Home  Donate  New  Search  Gallery  Reviews  How-To  Books  Links  Workshops  About  Contact

There are two kinds of photographers: those who make pictures, and those who just talk about it.

 

Those who talk the most spend the least time doing, and thus have the least to contribute.

Please help KenRockwell..com

This free website's biggest source of support is when you use any of these links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thank you! Ken.

 

March 2019   Better Pictures   Canon   Nikon   Sony   Fuji   LEICA   All Reviews

See also Other Review Sources

Seven Levels of Photographers

The Fauxtographer

Adorama Pays Top Dollar for Used Gear

B&H Photo - Video - Pro Audio

Crutchfield

I buy only from these approved sources. I can't vouch for ads below.

"Two kinds" applies in every other area of mans' interests: racing, hunting, women, fishing, motorcycles, bird watching and you name it. As we say in racing, "The BS stops when the green flag drops." In photography, the BS stops when the portfolios come out. The guys who spend the most time talking are those who spend the least time doing.

Photography is a creative art. No amount of detailed knowledge about tools can replace the talent and ability to use them creatively. How much I might be able to talk about pianos has nothing to do with whether or not I can play. If someone has no body of work and just talks a lot on his video channel, you best ignore them, much as you wouldn't take piano lessons from someone who can't play piano.

If you want to take advice from people, be sure to look at their portfolio or gallery before you consider their advice as valid. Anyone can post websites and videos about cameras, but if the only shots they show are cameras sitting on a coffee-shop table or snaps of their neighborhood, watch out: you've got a talker.

I had an epiphany in 1989. When I searched through over 15 years of my archives dating from 1973 looking for some of the great shots I knew I must have made, I found nothing! The good shots only existed in my imagination! I realized that all I ever did was tell myself that I was a great photographer just because I knew every nuance of technique and camera and lens design. I had nothing to show for it. From that point on I decided to stop worrying about the technology and focus my considerable expertise and creative instincts on creating photos instead of reading about it.

 

WHY IS THIS?

Those who post the most shoot the least. Those who shoot the least have the least to contribute, but contribute most of what you see online and everywhere. We can either talk about something or go do it.

Those who make photographs always have more photos to make or editing to do. There isn't any computer time to waste making videos or a feed. When in front of our computers we would rather create a new image or play with a new tool —  but those of us who know what we're doing would much rather be out shooting. Computer time is for learners, not shooters.

Real photographers have no time for making videos. We have to make pictures for a living, not just talk about it.

Too many people get sucked into wasting creative time watching videos or reading a zillion comments from total strangers on forums, discussion groups and chat rooms. Some people start believing what they see and read.

A huge problem with online videos is that the people who post the most shoot the least. Online videos make it tough to know the credentials of the posters. More weight is given to guys who talk well with splashy graphics on a video than a competent full-time professional photographer who actually knows about photography.

Photographers tend to be crummy writers and video producers. The world is overloaded with interesting videos and content from the people you most want to avoid. Many of these people don't even own the gear they're discussing; they just like to talk! Not that all the information is bad, but it is disproportionately weighted in the wrong direction because the people spending the most time talking actually spend the least time doing, and vice-versa.

Likewise, the guy at your office / friend / neighbor who seems the most knowledgeable because he can talk a blue streak about cameras and digital profiles is probably the best guy from whom to get the worst information.

 

FORGET FORUMS

Some websites use forums and comments to make money. See the ads on the forum and comment pages? Those sites make money by letting you write their content!

Things are different today. The Internet went commercial. Other sites we all know were started, like this one, by individuals in the 1990s to help others share our love of photography. The others were sold by their former owners and are run today by corporations for profit. I'm still just me.

 

WHY YOU GET SO MUCH BAD INFORMATION FROM ONLINE VIDEOS

Old-wives-tales float all over online videos and forums because they are repeated so often. This is why so many people believe things with no basis in fact. Fact is easy to learn: go make your own photos and experiments and you'll see. I'm amazed that people will research Raw vs. JPG for hours, but never bother to take the five minutes to make two shots on their own camera to compare them. Another example of an old wives tale is that UV filters rob sharpness, plastic zoom lenses aren't sharp or that 16 bit looks any different. Go shoot for yourself and see. Most of these tales are decades out of date.

Chatting and making videos are hobbies for many people, but don't have anything to do with photography.

If you want to get information from these places, be sure to check out any poster's images first. If you want to make images like they do, then heed their help. If their photos suck, or they have no portfolio ad just talk about cameras, run away!

I'm embarrassed that I spend as much time as I do making this website. I also spend a ton of time photographing. You can see some of my work in my gallery and more recent shots at my travels.

Here's a funny example of the foolishness of taking advice from strangers online. In case you're unfamiliar with the art world, the Edward Steichen photo analyzed second from the bottom sold for three million dollars in February, 2006!

 

WHAT ABOUT THE QUIET ONES?

The guys and girls of whom you've never heard are the ones making all the great shots. They aren't giving workshops, promoting themselves or being paraded around by Canon, Nikon, Sony and Epson promoting gear.

The people whose work I admire the most don't show it, and if they do, usually have klunky websites at best.

Girls make better pictures than boys. The girls just do it, while the boys are talking about who has the best camera. You'd vomit if you saw all the guys I do paying for workshops who stand around discussing noise figures of Canon vs. Nikon while the magic 60 seconds of light passes them over at sunrise in some remote scenic location.

 

ONE EXPERIMENT IS WORTH A HUNDRED VIDEOS

I learn by doing. I'm very curious and run experiments to see what happens. Often I discover something different than what everyone "just knows," especially with all the old wives tales circulating today in online videos.

 

SO DO I CARE WHEN PEOPLE IN SOME FORUM CALL ME AN IDIOT?

Of course not. As anyone familiar with forums knows, most of them spend most of their time calling other people stupid.

One of these days I'll share my resume with you. I haven't bothered so far. I prefer to let my photos speak for themselves. I make loads of mistakes and learn by paying attention to them, not by reading some chat room. Keeping an open mind lets me get smarter. I still have a lot to learn, but after over 30 years of continuous experimentation I also have a lot to share.

"I am always learning." Michelangelo.

'The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." Steve Jobs, Apple Computer. Sure, I'm crazy, and so were Copernicus, Galileo, DaVinci, the Wright brothers and Neil Armstrong. Some of these guys did their most important work while imprisoned for crazy views. For five years after the Wright brothers flew, the most respected scientists of the day were still writing articles proving flight was impossible and media derided these first flights as hoaxes!

"If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking." Ben Franklin.

Genuine experts told us all that airplanes, telephones and light bulbs wouldn't work, even after they did. Do you really want to listen to a bunch of anonymous chit-chatters? I prefer to do my own photo experiments, and you should, too.

 

© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

 

Help Me Help You

I support my growing family through this website, as crazy as it might seem.

The biggest help is when you use any of these links when you get anything. It costs you nothing, and is this site's, and thus my family's, biggest source of support. These places always have the best prices and service, which is why I've used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally.

If you find this page as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.

If you've gotten your gear through one of my links or helped otherwise, you're family. It's great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks!

If you haven't helped yet, please do, and consider helping me with a gift of $5.00.

As this page is copyrighted and formally registered, it is unlawful to make copies, especially in the form of printouts for personal use. If you wish to make a printout for personal use, you are granted one-time permission only if you PayPal me $5.00 per printout or part thereof. Thank you!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Mr. & Mrs. Ken Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

 

31 Oct 2022, 20 March 2019, Sept 2018, Aug 2013, April 2006