Always Carry a Camera? Yes! Look & See



www.dennismook.com

I'm not one to subscribe to the philosophy that "the best camera is the one you have with you", which was written about using your smartphone as a camera when out and about.  My opinion, and opinions are neither right nor wrong but merely opinions, is that if you are serious about your photography and not a "snapshooter" then you will carry a "real" camera with you.  What I am saying is that if you have any idea that you might come across a situation that you may want to document photographically, don't just carry a phone with a camera built into it, carry a point-and-shoot or small, versatile, real camera with you if you don't choose to carry your main gear.  You can't be THAT lazy or THAT laissez-faire about your work that you would trust your creativity and vision to a telephone with a lens in which you cannot made proper adjustments to capture an image in the best manner possible.  Carry a smartphone if a) you are doing a project with a smartphone and that is your main photographic instrument or, b) you just really don't care about what you capture.  Enough said.  Just an opinion.

So, why, at all times, carry a camera with you?  Because you may come across something truly spectacular that demands you stop what you are doing and make images.  That is exactly what happened to me last night.

I was having dinner at a remote diner with some very close friends on a day that had been stormy off and on.  I left the diner at 8 p.m. to make the hour drive home and, as I traveled through the Virginia countryside, I noticed in my rear view mirror some cloud formations that made me stop and spend 10-15 minutes recording the changes in formation, color, contrast and luminance of the clouds.  There is only one of these that I could have made with a smartphone but it wouldn't have had the quality of these images.  The rest were at long focal lengths that are not possible with a smartphone.  My assertion is proven. 

Take a look at the images in this blog post that I made with my little Olympus OMD E-M5.  Ten to fifteen minutes at the side of a country road recording an absolutely beautiful scene.  I'm glad I had it with me and not a smartphone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson Learned?  Carry a real camera.  It is worth it. 



 

Thanks for looking.

 

Enjoy!

Dennis Mook