Photography-Do Not Get Distracted By The Gear

Photography-Do Not Get Distracted By The Gear

Sometimes when I talk with photographers they seem to want to know more about how something works instead of understanding how to work it.

Did you ever see one of those mechanical, wind-up watches where ya could see the internal workings of the watch? In other, words you could see the movement of the gears that cause the movement of the hands on the face/dial of the watch. For the sake of this post let’s imagine we’re usin’ one of those watches. It’s a mechanical watch that we need to wind.

A Watch

We use a watch to tell time. To put it another way, it’s a timekeeping tool.

In order to use it as a timekeeping tool, all we gotta do make sure the watch is working and learn how to tell time.

But what about those gears that we can see that make the watch function? Do we need to know how the watch functions from an engineering perspective to use it as a timekeeping tool? And, instead of learning how to work the watch and learning to tell time, we got more involved in trying to learn how the watch works?

A Camera

We use a camera to make a picture. To put it another way, it’s a picture making tool.

In order to use it as a picture making tool, all we gotta do is make sure the camera is working and learn how to use it to make a picture.

But what about that digital sensor or other parts of the camera that makes it function? Do we need to know how the camera functions from an engineering perspective to use it as a picture making tool? And, instead of learning how to work the camera and learning photography, we got more involved in trying to learn how the camera works?