I see your true colours...

Thank you one and all for taking part in what was a "just for fun" little game in my previous post "Camera Obscura" where I shared photos I took with my new, borrowed-from-my-brother bridge camera (Panasonic Lumix FZ100) alongside those taken on NewMan's phone, a Samsung Galaxy S II. I asked you lot to tell me which photos were taken with which device and which photos were "better".

There followed some nasty, scathing, hurtful and VERY true and VERY useful comments all choosing B photos as the better ones, and so assumptions were made that this was the "better" camera. Not so. NewMan's phone took all of the B photographs, and I now recognise that they were better photos.

So what, my dear friends is the moral of this story? I believe it is this: it isn't what you have to take the photo (within reason) but how you physically and visually approach capturing it. I now know that I have MUCH to learn in this department, but this is good news because it could be easier and more fun to learn than digesting a 300 page camera manual

I'd be lying if I said my pride wasn't a little bruised from this experience but after some more thought and internal discussion I have decided to keep on trying. I was particularly encouraged by Joaquim and professional photographer Mat's advice in their comments , I know that I do see photography as something I want to explore further and I'm now lucky enough to have a decent camera to do this with. I've been very quick to call myself a bad photographer in the past and I think that is unjust. I should at least give it a go, try and learn more and then if this fails, I can call myself a bad photographer with greater conviction knowing that at least I tried.

So I am going to take this camera away with me and I'm going to enjoy getting to know it better. As mentioned previously I will also allow some of NewMan's phone photographs sneak in so comparisons can be made again and you (and I) can maybe check in on my progress. If I'm going to improve remotely what better way than documenting my trip exploring the other side of the world.