The camera is capable of recording everything that the human eye can see and preserve it for future viewing. A photograph is a visual record of man’s achievement, from overwhelming victory to crushing defeat. It also covers the whole spectrum of man’s emotion from unabashed happiness to heart-rending grief. No other art form has ever captured the best and worst in life’s experience than the art of photography.

Throughout recorded history, man’s desire to immortalize himself has been made evident by the works of his own hands. You can still see stone age man’s drawings and hand prints in caves in Europe. You will be awed by huge monolithic statues of ancient Egyptian pharaohs hewn out of solid rock. They record their achievement in the battlefields in papyrus and clay tablets. Great painters, and even the not so great ones, immortalized the images of their era through their masterpieces.

Although the precursor of the modern box-type camera known as camera obscura has been recorded as early as the first millennium, it was only in the 1820’s that the first real photographic image was recorded and preserved by French inventor Nicephore Niepce. It took 8 hours to record the image which was a view of a rooftop. Today, it takes only a millisecond for a photographer to get images into film or digital disks.

The art of the photographer has spread into many areas of interest. The whole world, from dark ocean depths to the clear blue skies, even up to the far reaches of outer space, has not escaped the curious eye of the photographer. Subjects can be as majestically big as Mount Everest or infinitesimally small as an atom.

The art of photography opens up new worlds both for the amateur and professional camera enthusiasts. It can also be a source of income by catering to man’s primal desire – immortality.

The oldest photograph in existence has been around for about 200 years. Owing to modern methods of photo preservation, pictures taken today can very well last indefinitely.

Considering photography as a career requires great preparation and training. The photographer’s main weapons, however, are an eye for what’s interesting and a quick trigger finger to record it. Another important requirement is the ability to play with lighting. As the name implies, photography literally means “light writing” or recording images with the artistic use of lighting.

No photographer worth his film should go without their favorite weapon of choice. Investing in a good professional camera can spell the difference between failure and success in your career as a photographer. Farther down the line you will also need other photo equipment to improve your art like tripods, battery packs and professional lighting equipment. You might even need a computer if you are into digital photography and editing.

If you want to learn the art, enroll in a photography class where you can gain more knowledge and techniques to improve your craft. Join a photography group and exchange ideas and methods of taking good quality pictures. Most of all, shoot a lot of pictures. Learn from your bad photos to come up with excellent ones.

Whether you are shooting photos of a blushing bride, herds of humpback whales, or one of the moons of Jupiter, always learn to relax and record the image at the right moment to produce a breath-taking picture. After all, your work is meant to last forever.