Entering Photography

Someone just asked if I could recommend an entry-level digital SLR to them. After a little ruminating, I suggested a model not dissimilar to the one I cut my own teeth on, but I have to say that I didn’t think about it an awful lot. I meant no disrespect in not giving it a great deal of thought – I just don’t think it’s quite as interesting, useful or helpful for a budding photographer to ask as people seem to think.

Let me explain. My first SLR camera was a graduation present two years ago. After looking through the specifications of dozens of models, I was left bewildered and no better placed to make a decision. I knew about most of the features and functions that were described, so my bewilderment wasn’t borne out of ignorance – all the cameras just seemed much of a muchness, each of them would have been good enough. Eventually, I whittled my choices down to two and picked the one that felt most comfortable in my hands.

How very professional, you might snort. Well, be my guest and snort away, if you wouldn’t mind just going away over there while you do so. Simply put, a good photograph needs the right camera (or does it?) – but an interesting photograph needs the right photographer. That photographer will understand f/numbers, film and shutter speeds and light metering, and everything else that comes with, *ahem*, any SLR camera. Sure. They will also understand light, shadow, tones, colours, composition. They will understand details, they will understand when to step in, and when to blend into the background. They will risk all manner of embarrassment in the name of getting that image. Above all, they will understand emotion in their work, whether their subject is a child or a brick wall.

Observant readers will have noticed that not one whit of this is specific to any particular brand of camera. All this is a way of saying, of course, that the best thing you can do is keep your decision simple, make it as quickly as possible and spend your time learning to use your camera. The Nikon/Canon debate that rages amongst dullards is so often (not always, of course, but often) a sign of a person who talks more about photography than they’ve actually learned; next time I shall introduce you to the best photographer I’ve ever come across, who used neither a Nikon nor a Canon, and indeed didn’t even use an SLR at all. He used his eyes.