Your best platitude would be?

[jpo3136b]

<p>Just a casual question. </p>

<p>When giving advice, your best platitude to sum up what you have to say to beginners would be?</p>

[jgredline]

<p>It is not the equipment, but the person behind the view finder. :)</p>

[MattB.Net]

<p>To steal Nike's slogan, Just Do It. Go forth and shoot with whatever you have.</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>Javier, I think I would have to confess to that one, too.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>"f/11 and hold it steady" --<br>

Walker Evans' advice to the painter Ben Shahn (also employed by the FSA)</p>

<p>and the later (<em>if</em> it was first said by Weegee)<br>

"f/8 and be there"</p>

[shots worth sharing]

<p>"Go Pentax."</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>See the picture first, then raise the camera. When the word "wow" begins to form on your lips..fire the shutter.</p>

[bkpix]

<p>A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know. <br />-- Diane Arbus </p>

[pbarnes]

<p>I like the one I think Justin wrote here soon after I first joined, it's great when people ask me what camera to buy:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Most cameras are better than most photographers.</p>

</blockquote>

 

[JAPster]

<p>Work on mastering the fundamentals and developing your own photographic eye, and dont slavishly follow somebody else's style or a set of rules.</p>

[deaner66]

<p>John, I can't lie. I went straight to the dictionary for platitude.</p>

<p>"A trite or banal expression--Lack of originality"</p>

<p>Not sure how that works here, but I see what you're after.</p>

<p>I would say treat your fancy digital camera like it runs on film. Quality, not quantity.</p>

<p>That's what I'm trying to do, anyway.</p>

[michael_elenko]

<p>My attempt to keep the thread aligned with Pentax equipment I'd say,<br>

"Buy low, sell high."</p>

<p>ME</p>

[dan_tripp]

<p>It's all about the lens.</p>

[sleahy73]

<p>Just go out and shoot. Use the camera to try to capture whatever it is you find interesting. Have fun! Be creative! No one is judging you or your photos. When you sit down to look at your pictures later, try to figure out what you like and don't like about your shots. Then go back out and try to do more of what you like and less of what you don't. Later you can take time to answer the questions "why?" and "how?". </p>

<p>Finding one's voice and a passion for photography will inevitably lead to all the technical knowledge and skills one requires.</p>

<p>Sean</p>

[thebs]

<p>Shoot. Shoot all sorts of ways. Make mistakes. Make real goofs. Learn from it. And try every priority mode! Try manual metering and exposure changes. Just play with it like you were an 8 year-old and play with it as fast as you can to learn by error.</p>

[hagar]

<p>Figure out what your subject is, and make sure that you fill as much of the frame with it, to make sure that anyone else that sees the photo realizes what you were after.</p>

[bob-c]

<p>Study the light.</p>

[MattB.Net]

<p>Only buy Canon or Nikon equipment.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Matt<br>

Why so broad-minded? Seems obvious to me that only one of those is worth buying.</p>

[mountainvisions]

 

<blockquote>

<p>I like the one I think Justin wrote here soon after I first joined, it's great when people ask me what camera to buy:<br>

"Most cameras are better than most photographers."</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Sounds like something I would say. Definitely believe it regardless.</p>

<p>But I also agree with Matt, you'll never go anywhere in life without an education, and a Canon or Nikon camera around your neck!</p>

 

[MattB.Net]

<p>I have a tough time making decisions. Both of their ads are so nice I just can't choose!</p>

 

[Robin Smith]

<p>"Sharpness is a bourgeois concept". Often attributed to Cartier-Bresson</p>

[RickW]

<p>>>and the later (<em >if</em> it was first said by Weegee)<br />"f/8 and be there"<<</p>

<p>Not Weegee. Ansel Adams.</p>

<p>Rick</p>

[pbarnes]

<p>f/8 and be there. Sound advice, be there otherwise your fancy camera and your technical obsessions count for nothing. But the original saying seems to have been attributed to everybody from Walker Evans to Robert Capa (who I thought was famous for saying "if your pictures aren't good enough then you're not close enough") And now Ansel Adams! See <a href="../philosophy-of-photography-forum/00QkDB">this discussion on photo.net in 2008.</a></p>

[jeremy_corbin]

<p>Peter,</p>

<p>f/8 and be there - Jeremy Corbin.</p>

<p>HA!</p>