Ben is riding a race bike down Mission Beach boardwalk.

Using a 1Ds Mark II and 35L to take pictures of random things on my work desk.

Cruising on a Cervelo R3 road race bike in full race gear down Mission Beach boardwalk on a summer Sunday afternoon.

Same thing right?

I guess I got caught up using the left side of my brain again. The left side is always looking for the best camera body, the best formal techniques, the best Photoshop workflow method, the most expensive glass, the latest and greatest.

The right side is what is being left behind in the dust while I search frantically for "L" glass or a new camera body. I have seen pictures that are priceless pieces of art created by a 5 year old 10D. Heck, the photographer could have used an iPhone camera (maybe not my 3G, the 3GS though) and blown anything that I have created out of the water.

I am not saying I want to be a professional photographer. I don't want to go to school to learn lighting techniques and how to work palattes in Lightroom and how to be an assistant on a shoot. I really, really don't ever want to shoot weddings.

I just want to make my photos have some sort of artistic merit eventually.

BOTTOM LINE IS: I haven't figured out how I want the picture I am taking to look like.

This is a huge problem, you wouldn't build a house if you didn't have a vision of what it would look like right?

The left side of my brain never really shuts up. That's why I take such lousy pictures. They are all boring and they are composed boring and the colors are bland and the lighting is all wrong.

Right now I am taking advantage of the DOF, sharpness and resolution advantage that are provided to me by my tools. There is nothing extraordinary about my photographs, it's just a guy using the gear as it is intended. I am not being creative in the least bit. Just creating sharp subjects and blurry backgrounds. I mean that's what makes a good picture right?

Nope. Any dude with a 50mm f/1.8 can make a great picture if that was the case.

For exaple: Why am I thinking about Pocket Wizards and Alien Bees? I have no idea what they would do to a picture if I had them all set up and ready to go right now at this moment.

I need to understand light and shadows and color and how depth of field isolates things. This is what I would recommend to someone looking for a DSLR.

If I get asked "Nikon D5000 or Canon T1i?" again, for the 10981081th time...

I'll reply, "Do you even know what either DSLR will let you do that your current point and shoot camera can't"

They will probably look at me with blank faces.

I didn't even figure it out until now, and that is after spending thousands of dollars on random camera equipment.

It's all about have total control of the light hitting a sensor at the back of your camera.

Hardest fucking thing in the world to understand, and even harder to use to paint the picture in your brain.