Just shoot it already!

Words and insight by a very wonderful friend of mine, Dominick Gheesling:

So,

sometimes I can't help but give some thought to what my role is as a teacher...

afterall, how important is it to teach people how to make images and is there anything left unphotographed?

for the past few years, I have been certain that imparting the concept of individual responsibility is one of my most significant roles.

this morning I woke up back in the struggle between digital vs. traditional photography somehow...

I have about 125 students, most of high school age, per semester who are on fire for traditional photography, which is amazing enough as a statistic.

But why traditional, B&W photography. What's so special about it?

While drinking my first cup of coffee, I think I got a sense of what is so special about it...

I have watched all of these students over the past few weeks accomplish something that most of them believed to be impossible.

I mean impossible in the sense that you can start a fire by rubbing two sticks together is impossible. I still haven't accomplished this feat and am certain I will not believe myself capable of starting fire with just two sticks until the day I can actually perform this wonder of science and technology.

My students, this generation, they are not so impressed with digital photography because they know/believe that of course you can do anything with a computer but most of what they learn in the first few weeks of a traditional photography course seems well beyond the scope of reason or human capability...

And when they accomplish what has previously been believed the impossible, and create something through the use of their own two hands, they light up.

They have a new self-confidence, possibly a new understanding of what might actually be possible.

That's what I was thinking about while drinking coffee this morning.

Dominick