equip01

著名美國記者 Hunter S. Thompson 在 1962 年二月的時候，給當時的《Pop Photo》雜誌寄了一封信，由於他本身也是攝影愛好者，所以亦談及他對攝影的看法，而近日這信被雜誌《American Photo》發掘了出來，當中有頗多分享相當有意思，例如︰

“I was beginning to feel that no man should ever punch a shutter release without many years of instruction and at least $500 worth of the finest equipment” – 你也會嗎？沒有受過「專業」訓練，手上沒有「優秀」器材，就不敢把相機拿出來，羞於使用那些「不夠好」的相機……

“When photography gets so technical as to intimidate people, the element of simple enjoyment is bound to suffer” – 當攝影變成以技術來嚇人，誰還可以享受到簡單的樂趣呢？

“Any man who can see what he wants to get on film will usually find some way to get it; and a man who thinks his equipment is going to see for him is not going to get much of anything” – 要拍到好作品，其實應該是攝影眼 / 概念先決，而不是器材先決。

(下圖是 Hunter S. Thompson)
equip02

過了半個世紀，似乎人類 (攝影) 的歷史還在不斷循環呢……

這封信原為回應當時雜誌一篇名為「The Virtues of American Photography」的文章，而目前則收錄於著作《The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman》之內，並可在 Google Books 上看到如下︰

via PetaPixel

(image credit: Ernst Moeksis、MDCarchives)