What is a Photophile?

Ever wondered what a photophile might be? I didn't, but I found out anyway:

photophile

a.,n. (organism) loving light.

This is from here: http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/difficultwords/data/d0009983.html

That got me to thinking about photography, and how we capture light and preserve it in one format or the other. Then I got to thinking some more, not something I do too often, and it struck me how we, as photographers, have a great responsibility towards humankind to record what we see in such a way that it can be preserved for generations to come.

We need to capture our moments in time with due diligence and reverence for posterity, with the weight of responsibility pressing us to become masters of our art and "get it right" in the best way possible so that people in the future can look at what we have preserved and feel and experience the emotions, beauty of creation, and frail human spirit that is displayed in front of their eyes.

All that combined with imprinting our own artistic fingerprint into this incredible art we call photography, and we can realise why there are so few real artists of the medium out there that catch the eye and stand out from the rest of the happy snap crowd.

One day I hope to attain to the kind of photography that make the elite few stand tall, people like Henri Cartier Bresson, Ansel Adams, John Sevigny, Roger Ballen, Alfred Eisensteadt, Dorothea Lange, Edward Steichen, etc. Folks who dedicated themselves to the pursuit of that one momentous slice of the human spirit and creation that moves us to feelings that emanate from deep within our souls, and stir us to look at our world with different eyes.

Now you can see why I try not to think too often! ;-)