Eye of the Beholder

“ Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

This saying first appeared in the 3rd century BC in Greek.

You should have, by now read our article on “ Choosing the right equipment.” This would have helped you find what equipment suites your unique needs. However the way you LOOK at things, through your viewfinder:  is just as, if not more important than what camera you hold in your hands.

A story from the New York Photographic Society club in the early 1900 illustrates this point, beautifully.

There was one member of the club that was considerably more well off than most, he was also taking all of the awards at the club competitions. Fellow club members were grumbling that  he was only doing so because of his superior equipment. As these things do, the grumblings came to his ears. 

In order to end this he threw down a challenge to the club. Each member would make a pin hole camera. A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture, a pinhole – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box, which is known as the camera obscura effect.

Then they all had one day, just one day, to hit the streets of New York with these little cameras and one spool of film. At next club meeting the competition would consist of entries from the results.

He walked away with every award, as usual at that meeting.  Thus proving, that the way the photographer sees things is just as, if not more important than his equipment.

We shall be posting a few more articles on how to improve the way a photographer “looks” at things.