What Makes This Stuff Art

From Jorge Quinteros (via Patrick Rhone):

I’m far from where I would love to be as a photographer but when friends get annoyed that I took a photograph in the same place where we both happen to be and mine gets more attention, I thrive on that because it’s not about what camera we had, it was about how differently we chose to see things around us.

This reminds me a lot of interviews I’ve read with Eddie Van Halen. No, really. In fact, photography in general is a lot like guitar playing. It’s a very popular hobby with a few over-the-top successful people and an obsessive population of readers/viewers/listeners who want to know everything about the successful people’s equipment.

Jorge responds above much the same as Eddie did. There were hundreds of articles about the specs of Eddie’s equipment and he was hounded in interview after interview for years about the secret to his unique sound. But the truth was (as his fellow rock stars and guitar techs would attest to), there really wasn’t any secret. He could pick up any guitar, play through any amp, and it would always sound like Eddie. It was all in his fingers.

True art lies in what you cannot duplicate.