The other day in class I tried to explain the difference between a photographer who is a 'shooter' and a photographer who is an 'artist that uses a camera.' I was trying to find the words to describe how a 'shooter' finds something worthy of a picture virtually everywhere. This doesn't make them less of an artist, rather an artist who is always on. An 'artist who uses a camera' makes their work and uses the camera to record it. Now this doesn't mean they are drawing or painting or sculpting and then just documenting it... an artist who uses a camera to make a photographic image that stand as just that--a photograph, but they do it by making the image they then photograph. I personally wear both hats, but I try to keep these ideas separate in order to preserve the strengths they both have. I love shooters work, and if I have a preference in my own work, I think the work I do as a shooter is the most satisfying. I love to see something and try to figure a way to make it record with my camera. Today I made a few frames trying to use the heat wave coming up from a burn barrel. I shot some loose shots and then zeroed in on just what the waves were doing. When I studied painting(well I guess Im still studying it actually) I was intrigued with the idea of abstraction. I'm really a story type artist, so wrapping my brain around an art that was about process and a feeling, or process and an intuition was hard to grasp at first. Somewhere in my really bad attempts at abstract painting I began to realize that the notion--'anyone can do that' is not at all true. Just like in today's world where digital cameras are making many things much easier for the average consumer, not everyone can become a great photographer simply be buying an expensive camera. It takes commitment to the craft and to yourself to get there. As a shooter I enjoy making comparisons to 'art' and lately I've been fascinated with seeing details that resemble abstractions.....I laugh when I say (or type) that ...because what I'm recording is something visually real unto itself and it resembles what I see....but without the notion of the abstract painters before me, I'd probably never have thought it would make an interesting image to look at.