another one too, but her room already looks like a library). -Taltos