wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

i can afford and have and do own what is considered to be a "high performance" vehicle. however, it does not sit in my living room where i can "admire" it. it is a daily driver and also i drive it on tracks, when time and location permit. i did not purchase it as an exercise in ego, but as an automobile built to my capabilities. my skill as the operator allows me to fully appreciate the engineering and the limits of the car within the laws of physics. the automobile has been the object of admiration and compliments. my response to those people is a "thank you" and i follow up by telling them it is just a car to get you where you are going. on the street, highway or track, that is all that it is, and nothing more. oh yes, it is also relatively quiet.

as an aside, my late spouse, Erica, was also a driver and raced her Datsun 510 in rallys. she would have approved what i now drive. there are some great performance automobiles, well balanced between brake horsepower and pound feet of torque, that are affordable to most folks. two i can easliy recommend are the volkswagon gti and the mazda 3 series, in sedan or hatchback. great performance sedans, both of them. and their cost is affordable to most people. they are a lot of fun to drive in rallys and also on the track, if your skills are equal to the task.

so no one has to feel left out.

NoSocks Loc: quonochontaug, rhode island

Very true and you're helping me make my point. Whether to race the car or sit with a martini and admire it is up to the owner and no one should say, "what a waste" to either owner.

DoyleY Loc: Worland, Wyoming

Thanks.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

But you can't master driving a 4 second drag car by running a Prius an 1/8th mile. I would say you cannot master a DSLR shooting by shooting an Instamatic. The technology is also part of what be mastered, not just composition, lighting, etc. Many great Masters have mastered these in painting or sculpture but have no idea how to use a DSLR if handed one.

Best,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

i think, as far as automobiles are concerned, you are comparing apples to oranges. using an instamatic and a dslr is very much the same thing. neither will perform capably without knowledge of light and available dark, composition and skill in processing and printing the resulting image. professional photographers, whether film or digital imaging devices, know what to use and more importantly, what not to use with the equipment they have, and how to use it in the specific situation.

with regard to drag racing, knowing when to shift and steering straight ahead is about all there is. anyone can go fast on the bonneville salt flats, but that is not about driving, it is simply a matter of absolute speed within a given distance. and anyone can go fast, all that needs is maximum use of the throttle.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

it is wasted if not used for its purpose. and the purpose of any automobile is to be driven.

geraldneal

Concentrate on your art, the technowlogy will fall into place.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

precisely

delkeener Loc: SW Rhode Island, USA

Dorothea Lange used a Graflex Super D, often the choice of pro sports photographers.

Regis Loc: Coeur d' Alene, Idaho

True. But, when one has the professional knowledge of 50 years of photography and then uses a professional camera and lens, you will have more
successful photos to show for your efforts.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Great cameras don't make great photographs... Great PHOTOGRAPHERS make great photographs! Better gear just makes it easier, faster, simpler, and improves the technical quality. But they can't control the light and the moment and the composition and choice of subject matter...

NoSocks Loc: quonochontaug, rhode island

what you're saying then, is that all the concours competitors who show their classic automobiles (and watch them appreciate in value) are wasting their time and their cars because they're not being "driven". I respectfully disagree.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Try to tell a Leica collector he's wasting his cameras... He'll laugh! He gets pleasure from observing them in the glass case in his bragging room. His camera collection is to photography as porn is to sex.

In both cases, there is a 12-step program for that...

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

Modern, technologically advanced, cameras can make certain photographs possible which were previously impossible (shutter speed fast enough to stop a hummingbird's wings). They can also make pictures easier and faster to capture. But they can't make them better. That is up to the button pusher.

wmurnahan Loc: Bloomington IN

I agree to a point. I see both sides. If your end result is to just capture an image but if your goal is to print a 16 x 20 to hang on your wall, I would want the same photographers pictures done with top equipment because I don't think an Instamatic image would hold up in most cases but then again an artist can work with the grain, focus, exposure limitation etc and make a shot that one would want to hang on the wall.

For me the difference is in are you photographer, capturing an image/scene where God/nature is the artist and you are just capturing the moment and the feeling in that moment. An artist sees the picture or idea in his head and then uses a medium to bring it to life. I'm a photographer, a craftsman and so want the best tools when I work my craft.