What's the #1 critical factor in photography? A better camera, perhaps? A slew of strobes and softboxes? Creative design? We'll go out on a limb here and say "none of the above." We think that curiosity is the key to everything.

Without curiosity, equipment doesn't matter. A Nikon D3 can make a perfectly good snapshot. Without curiosity, a truck full of lighting equipment is useless. Where should the light flow? Ya gotta be curious enough to experiment. Without curiosity, a university MBA in creative design just adds to the heap of unemployed advertiser wannabees.

Curiosity asks "what if" incessantly. Curiosity is insatiable with experimentation. Curiosity digs deeper, understanding the masters and builds up before it tears down. Curiosity isn't limited to its own working genre - a curious photographer will be as interested in physics, music, literature, and history (and the list goes on) as he is in photography itself. 

In our classes, we try to instill curiosity and a sense of wonder in our students. With curiosity as the foundation, photography becomes a lifelong pursuit of excellence in all areas of life.

So we vote for curiosity for "The Most Important Thing."