The Royal Road to Learning

"You must have a really nice camera!"  The lady told me as she looked at the photo I had taken.

I don't suppose she was meaning to denigrate my skills as a photographer and truth be told, I do have a nice camera.  But I also have spent quite a bit of time learning about what makes a good photo and how to get the best images possible from the camera I am using.

I can't imagine telling a carpenter who had just finished a house, "Wow, you must have an amazing hammer!" or, "What kind of power drill do you use?"  Nor could I fathom complementing my wife on a meal she had just cooked by saying "Wow that kitchen aid mixer really came through for you tonight!"

In the end, all of these things are just tools.  Usually if my tools aren't working for me, the problem isn't the tool I am using, it is with me and my ability to get the most out of them.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

Doing something well takes time.  It takes time both to learn to do the skill and time to put it into practice after you have learned it.  Things that don't take much time to learn -- say the art of playing a kazoo -- also aren't particularly enjoyable to practice in the long run.

I am afraid in the modern age, we want technology to do stuff for us -- we can skip the learning process because our tools will be smart tools.  The idea of sitting down with a book and learning photography or, spending the time necessary to learn hand quilting or, anything else that takes a lot of time is beyond us, but it is very much worth it.

"There is no royal road to learning," Euclid is reputed to have told King Ptolemy.  He was right then and he is right today. 

It is far better to sit down and learn how to use the tools you have, then to save up to buy those someone else has in the hope that maybe those tools will impart some measure of skill with them.

If I find enjoyment in doing something, I will find a lot more in learning to do it better.

For me, the pleasure of photography is not in interacting with a "really nice camera," it is in spending time in God's creation and seeing the beauty He created.  Only then can I capture a little bit of that beauty with my lens.