Skill and Composition, not equipment!

Copyright of Kdee64 (Keith Williams) via Flickr.com

At the outset of the Griffith College BA in Photographic Media course a few weeks ago (Sept' 11) we learned we would be going back to basics and shooting with a plain, boring, almost prehistoric film SLR camera. In fairness no one seemed to have a problem with this and I feel people accepted that we all need to know the very basics before we improve. I used to be of the opinion that you need the best camera body, the best lenses, the best flash gun and metering system, ultra fast memory cards, only LowePro bags etc etc... That was until I realised that patience, composition, having a distinct style and skill were the most important factors in photography.

The picture above was taken by a Mr. Keith Williams who is an 'amatuer' wildlife photographer living close to the Yukon River in Canada. I was sent a link to this image by my father who had located it on flickr (the photo sharing website). At first glance I knew this was a gem, a beautiful image which told a story. I keep coming back to it every so often as i find it is one of my favourite images and I have never seen anything like it ever before.

As I looked through other pictures Keith Williams had taken I noticed his profile beside the images, in this profile he mentions that he shoots with a Nikon D60 DSLR. To put this in perspective, the Nikon D60 is classed as an entry level DSLR, it would never be used by professional photographers and is quite limited in both resolution and ISO capabilities. It would be fair to say that Keith Williams knows how to manipulate the equipment he has to hand. He is achieving high quality images with an average camera and maintains his high standards week after week as can be seen on his flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithmwilliams/

I have already learned from this course that having the best camera and lens is not going to ensure you take better shots, being technically proficient with a keen eye and interest will however ensure you are achieving the levels you are capable of regardless of equipment.

The image used here is the sole property of Keith Williams or Kdee64 as he appears on www.flickr.com. If you get a few minutes it would be worth while checking out his images, follow this link;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithmwilliams/