Talent is earned by putting in the work, creativity and passion to excel at any give human endeavor. Talent is not something you buy off the shelf.
- An expensive stove doesn’t make you a better cook.
- Glasses don’t make you smarter.
- A new bathing suit doesn’t make you a better swimmer.
- Buying a book on Mount Everest doesn’t prepare you to hike to the top.
- Watching a YouTube video on changing a faucet washer doesn’t make you a plumber.
- Buying and expensive camera doesn’t make you an artist.
“Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Valley of Fear
The quote from ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, the writer of the Sherlock Holmes series is quite observant. Seems that many photographers churning out mediocratic images are some how oblivious to the greater art and decor world.
It’s as if they’ve never walked into an art gallery, museum, home store or even flipped through the pages of a magazine. Somehow they expect buyers to choose their mundane photographs over the widely available top-quality images. When a buyer can purchase a reproduction Ansel Adams print for $50, why would they buy an amateur-looking photograph of a dull subject?
“Every artist was first an amateur.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson is kind of stating the obvious. No one wakes up one day an expert or instantly great at something. You don’t go to bed knowing basic first aid and wake up a brain surgeon.
But for some reason there are a lot of new camera buyers out there who think to themselves, I can sell a lot of photos, all I have to do is upload them to Fine Art America and people will buy them by the dozens.
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”
― Stephen King
Stephen King gets right to the point. Overnight success takes a lot of hard work, a lot of time and a lot of dedication to ones craft. Too many people want a short cut to success. They want a “fast pass” to the front of the line.
Camera companies of course exploit this by promising that the latest greatest camera body or lens will be the secret to fame and fortune.
Meanwhile there are plenty of fine art photographers using hand-me-down equipment. I know one highly successful fine art photographer whose entire camera gear collection consists of a single body and a 50mm lens.
“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”
― Émile Zola
There is a reason math is taught long hand before students are allowed to use calculators. There is a reason good art schools teach the basics of design before the students are allowed to specialize. The new camera buyer who knows nothing about composition and storytelling will create “sharp” images that say absolutely nothing to the viewer. But wow are those photographs sharp must be an expensive camera!
“We have to learn to walk before we can run”
― E.L. James, Fifty Shades Darker
Buying a decent camera is not the end of an artistic journey, it is just the beginning. We don’t expect painters to start trying to sell their first efforts in a gallery. Why do photographers think they can start selling their photographs from day one? First come to an understanding of your equipment, then figure out your passions and vision of the world, then try to connect with buyers who share that vision. Just don’t think the world owes you something just because you purchased a camera.