My Photographs

My photographs are usually displayed “as made”. On occasion, I will crop or level a photo, but that is as far as I will go. In most cases when I have to crop or level, I feel that I have failed in some small way to make the photograph I intended.

I have zero interest in photoshopping my photographs. From my viewpoint, a photo that is heavily altered in PhotoShop or another graphics program becomes something else. It is a graphic or an image. But though it may have started life as a photograph, it is no longer a photograph.

For the Gearheads
The tools I currently use are a Nikon D200 and a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01. Both cameras are somewhat out of date, and they are quite different from each other. I use them for different things. They both fit my hands well and suit my purpose, which is to help make what I consider to be good photographs.
The D200 was a state-of-the-art DSLR in 2005. I bought it when the price came down to the point where it fit my budget. It’s a solid tool and it helps me make the photographs I intend.
The FX01 was a gift from my wife Lisa. She gave it to me just before I went on a 19-day ride to the East Coast and back in 2006. It’s a very small point and shoot camera with a good wide angle lens. It will fit in my jacket pocket, and suspended on a neck strap, I can operate it while riding my motorcycle. I know that sounds dangerous, but I only photograph from the saddle when there is no appreciable road traffic, which means I’m away from the cities – usually out in the desert or mountains.

For the Non-Gearheads
The above information about my tools doesn’t matter. To paraphrase Paul Kantner (I think), “It doesn’t mean shit to a tree.” They are just tools. Hammers and wrenches.
If you think that you must run out and get the newest, shiny cameras every time your favorite manufacturer releases a new model, please do. That kind of rampant consumerism is what keeps Canon, Nikon, and Pentax in the black, and helps them keep producing improved cameras which are useful to the rest of us when we want to buy a new camera every few years.
If, on the other hand, you’d like to disabuse yourself of the idea that you always have to have the newest toy, read about making good photographs at http:// kenrockwell.com.

Keep in mind that Ken apparently has the money to buy any equipment he wants, unlike the vast majority of us, but that allows him to give a lot of information away to the general public. Useful information (what a concept!), particularly when you are shopping for equipment.