I friggin’ hate that crap. I mean ya got a groove going with a camera. It’s sweet man, I mean your are on a roll and happy with everything. Then ya stop and take a break, and of course that’s the worst time to do this. If ya got that magic groove going, what the hell ya need a break from? Take a break from a creative groove and go back to the nothingness that haunts each and every one of us?

Well, yours truly did exactly that. Oh yeah. I’m the king of messing myself up. I guess I thrive on it cause I do it so much. Look, easy for me to say that I do it because I want to challenge the creative energy. I could say that I did it to make myself see new again and not be complacent. Those and more are excellent ideas but not the truth this time. Noooo, noooo! I fucked up. (I don’t like to curse and I apologize to Tina and Olivier and anyone else that’s offended by me using the fuck word.) But that’s what I did. See. I got this sexi little camera on the shelf. She’s all dressed in white looking very pretty. Her name is Penelope.

She’s a devil in disguise. Whoooah shooter, what the heck does this camera stuff have to do with anything? Ya know, that’s a damn good question. Well, I go against the tide here. Even against the masters. All wrong and I will prove it. Infact, I’m a gonna prove it right now.

Weel, the idea is that a good shooter can work with anything and get a good photo. Well, ok, I give that but what does that mean anyway.  People tell me that the camera doesn’t mean anything or not much in the process. Bullshit! You think you can do yourwork with any camera? Bullshit!

Go get an 8×10 Deardorff and a Ries tripod, carry a few film holders, darkcloth, meter, level, cable release etc. Now go out and shoot the streets at rush hour. Ok, ok…. take your blad and go into the night and hand hold it in very low light. Take a Leica M and put a visoflex on it and well, it ain’t pretty. Put some tri-x in you Fuji X100s.

The smart ones reading this are understanding. The ones that think it’s bullshit, are calling B&H for a Ries Tripod. The point is, the camera and any other thing you use to make your work, better be your friend. We don’t get to be complacent with our gear or ourselves.

Penelope the Ricoh GRD4 does just that for me. She puts me in a place where I accept the world as it is and realize that while I’m here, I get to make photos. I get to do that because I live photography. The beauty in art is in the simplicity of design.

Go back a few years and see the cave drawings from our ancestors. A rock or newlt discovered charcoal and they made drawings. Millions of years later and we look at them and stand in awe. Why? Because it proves we will go on and we will continue to believe that. We as photographers make photos because we want them to outlive us. Oh, they will but the value of those photos won’t be seen by us but by our future ancestors related to us or not.

While we are here, we have the responsibility to ourselves and to the ones that follow us to forge a path that is interesting, informative and filled with the love of life we instill in our work.