technical  Bruce Percy
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I think any photograph should be measured by the end results. An image is an image. Gear is just Gear All cameras have the same purpose: to assist in capturing the spirit of what the photographer visualised in his minds eye. Of course, it's not the camera that makes the image but the photographer. The Equipment is a means to an end whereas Seeing is everything. My favourite system (for many years now) is the Mamiya 7II system. I use specifically the 50mm, 80mm and 150mm along with Fuji Velvia and Kodak's Portra. The latter for shooting street scenes and People. I also have a Canon 1V and 5D with a small selection of lenses (mostly non L glass - I like light, small lenses). Digital has a different 'look and feel' to film and my preference is for film - this is purely artistic. But I've found that there is never one camera system to fit all situations. The Most Important Bit I will sometimes find that on arriving at a location something will grab my attention. In my minds eye I start a visualisation process whereby I imagine what the final image will be like. This allows me to compose the shot as well as connect to it emotionally. For me, the best times to photograph are first thing in the morning; sometimes as early as 4am and late in the evening; just after sunset. But there are no real hard and fast rules. I make images when I see something that grabs my eye. But there is an over emphasis on camera gear, and there are so many 'gear head' web sites out there and they just complicate the issue. If you take good photos, then you'll know that your camera does not matter.				Influences It's funny but I often get asked what equipment I use, and nobody ever thinks to ask me what inspires or has influenced me in making the images I make. A camera is a camera, and each of the artists below use very different systems, only going to prove that it's not the camera, but the photographer who creates the image. Michael Kenna Etheral images created in the darkroom turning day into night and night into day. His images are minimalist and very beautiful. For me, it's his philosophy of 'to stop at the negative is to not realise the full potential of the image' that counts. He is more than happy to depart from reality and place his own 'vision' onto each of his images. I subscribe to this ideal very much so. Kenna uses Hasselblad cameras he bought in the 80's Galen Rowell After reading 'Mountain Light', I realised that having a passion for the places you photograph and a willingness to experience them at unearthly hours is what it takes to capture something really wonderful. Rowell was a Nikon 35mm film shooter. Magnum Photo Agency In particular, David Alan Harvey's shots of Cuba are wonderful, and Robert Capa's Normandy beach war shots are something else. And then there's Elliot Erwitt and of course Henri Cartier Bresson. But the entire agency represents half a century of definitive reportage. Steve McCurry Classic portraiture taken with nothing more than a Nikon 35mm film camera and some prime lenses. You really don't need a lot of equipment and McCurry shows that it's his interest in the world that allows him to capture very beautiful images. Your camera does not matter.
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