Homeless in Vancouver: The views expressed aren't necessarily my own

Alder Street continues to be one of my favourite “go to” streets for attractive views. Friday afternoon I snapped yet another panoramic photo looking north down Alder—this one from a vantage point at about West 11th Avenue.

Keep in mind, however, that none of the actual views I photograph are mine. What I mean is that anyone standing in the same spot could conceivably take the exact same photograph I take.

Try not to let the technology go to your head

Early this evening, I stopped in Chocklit Park on West 7th Avenue at the foot of Spruce Street and tried my hand at capturing a little of the panoramic glory spread out on the north side of False Creek. I wasn’t alone.

A woman with her smartphone was taking her own photos of the scene, or she was trying. Turns out I was in the spot she wanted to be in and she cooled her heels looking at the view through her phone until I finished snapping off the 60 or so photographs I wanted in order to build a panoramic view.

As soon as I finished and moved to leave, the woman moved into the spot I vacated and proceeded to take her own photos.

I’ll never see them but the degree to which her photos might look just like my photos (or worse or better) has much more to do with the scene itself and our cameras than it has to do with either her or my artistic ability.

As machines go, a camera is about as prone to creating art as a photocopier.

I believe photographers can only approach art and true personal expression by moving away from the rote photographic process.

The subjective choices involved by manual controls and panoramic collages and in-camera superimposition of multiple exposures certainly begin to count toward personal expression but real art has to be about more than technical options and more expensive cameras.

Just as good workers never blame their tools, a better paint brush never made a better artist.

The painter Francisco Goya could make better art with a piece of twig than I could with the finest sable brush.

What that all means is that I’m very happy if my camera spits out an attractive photograph but I really try not to take it personally.