I love serendipity. It gifts me with the most amazing people when I pay attention. I write for Airstream Life Magazine on occasion. And I recently got an email from the editor about a possible story after a photographer sent him some photos. Nice photos. Nice photographer. Great story. But then serendipity stepped in. Being insanely curious I started talking to the photographer (Alison Turner) because, well, I like to hear people’s stories. Turns out Alison likes to live out of her car just like me. She has a house, but she rents it out and goes on the road because she likes to travel. And she likes to take pictures. And she likes people’s stories too - only she captures them with her camera. Which brings me to the point of this post. Alison has a little “point and click” camera - the kind you can pick up at any CVS or Walgreens, or a big box retailer.

It’s the kind of camera that, when she took a “Photography class” and brought it out - people sneered. Not the full frontal in-your face sneer, but the “I just caught a whiff of poverty,” sneer. The elitist sneer. You know the one - the smug look, the shifting in the chair, the “Oh, she can’t be serious,” thoughts that run across their face sneer. We’ve all experienced. It’s the one crafted to invoke shame and inadequacy in us. But Alison didn’t let it deter her, and she still doesn’t. Because, for Alison, photography is about what she can capture NOW. She doesn’t need the tools to do what she does.

As a Pulitzer award winning photographer once told me, “Becky, most of the Pulitzer winning photos over the last century were taken with what were essentially the equivalents of a Brownie camera. It’s not the camera [tool], it’s the photographer behind the camera.”

Alison is one of those photographers. I think she could take great pictures with a cheap cell phone. She has an eye for people, for scenes, for story. She’s amazing. And she’s shooting photos for me to illustrate my stories!

What I love about her is that she gets excited. When I call her and tell her I got an assignment for a national magazine and want her photos she still reacts like I do - squealing and happy and real and in the moment. Like great writers, artists and photographers do - we FEEL and express our emotions. There’s no “being cool,” there’s only being real. And that real flows out of her, into her world, opening her up for possibility.

I look at her work and visual candy doesn’t do it the justice it deserves. Yes, I wish she had the sharp resolution and clarity in her work of a professional camera. Great lenses DO make a difference there, but composition, soul, clarity of story - you can’t get that with a million dollar camera if you don’t have that in you. And if you have that million dollar camera and don’t have the chops to spot great content - your photos will suck in a different way.

I meet so many people who tell me, “I want to be a writer. I want to write a book - but I can’t because I don’t have a computer.” Or, “I don’t have that new writing software…” or whatever. They think the tools will make them great. Here’s a tip. I write my best stuff on a .49 cent legal pad - the ones I buy in bulk at Wal-mart or the dollar store. Libraries have free computers. Yeah, it’s a pain. But if you want to write, you do it. If you want to be a photographer, if you want to capture people and tell their stories - you do it. Don’t wait for the tools. Do what you can with what you’ve got. I want to travel the US in an RV. I have a 35-year old van. I’m not letting the tools stop me. I have to roll down the window and open the door from the outside because the door crank gear is stripped out. But it gets me from point A to point B where I can write. Don’t let tools, or the lack of them, stand in your way. Alison’s not and neither should you. Now go. You’re missing life.

P.S.
Alison has a series of photos on Facebook -a series called “People in their Habitat.” It’s remarkable. I’ve posted some of her work here so you can appreciate it since I think you have to be a *friend* to view the Facebook link. These are all copyrighted. She sells her work - prints or shoots for hire, so contact her. Or contact me and I’ll put you in touch with her.