Some pictures don’t need much explanation. This is one such picture taken by my good friend Marilyn Odello. I absolutely love this picture. It brings a smile to my face every time.

Many believe you can’t teach creativity. That it takes more than great equipment and inspiration. Many believe you also need, dare I say it?

A good eye and talent to create works of art.

I suppose that’s true to some extent. So how would you explain those one-hit sensations in the music world? Luck?

Rather than tackle this age-old debate, I’d rather encourage everyone who’s interested in photography to pursue it as a way of self-expression or, better yet,  a way to share what’s significant in your life.

We live in an exciting time when anyone  with a just a cellphone can instantly share something they’ve witnessed with millions of people minutes after they take a picture.

That sort of “power” used to belong to a select group of powerful people who owned mainstream media.

Not so anymore. And it hardly costs anything to have this sort of capability.

Like you, I take lots of pictures of my family and especially my kids.

Most of the time, I use my point-and-shoot Powershot G3.

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It’s nothing fancy. 4 Megapixel variety I bought at least 5 years ago.

I’ve learned to accept its limitations and I’ve learned what I can realistically capture.

The alternative of lugging a heavy digital SLR everywhere is sometimes impractical.

There have since been 7 generations since my G3. Canon’s latest G10 packs 14 Megapixels.

Sure, I’d love to get the latest model but that’s 4 Benjamin Franklins or the equivalent of US $450 which I could put to …. Better stop, my wife might be reading this.

So never  be dissuaded by  people who say “every picture or landscape that’s any good has been shot.”

Once you get that into your head, you won’t even step out the door with your camera.

Your challenge is to show the world your micro-sliver ,however inconsequential you may think it is.

Here are some of my favorite pictures taken with my point-and-shoot Canon Powershot G3.

You will probably not care for any of them. They’re pictures of a personal nature after all.

But here’s a thought:

If Ansel Adams provided the GPS coordinates to all his landscapes, the exif data for his camera settings and access to meteorological data i.e  sky conditions when he took those pictures, could anyone with a fancy camera, wizardry in Photoshop and a well-equipped computer reproduce his body of work?