my friend josh jones posted this link to a page describing 10 music videos made on iphones. these videos are pretty impressive in and of themselves but all the more so when you realize they were made with a cellphone. i find them all the more fascinating because they are wonderful examples of how much more important talent and creativity are over equipment and resources. having good equipment for what you are doing (photography, fishing, running, computer work, etc.) is nice but it is by no means the most important thing. the most important thing is the attitude, talent, and creativity of the person using the equipment. the same is true with resources like money – it’s nice if you have it but it is more important to have the talent and creativity.
ansel adams once said
a good photograph is knowing where to stand
a good photograph is not having the best equipment, the right light meter, amazing strobes. nope it is all about the talent and knowledge of the one behind the camera. this is why i’ve seen some amazing photos on flickr taken with $5 cameras. adams knew this and his photos were amazing. he used good equipment but he realized that his photos weren’t great because of his equipment. supposedly adams also once said that the photographer’s must important piece of equipment was his mind but i couldn’t verify this quote.
now i’m sure good equipment helps you do a better job in most things. for example, i had a much easier time learning to play guitar on a good guitar than i did initially trying to learn on a pretty cruddy guitar. the action (the distance between the strings and frets) was much smaller on the better guitar and thus easier on my fingers when i was pushing the strings down.
i’m excluding from this utterly terribly equipment. yet even then i would assume that someone who is truly talented could so good stuff with it.
SIDE NOTE – i’m amazed by people on twitter who retweet when someone replies positively concerning something they have tweeted. it’s like they are saying “hey world, look at me. someone thinks i said something important and you should too.” i’ve only recently begun to notice this but it drives me crazy. thankfully i only follow a few people who do this regularly. i think i am going to institute an “unfollow the reply retweeter” rule. if you retweet a reply to you from someone else just because they say something nice about you then your head is probably too big for me to care about what you have to say. i will unfollow you.