hello all
>I agree that the most important in photography is to do images,
>all others things like cameras, lenses and films stays accessories.
all creative arts are influenced as much by the
equipment as by the artist. equipment dictates
the syntax within which an artist works.
a wood worker will get a different finish scraping rather than sanding
a photographer will get a different image printing in pt rather
than carbon
a writer will get a different story changing the dialect of the
characters
every change of syntax changes the final product and gives the artist another
tool with which to create.
the process of building a camera teaches one part of a photographer's syntax.
i do believe that the box itself does little more than keep the image from
leaking
out (or does it keep light from leaking in?)... but consider the lesson
learned by
a new student of photography when
a cibrachrome is made using a shoe box with a pinhole
a cibrachrome is made using a shoe box and a simple single element
lens
a cibrachrome is made using a shoe box and a compound lens
cut the box and attach the two halves using a flexible dark material
allowing the student to move the front end with the lens
each change adds another tool. each change adds to the allowable syntax.
take the simple camera, hold it constant, and change the light source.
candle
bare bulb
bulb with a baffle
bulb with a screen
again, the student learns how to start controlling the elements of their craft.
i believe a student learns by first restricting their syntax (tools and
combination
of tools), and learns again as the allowable syntax is increased.
>After making cameras don't forget to take pictures and show them.
that too is part of the craft. taking pictures while building the syntax
is the
feedback loop. and once in a while one of these pictures deserves to be
matted, framed, and hung on the wall as it is no longer a picture but a work
of art. and the student has a deep appreciation for the path that both
the light took, and that he/she took to get that art.
peter
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