I was going through some of my personal work the other day and this photo struck me. I have an actual, physical print of this photo in my studio and it really looks great on a matte paper. That got me to thinking about the photo a little bit more and I came up to these two conclusions:

#1 You should regularly print your work (with a good, consistent print lab). Seeing your work in print, whether it be an album or canvas or proof print, will make you a better photographer or as a client it will make you appreciate the “real-ness” of the moment photographed. I love seeing photographs online but I don’t think it will ever come close to the tangible feel of a fine art print that you can touch, view and connect with on a more personal and real life situation (as opposed to cyberspace). Call me old school, but that’s okay. I’ll always value printed photographs.

#2 You don’t need an incredible camera to make incredible photographs. I’m all for more megapixels, bigger LCDs, awesome films, great lenses, etc but they are not a prerequisite to making a great photograph. This photo was made with a point and shoot camera (Panasonic Lumix LX-3). It is literally straight out of the camera (I do shoot black and white in the camera a lot). Don’t get hung up on the tools, get caught up in the medium. You can create awesome art with the most basic of tools. Actually, using the point and shoot challenges me more as an artist to not rely so much on big sensors, fast lenses and computer processing.

So I hope you enjoy this happy pup. He was so content to just hang out by the phone booth while his owner went in to grab a sandwich. He smiled at everyone who walked by and epitomized the New York spirit to me, tough on the outside but really kind and warm.