I think it is great to start out with what one can afford, and build
from there if one has the love of the medium. Many years ago in this
forum people were giving advice to a young birder with little money
about the best tripods and spotting scopes he should buy--as if he
had financial access to the best. Sometimes I think we forget that
many of us started out with what we could, and built from there. In
my case, some of my favorite nature photographs that I have taken
were from the late 70s and early 80s, when I had a lot of vision and
not much money. But those photos still stand up today, even though I
now have better (still can't afford the best!) equipment. The vision
is the thing.

I loved Kenn Kaufman's "Kingbird Highway" book, in which he talked
about traveling around America during a 1970s quest to see more
species of birds than just about anyone. He did it on a shoestring,
with a pair of $20 binoculars that he had painted bright gold. He
became one of America's top birders.

Lee Rentz
http://leerentz.wordpress.com


On Mar 15, 2010, at 10:24 AM, Jim Greaves wrote:

> At 01:00 PM 3/14/2010, Allyn Weaks wrote:
>> Allyn Weaks <allyn. at tardigrade.net> -- good series of points, etc
>> relative to photography
>
> Thank you Allyn for your comprehensive analysis of the ins and outs
> of aspects of this discussion. Also, I apologize if I sounded at
> all arrogant in my last two posts. Unintended by attempting to be
> brief - which seems impossible given the subject matter, as I've
> observed over the decades among photographers of all levels of
> expertise! :-) Thanks to all for this VERY useful discussion -
> though I'm stuck with what I have to use, and try to make the best
> of it, I "long for" the day when/if I actually COULD afford the
> BEST lenses and BEST cameras. Until, I like others, make do with
> what we can... -- Jim Greaves
>
>
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