The Author of an Image

This is a gorgeous image, but it's not mine. Sure, I took it with my camera, and I even exposed correctly, but our instructor, Tony Corbell is the maker of it. Amber (the model) is actually one of our classmates, and she agreed to let Tony photograph her using his concept. Everything in this image in intentional - the light (we were all out there at 7am to watch), the costume (Tony had a little help from Louise Simone), and the posing. The more developed we become as photographers, the more intentional our images become. This is why the nature of 'intellectual property' is guarded so fiercely in our profession. It would be completely unethical for one of us to has taken the shots engineered by Tony and called them our own.
In his own words ...'use this, and I'll kill ya!' - He was kidding.
Kind of kidding. But he has a great point.
So many of us get to our gig (wedding, event, etc.), and find guests and family in possession of AMAZING fire power, fantastic cameras, lenses, and flash units. You'd think it might be intimidating, but it's not. The greatest asset a professional photographer has is sloshing around between the ears. It's the creativity, the concepts, the ideas, resourcefulness, usually with a heaping dose of personality and diplomacy.
Tony has all of this and more, but he knows his greatest assets are made of them. He is what so many of us work everyday to be...The Best.