By any other name

What’s in a name? Or furthermore, a title? There’s been a lot of chatter over this at PixelatedImage and the need to dispel these meanings we attribute to words, titles, and even appearances that just aren’t true.

When I walk around with my main camera, the 1DMKII, I get a lot of stares and a lot of “nice camera” or “good camera” and while they’re right, and I thank them for the compliment, I’m cynical enough to immediately think that the camera doesn’t matter, they don’t know; the photo that eventually comes out of it is what matters.

I am not a professional photographer.
Or am I? Am I a photographer at all? I take photographs, I take photos for money, I take photos for fun. I’m a fundraiser, I fundraise as a job, I fundraise as a volunteer. I’m a father – this I do for no money, and just for the love.

What I’m trying to allude to, albeit vaguely, is that it doesn’t MATTER if I’m a photographer, just if you like my photos. And it doesn’t MATTER if I’m a fundraiser, just that I do my job well enough that I can help facilitate donations into services, research and cancer patients who need them.

To that end, it doesn’t matter what my camera is, I have a pro-level body… that’s 5 years too old in a world that likes the latest shiny things. But I’m going to rock it until it’s broken, and if I show up for a shoot with my G11 I’m only going to do so because that’s the best tool for the job [note: it probably isn’t, but it can DO the job]. Appearances and labels mean very little to the final product, but often you need both to just to get the opportunity. It’s the politic of appearance.

Posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 12:20 am. Filed under: Uncategorized Tags: Macro, Rose, Snow, Snow_On_a_rose RSS 2.0 feed.