GOOD VERSUS GREAT

There are good photos and then there are great photos. I’ve taken a few very good photos, but never one that would stop people in their tracks. I’m buying a much better camera, so that might help me take the whole act of photography more seriously, pay more attention to detail, and work a little harder at justifying the expense of the new camera. I don’t expect the camera to turn good photos into great ones.

The photo I’ve attached here was taken by Steve McCurry, who has a WordPress (Google) blog. I guess it’s ethical to borrow each others photos as long as we admit we’re doing it. This picture actually makes you wonder if the guy is reading to the elephant, and the elephant is blissfully listening, or if the guy is just using a sleeping baby elephant as back support.

Great pictures rarely have no living creature in them. Sunsets, mountains, buildings…I never linger on a shot of them for longer than a second. But give me a picture of a creature conveying an emotion, and I’ll stare at it for minutes, sometimes hours.