sue.h
vineyard
Ansel Adams said, “The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.” In other words, photographers make photos, not cameras. Anyone who has seen a stunning photo taken with a cheap camera the size of shirt pocket knows this is true. And yet: Who among us doesn’t lust for a Hasselblad?
A Hasselblad image is immediately recognizable. In the hands of an artist, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. The fedora on a bar stool tells the story of the man who deliberately left it behind. The child on a wooded path becomes the heroine of a magical fairy tale. The leafy branch in evening light takes the form of shadowy memory. And a vineyard in early winter becomes a meditation on loneliness, drawing our eye to the lush green grass, the ceil blue sky, and everything in between, filling the frame with meaning we can only hope to find in real life.
Yes, photographers, not cameras, make photos. Except, perhaps, in the case of the Hasselblad, a pretty camera that inspires the photographer to make so much more than merely pretty pictures.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, pamullman and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
