42 Discoveries – What I know Photography

#4 ALWAYS CARRY A CAMERA

And I mean a camera, not a phone (though you’ll be carrying that at all times anyway). The reasons are both practical and psychological, evenly split.

Practical, because if you want to be a photographer then you’ll need a proper camera with a big sensor (relative to a phone), a brilliant lens (relative to that on any phone) and a viewfinder (not to be found on any phone). This is non-negotiable in my opinion and it ties in closely with the second, psychological, reason. If you’re carrying a camera, even out of unthinking habit (which is what I’m urging you to do), then you’re already unconsciously primed to be a photographer. There may be many days when, like me, you will suffer from ‘photographer’s block’ and nothing will be further from your mind than taking a photograph. But on other days, often for no apparent reason at all, there will be no stopping you and there’s nothing you’ll be wanting to do more. All your visual senses will seem to be heightened and attuned; for me, an ‘early warning’ sign that this is about to happen is when I find myself holding my camera tightly and enjoying how it feels in my hand. But to return to the technical for a moment, photographs produced on proper cameras instead of phones are, other things being equal, always going to look better. That is, unless and until the laws of physics are re-written. I won’t be here then, but then neither will Hampstead Heath.