As Photographers, We Are So Fortunate

I captured this Great Blue Heron the instant before it left the pilon.  Only the tip of a single claw remains.  Unless luck was with me, I know I couldn't have made this image without the technology built into my Olympus camera.  With a half press of the shutter, the camera allowed me to continuously buffer 30 exposures as I waited for the heron to take flight.  Upon full press of the shutter, the cameras records the most recent 30 exposures along with the additional ones so I never miss the shot I want.  I just don't have that kind of instantaneous reaction time at my age.  (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 40-150mm f/2.8 lens @ 150mm; 1/2500th sec. @ f/4.5; ISO 200

Once again it is December. This is the time of the year that I take stock of my life and what may have befallen me over the last 12 months. I try to consciously think about what experiences I may have had, the good fortune that has come my way as well as what opportunities may have been lost and the difficulties with I have which I’ve had to deal. Since this is primarily a photography blog, I thought I would say a few things about how fortunate you and I are being photographers today.

I think about the gear to which I have access. I think about the superb picture taking machines called digital cameras, that are available to us.  I think about my digital camera and how it facilitates my desire to make satisfying photographs.  I think about the number of features in my digital camera and how they allow me to make just about any type of photograph under any circumstance in any condition.  I think about the wide variety of  extraordinarily good lenses available to me in such a wide variety of configurations, speed and cost.  

I think about the ease in which I am able to travel to various locations to photograph things that I may want to photograph. 

I think about all of the information, tutorials, reviews, commentary and photographic inspiration that are at my fingertips electronically.  I think about my ability to instantly share my photographic knowledge, images, thoughts words and personal experiences with anyone anywhere on the planet who has access to the Internet.  

I think about all of the software that is available to us to help us plan for, execute, make, edit and share, exhibit and print our digital images. There are so many capabilities available to us through software, whether on a computer, a tablet or a phone that we have the ability to manipulate our images in such a wide variety of ways to make them just about anything we would ever want them to be. 

It is so much easier now to achieve our photographic vision than it was at any time in the past. We can make images in near total darkness or stop action at 1/32,000th of a second.  We can focus instantly on, not any eye but the nearest eye of a family member, pet or distant moose.  We can stack many photos to achieve limitless depth of field as well as take photos at 20, 30 and now 120 frames per second.  We can save and share our photos to electronic devices and never have to worry about the precious family album of snapshots being misplaced or lost forever, losing all of those family memories.  Do you prefer black and white images?  No problem.  Instant conversions are possible.  Do you like the look of long forgotten photographic processes or films?  Again, at your fingertips.  We can replicate just about any kind of film or photographic process long ago extinct.

What about any negative things that have come my way?  None really.  My wife and I built and now live in a wonderful home in a small town and we are blessed to have had that opportunity.  But the upshot of that was that I was unable to travel and photograph most of the year.  I needed to stay close to the project to ensure all went as we planned. 

I sold off most of my gear as an attempt to simplify my photographic life.  Do I regret it?  No, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t buy some additional gear in the future—strictly for your benefit, of course.  Yes, that’s the ticket, for your benefit.  After all you want to read what I find and think about some new and different gear.  At least tell me you do as that will give me an excuse to try something new.  I admit, I do love photo gear, always have, and really enjoy learning, using and writing about gear I’ve newly acquired.

I could go on and on about how fortunate we are as photographers today. Today there are so many opportunities afforded us in so many ways that our predecessors never had. We seem to have everything that we could ever want for our photography.  We really have no reason to complain but yet there are those who seem to never be satisfied.  No matter how good the gear is, they find fault and want more.  I find that disappointing.

I do have a concern that many of us, not just those who may have come to photography in the digital age, but also those who may take for granted the tools we have today, take all of these opportunities for granted and don’t really take time to appreciate what we have to help us achieve our vision.

So my next year’s wish for you is to be thankful and grateful for all the things I’ve mentioned that allow you and me to make the images we wish to make almost effortlessly.  Be happy with what you have and don’t worry about what you don’t have.  Most of all be creative and enjoy!

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

All content on this blog is © 2013-2021 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.https://www.dennismook.com