It seems that although digital cameras are getting easier to use people are finding out that cameras do not take photographs, people do. Just because you have the newest and greatest camera it does not make your photographs any better in most cases. Certainly a new / better tool will give you higher quality results digitally, but artistically some feel they still lack the knowledge to get better. Actually, this is a common problem among many amateur photographers, something we’ll address here through this course of study together. Understanding the theory that the photographer is the artist, not the camera, and that this tool is useless without the vision and creativity of the artist is ultimately important.

The eyes and mind of an artist are the true soul to creativity.
Without them, nothing is created.
The tool of the artist brings dimenson and reality those visions.

All forms of art in many ways are the same process creatively. Photographers, however, seem to think we can circumvent the creative process and just shoot image after image. Certainly the law of averages will give us one good image out of 50, or out of 100, or 500 photographs.

Logical? Hardly.

As we learn more and more we’ll realize just how much truth there has been the above statement, and that perhaps we have taken photographs in this manner. The camera is merely a tool, nothing more. Our ability to control, manipulate, and command this tool directly affects everything in our photography, and the lack of control shows accordingly. What truly makes one photographer better than another? Does a camera really make that big of a difference in the bigger scope of things? Any $1000.00 digital camera in the hands of an artist that has total control of the craft of photography will produce images that are very similar to the ones he/she may produce with their own $5000.00 digital camera. Why? Magic? Certainly not!

In this course of study one of your primary goals is to take control, total command of this tool, the camera. Understanding the intricacies of all those settings most of us avoid is one hurdle we must jump before we can truly unleash the artist inside all of us. The fun part of this program is enjoying the feelings of finally being able to acually shoot "what we want" and not "what we get". There is great deal of satisfaction in being able to capture your true vision and creation with the camera.

Jeff Roush