Using compact cameras

Following on from my comments about the amount of heavy kit photographers lug about with them these days, I thought I’d show you a couple of pictures taken during one of the recent photography holidays I ran in Menorca.

When I have students with me, my priority is always to offer them guidance and tuition – their pictures not mine. So I carry the absolute minimum kit. Of course, I need a camera to demonstrate how composition can be changed and how pictures can be made to happen, but you do not need fancy kit to do that.

One of the places we photograph in Menorca is a fish market. The photographers are always made welcome and they have a great time taking close-ups; the ladies who serve the fish; the customers, you name it.

The pictures shown here were taken to demonstrate to my group that you sometimes have to arrange things a little – in this case by moving the subjects into the right positions. They were taken in a matter of seconds with no fuss.

And the camera that captured these detailed close-up shots?

A little Canon Ixus 700.

Any photographer worth his or her salt will very quickly find the limitations of a compact digital. But within those limitations, they can produce excellent and striking images. Remember – it’s not the camera that makes the pictures. It’s the photographer.