I was reminded on several occasions recently about the most important tool any artist or craftsman has is the gray goo behind the eyes and between the ears.

For example, there is a new Nikon ad campaign featuring Ashton Kutcher doing his schtick, and now suddenly with a good camera, he can easily make great pictures even though he is a clueless idiot. Well, there is a bit truth to this; the gap between amateur and professional photog is a lot narrower. Why? Technology. Better cameras *do* help you make better pictures, and do so more easily.

And we see technology change at mind boggling speed.

Canon's highly anticipated 5D MK II is a good example. Google it if ya' want. You'll see tons of stuff come up. This is not just the new flavor-of-the-month camera. It's amazing--a huge leap in technology.

The best thing I've seen from this camera by far is an absolutely brilliant short film by Vincent Laforet (his great blog is here!!) called "Reverie" now hosted by smugmug because the film required so much bandwidth and the demand was so beyond expectations. It went viral and has people all over the world (myself included) drooling. It is absolutely stunning eye candy. The whole film was shot using a pre-production model with no instructions. And yes, to be abslutely clear about the film: ALL of it was shot in High Definition video using a new still camera.

My point here is that while any craftsman or artist requires good tools, the tool does nat make anything, the person using it does. If we all run out and buy a new 5D MK II, does that make us Vincent Laforet? Nope. I wish it was that easy :) It's the hard work, the skill, and the imagination, e.g., the gray matter :)