The photographer Andre Kertész said "The camera is my tool. Through it I give reason to everything around me."
The American photographer Minor White, in discussing the philosophy and meaning behind his pictures, once stated in summary "The camera was faithfully used".

Although it only takes a simple pinhole in a light-tight box to create the right conditions for a photograph to be made, the still camera has always been a device of increasing sophistication.This increasing sophistication in no way guarantees improved 'seeing', but it does sometimes allow the photographer greater freedom to concentrate on content rather than controls.

The original idea for this section was to show some cameras from my collection and to share some technical information about the various photographic processes I have used over the years. When I was starting out I was interested in how established photographers worked, what cameras, film, developer and paper they used; what their 'technique' was. It didn't take long for me to realise that, although technique was important, what made them great photographers was the way they combined it with vision. There is now so much useful, and more up-to-date, technical information available to the enquiring browser that I'm not so inclined to add more just for the sake of it.

Like Atget, whom he greatly admired, the photographer Edwin Smith worked with some quite ancient equipment, but it was well-suited to his work and gave the results he sought. It was primitive, but of good quality (when he could afford it) - and reliable. He had only basic printing equipment and no running water in his darkroom until late in his career, yet he employed some elaborate manual and chemical manipulations to achieve printed results that satisfied his eye.

What tools you use can be important, but not as important as how you use them. Proficiency in using any tool is important though, to make the best use of it. I like to use reliable equipment so that I don't have to worry so much about it failing at a crucial moment. I have a passionate dislike for anything that requires endless supplies of batteries, but these days it's hard to avoid such things; I've yet to find a digital camera that doesn't require them...

The hours spent in the darkroom perfecting split-toning, lith printing, selenium toning and archival processing are now just memories - time just doesn't allow itself to be used so self-indulgently any more.
A few hours at the keyboard can now produce results with the same outward appearance as those silver-based prints of the past, but I have yet to produce a print by this method that satisifies me as much as those formed by the old processes - although I feel it may be getting closer.

So, just for the record, most of my photography recently has been digital, using either Nikon or Fuji SLR cameras. When I do use film, it is most likely going to be in a Fuji GW690 Model III or a Rollei 35S, and then it will most likely be scanned and printed digitally. I use Epson scanners and printers and like Tetenal papers, especially their Premium Fine Art Glossy 290g.