Masha, 24, Moscow, takes lots of pictures at parties and in the streets. She doesn’t do it professionally but she recently received a couple of orders for commissions. She started with a small compact camera, then she collected a set of film cameras: Holga, Lomo, vintage Nikon. She had a digital Sony camera which delivered SLR quality thanks to a great in-built lens, but wasn’t SLR. This is her only digital camera now, but it needs to be repaired. In the meantime she plans to buy a Canon Powershot G10.
“My idea of a good picture mutates as my experience grows. As I grow in photography my self-criticism grows. You look at your old photos and you don’t like them.”
“I have eight bags with processed film at home. But a lot of times you just need a digital camera to make a picture of something that doesn’t deserve a film. It just needs to be taken with a mobile camera or on digital: It maybe just a friends re-union, or a moment in a conversation, just a moment to remember.”
“I like Canon interface and I entirely do not understand Nikon. I think, it’s rubbish. Then again I have this Sony camera that no one understands how to use. So interface is important in a good SLR camera. Plus a big screen. Because my Sony has a small screen, every picture looks great when you look at it on this small screen. But on the computer screen you see that it is out of focus and you realize the picture is spoilt. Cropping and framing is the most important in a photograph. And the light. That's all.”
Masha studies painting at an art school, so she knows something about composition. But she doesn’t read books on photography because she is lucky to have a friend who studies in a photography school. This friend tells her everything she needs to know about photography and cameras. Other than that Masha doesn’t want to read anything on photography. She doesn’t want to learn the Photoshop either. “I use Photoshop for cropping and brightness maybe. I just don’t know anything else in there and I don’t need it.”
An ideal camera for Masha is the new Canon Powershot G10. It has everything you might need: all the functions. It is small, functional, fast, good for urban life or for travel.
“I don’t understand these geeks who collect all these lenses. Because in real life you just don’t need those super-duper big and long lenses! In real life you don’t even need a small portrait 50 mm lens. In fact I don’t understand anything about those XYZ mm at all. A digital camera doesn’t really need those replaceable lenses.”
“I also have these friends who bought a bunch of different lenses, they go to music concerts and they make pictures as press photographers, but I don’t feel anything from those pictures. It is in focus, all the details are clear, but there is no mood to be felt or experienced from the show. You don't feel the artist on stage through those pictures.”
She resumes: “It is like Impressionists vs. the Dutch Baroque. The latter convey this cup in all the real life details with their painting and you don't feel a thing and the former convey the mood that the sunflowers create and you are smittened. I choose Impression over Technology.”
Insight:
Photography is all about the moment and the mood, not about the equipment and retouching.
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