The photo is a thing in itself. And that’s what still photography is all about.
— Garry Winogrand

Long Day — GF1, Olympus 50mm f/1.8

Pictures do not have to be perfect.

Cartier-Bresson was not.

Walker Evans was not.

Daido Moriyama is not.

A lot of folks are gun-ho and always raving about image quality, mega pixels, sensor size, this or that, or Canon vs. Nikon. I say, just look back and analyze some the greats and you’ll see a lot of their recognized pictures are far from great on these technical characteristics but exude a different sense of greatness.

Its much more than that. There are things like composition, the decisive moment, shape, form, color or lack thereof, mood, feeling, and emotion. An image can have a certain mix of these aforementioned qualities and still be an amazing image.

Gear is irrelevant and often time certain cameras can have a certain allure to them. I won’t deny that I’d love to shoot with an M9 and a 50 Lux but the fact is I don’t own one.

Will I let that affect my creativity, off course not. Will I try to acquire one in the future – I don’t know, maybe, maybe not, who cares. The point is that I still recognize that the simple ownership of a Leica or a new Fuji X Pro 1 doesn’t automatically make great photographs either. The same can be said about high powered dslrs like the Nikon D700 and Canon 5DKII.

Getting Old — Olympus EPL2, Olympus 17mm f/2.8

The streets are my territory and I still wander them aimlessly with my camera.
 
— Daido Moriyama

Those who know me will know that I’m a lover of small compacts. Having a discrete and powerful small compact to capture moments(Ricoh GRD4, Ricoh GX200 — an amazing flickr set, or Lumix LX3) and be as stealth as possible are most of the time my #1 requisites. Its my personal opinion that these small compacts bring something magical to everyday photography which their larger siblings simply can not.

Off course frames from cameras like the Nikon D90 & Canon T2i will have a different set of characteristics but we all know that cameras don’t make images – togs do.

So with that said take a look at this images, they’re far from perfect but I believe they capture a moment which is descriptive of a feeling and a state of mind.

The point is don’t get so caught in what gear you have or don’t have, use what you have, get creative, and in the end, I’m sure you’re camera will sing that song as well.

Stay tuned for the next installment of my weekly project coming this Sunday.