Viewfinder
By Katrina Mae B. Javier

Anyone can take a picture. A person with a passion sees the picture before it’s taken.

What’s your main purpose in purchasing a camera? Does the brand matters to you? Are you one of those who just get one for the sake of taking pictures? Or you get one to pursue your passion for photography?

These days, I’ve been seeing lots of people using Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras. Just by pointing the camera on their subject and one click of the camera’s shutter, a photograph is produced. With this kind of setting, does anybody have an idea on how many photographs are produced in a day? How many shots a day are labeled as quality photographs? How many photographs have great executions based on the factors of great photography?

In history, photography was mulled over as an extremely technical profession. Only those experienced practitioners have the idea to operate photo equipments and can produced artistic images. You can see nowadays that with almost everybody owning cameras, they can actually take photographs for others and for themselves. With this, every image produced can be considered fantastic because digital cameras produce quality photographs. So if you don’t know the basic rule in photography, you can actually fool yourself and others that you know some of the rules by simply having a DSLR camera.

But then, I strongly don’t believe that if you have a DSLR camera you’re already a photographer.

With the advancement of technology, operating cameras and taking photographs have been much easier. Well, no one can actually force you of not getting a camera. Knowing this, it gives the impression that the true meaning of being a photographer has gone astray. It seems like the characteristic of being one with the ability to create artistic vision and great image became hazed.

If you happen to own a DSLR camera and take pictures of anything that interests you, it doesn’t make you a photographer right away. Though you have the equipment, passion and skill is very hard to squeeze out of you. If you’re not really destined of having the golden eye, vision of capturing people, happenings and objects, then the blood of a true photographer will never flow through your veins. Though it’s hard to accept that only few are given the ability and skills for photography, one should still believe that learning is a continuous process.

Picture this. There are people in this world who have the passion for photography yet they don’t actually have their own camera. But with the magic of borrowing a camera from others, they can actually produce quality photographs regardless of brand. To be specific, it doesn’t matter if they are using Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Sony, etc. The amazing part is they know how to use it, and produce breath taking photographs.

Here’s reality check.

There are those who can only use one brand of the camera and once they make use of other brands, they produce far more different photos.

To wrap up all these thoughts, if you really have the passion in taking photographs, capturing arts through photography and documenting historic events through photojournalism, then go for it. Just be careful on where to point that lens because you will never know, something might hit you. Believe that vision is the product of the mind; mission is from the heart.

Yes, anyone can take a picture but the person with a passion sees the picture before it’s taken.

Got something to say? Shoot me at katrinamaejavier@gmail.com.