Originally posted by c.a.m My wife: We really should put that picture up on the wall.
Me: Gee, I don't know dear, I'm not totally happy with the print.
Wife: Why not, it's great. You took a really nice picture. What's the problem with it?
Me: Well, you see right here... see that faint halo effect at the boundary between the trees and the sky in this area? I should have processed it differently. Maybe I'll re-do it.
Wife: Rolls eyes.
My wife actually tried to talk a prospective client out of buying one of my prints because she didn't like my post processing. Finally the guy just pointed at one of hers and the print in question and said, "I want that one and that one, what kind of deal can I get for buying both?" (These were $350 prints.) My wife still won't let me display one of my best prints ever, because of a little purple fringing in the top left corner. It hangs in the downstairs bathroom. Banished so to speak. It does however have a prominent place in the houses of several customers.
Photographers can be way to picky.
At my wife's insistence we have tried to reshoot that image many times, and it has never come out as good again. People often ask me where an image is taken. I say, if you want this picture, buy this picture. You can go to the same place, at the same time of year, at the same time of day. You will not get this picture, and neither would I if i went back myself. You have to judge images by what's good about them. Photographers focus on what's wrong with them. It's the wrong approach. People grossly underestimate how much luck there is in getting a great image. You have to be ready incase you get a great opportunity, but using the same technique etc. as you used on your best images, sometimes you get nothing useful.
Photography, especially nature photography is about perseverance, more than anything else. One day, you happen to be at the right place at the right time with the right camera for the job. Gear etc is secondary to the part where you have to be there, and the more often you are out shooting, the better your odds. All the other factors pale by comparison.
I suspect the real answer to "Why did you buy this camera?" is "I would buy every camera ever made given sufficient funds and storage space. I just like cameras."