About this image This couple is sitting in a rowboat on the lake in Central Park. It is special place for New Yorkers. A tiny slice of the country in the middle of the big city. However, when you look, around instead of seeing a forest of trees you see a forest of buildings.

I chose this image because it was done many years ago when Tony was "finding his voice" as they say. The tools he had were not as advanced as they are today and neither was the camera. The camera was a very important part of his process.

Musings of a muse Over time, the process that results in a piece of Techno-Impressionist art has grown ever more complex. So if we were to give a weight to each of the steps we could express things as a percentage. Ten years ago the camera made up a high percentage. This is no longer true. Go back and look at this image. that Tony calls Stairway to the stars and you will see something where the camera only made up a small percentage of the process.

Tony bought a new Sony camera. He has been immersed in it, learning what the different settings do and looking for the new possibilities. He bought this one because among other things, it has a large display that tilts and swivels. He was looking forward to seeing what new direction this camera would lead him.

For Tony the camera is like his canvas. He paints his first sketch by taking a picture of something that catches his eye. Remember, he never knows where this is going to lead. For him that's the fun of it. The ability to play and play until he has something he likes.

Well it turns out that with this camera the bad outweighs the good. However I am working on him. I saw some possibilities. He still judges cameras the way he did when he was writing for Modern Photography and building accessories for cameras. He has lots of cameras, but he does not use most of them. It is like he gets a new girl friend and the others are out. I am lucky that he only has one muse and it not looking for a newer model.

I reminded him this morning that he is an artist now. He should be thinking about the camera and where it fits into his art. His relationship with the camera is very different now. We'll have to wait and see what happens. What he told me was the whole experience has shown him that he can use his existing camera in new ways. That will change the look of his art.