The Camera Always Lies

The budding amateur wandered over to where the photographer was packing away his equipment. A conversation between the two struck up and soon the amateur was quizzing the man whose skills he hoped to some day obtain. The photographer locked his last case, lit a cigarette, ran his hands over the stubble on his face as he turned and offered some advice to the beginner. “There are only a few essentials you need to remember, the rest is detail you can pick up along the way. First, all a photographer ever does is play with light. Second, there is no such thing as correct exposure, focus, or composition. Finally, the camera always lies. The trick is to make it tell the right kind of lies. When you understand all that, when you know why it is true, and when you can control all aspects of the image, you’ll be a photographer.”