Of course, you need a camera… right?! It’s right there in the name: from the Greek roots φωτός (phōtos) meaning "light" and γραφή (graphé) "drawing" together meaning "drawing with light." You must have some tool to do this. You cannot do it with your hands alone. This is obvious, so why the provocative title?

As I write these words, I know it sounds like an English major over-analyzing something so basic and obvious (I happened to have majored in English, so I spent a few years doing this). But I believe acknowledging this idea is an important element—a mantra—which helps me maintain sight of what actually matters in my creative pursuit in the realm of photography. It’s not about the camera. The camera is just a tool—completely arbitrary—a necessary evil that exists only as a means to get what I am really after: honest perception, truth in an image, self-discovery.

So, what is my dilemma? With such a wealth of amazing work out there… I wonder, why do I bother? To be honest, I’ve often felt a tinge of jealousy. Those other works are so good, that maybe I wish I took them. I overcame this negative line of thinking with a simple mantra: don’t be jealous; be inspired. When this came to me years ago, whether I read it somewhere or it was a personal realization, it was like a salve on a wound. It soothed the pain caused by that dilemma—the ubiquity of great work.