The Naturalist Photographer

[Battou]

A naturalist photographer.....he/she is very much like a master swordsman.

A master swordsman who always keeps his sword by his side, he knows when to draw his sword, but he knows when to stay it, he has the ability to kill with the flip of the wrist, but does not claim that he will, but most importantly, he never claims to be a master as he knows there is more to swordsmanship than the sword and there is always a way to improve. In the meantime there is the self proclaimed master swordsman who who always keeps his sword by his side and draws his sword at the drop of a dime and will boast about the ability to fell his opponent and will not hesitate to do so to prove his greatness. The sad truth is the act of claiming such mastery is the persons subconscious declaration that they know nothing about the weapon in their hand and their will to eliminate anyone who says otherwise.

What does this all have to do with photography....well, the true naturalist photographer keeps his camera by his side, he/she has the ability to acquire a photograph, but does not claim that he/she will, but most importantly he\she knows there is more to photography than the camera. A true naturalist is not about film or digital nor are they for or against computer generated post processing they are just there. They make photos, they do their thing and are willing to try new things.

At the same time there are the self proclaimed naturalists. The sad truth is they claim to be a naturalist because they don't want to learn about digital photography and often generate and perpetuate film\digital arguments as well as create misinterpretations about digital post processing all under the guise of film predates computers.

All photoshop actions where all derived from a few things, some that predate even film. Those few things are painters tools like paint brushes, media textures and the like, dark room techniques like USM, Dodge and Burn and the like as well as with camera equipment like colored filters, exposure adjustment and the like.


So why is it that those who claim to be a naturalist are often arguing that digital and Photoshop are the devil and argue so adamantly about film and post processing?