When I first started photography I never put a filter on my lens cause I thought it would be ‘cheating’.

When I started using a darkroom it was to create ‘realistic’ photos.

Enter Photoshop and it was just another way to get ‘real’ photos.

Now that I’ve been photographing for thirty-plus years with twenty-plus of them as a pro I listen in wonderment as some photographers belittle newer cameras or Photoshop techniques when creating images as ‘cheating’.

All of the things mentioned here are just tools. The tools help a photographer attain his or her vision to put a final image on a receptor for show. Whether that receptor is a print or a screen doesn’t matter. It is the final image not the journey to it that matters.

Many folks trot our Ansel Adams as the quintessential ‘straight photographer’. He couldn’t have been further from it than the distance between here and the moon. The Zone System, changing exposure, development times, ISO ratings, paper grade choices, enlarger bulb choices and many more techniques went into the final images created by Adams.

Today’s quote is from Pete Turner a wonderful photographer known for his rich ‘in your face’ color images.

“I am steadily surprised that there are so many photographers that reject manipulating reality, as if that was wrong. Change reality! if you don’t find it, invent it!”    Pete Turner

Turner used all the tools available to push his images to an art realm. Pushing color to it’s limits. Sharp focus? Not necessarily! Check out his work for some inspiration to be freer with your camera captures and how you see and share your world through photography.

Front page from Pete’s web page of images. © Pete Turner

Nowadays I don’t give a rats butt about how I get the image. Camera, Photoshop, computer are all tools I use. Working hard to share the vision that only I have.

What’s in your head that you’ve been afraid, or unable, to let the world see because you didn’t use the tools available to their full capabilities?

Yours in Creative Photography,       Bob