We all know this – and it’s absolutely true. Hardware has almost nothing to do with the quality of your work. I’m convinced that results don’t even have much to do with skill. What it’s about is motivation.

I mean, what if I had shot the images in the collages I hung in our hallway tonight with a more expensive camera? Would the end result be dramatically better? I doubt it. Is there anything special about the techniques I used to produce these images. No. Anyone with a modest PC and a $300 digital camera could have done this. What makes this special is that I actually did it. It took some time – maybe 15 hours worth of fiddling with the thousand or so images I shot in Thailand – but these simple collages could have been assembled by anyone who was simply motivated to do it.

So, here’s my challenge to you. Get out there – take a couple zillion pictures. Use your imagination! Do something unique – or not. Print it large. Print it small, sideways, out-of-focus, with false color – whatever – just do it! You’ll be glad you did. Share your results with the rest of us. Display it proudly on your wall. Your friends will swear you have real talent! Really!

And then I’ll tell you why I need to have a new Nikon D2X. 🙂