BUT, gear does not make the photographer. It can definitely help, and make your life smoother / easier, sometimes, but it is not at the top of the list what makes a great photographer.
Lots of sayings going around that some it up well - "Gear is good, vision is better" by David Duchemin would be my favourite.
I am very fortunate to have some very nice gear these days for sure but this stuff didn't just miraculously land in my lap. I have worked my way up to the gear I now use over the last 25 years. It's really only been in recent years that I have been able to justify & afford new/pro gear over second hand. Funny thing though - my current bodies still make an exposure based on a combination of ISO, aperture & shutter speed, just like the Canon AE-1 or the Nikon F90 did that I used for a long time prior to jumping into digital. AND, the final captured image is still controlled & composed by ME, not my camera.
For working professionals, good gear more often than not translates to tough, consistent & reliable gear. Tools of the trade. When you are being paid to do a job, especially one you may not get a second chance to reshoot, you want good reliable tools in your bag. Just like a good mechanic has accumulated years of knowledge & experience in their field, and choose to use the best tools they can. The tools compliment their work but they don't replace that hard earned experience & knowledge.
The main reason for this mini-rant is the other day, for the thousandth time, I received a nice comment about one of my images (which I really do appreciate) ...which was then closely followed by "You must have a really good camera" or my other favourite "I could do that if I had a good camera like yours but I just can't justify the dollars".
Aaaaaargh !! "I pity the fool" - thanks Mr T.
Just like the nice gear didn't magically appear in my hands, the last twenty plus years of experience making photographs, reading books, going to courses etc. etc. etc. wasn't a matrix style instant download to my brain either.
It just seems more & more these days that the respect for genuine professional photographers/photography is gone or at best a rare & fleeting thing - certainly compared to the days of film, and before the age of instant gratification that we now live in. I'm sure there are plenty of contributing factors - flickr, Facebook, cameras in almost every device imaginable (not all of these are bad things by the way... they all have their place). I think it is also fuelled to a degree by the number of cameras present at any given place & time now, many of which in their manufacturer's advertising campaigns are conveying the message 'you don't even need brain to use me'.
What a can of worms... there are so many more rant topics this could lead to (and just might down the track).
OK I'm done.
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| Taken with iPhone, whilst blind folded... just kidding. |
You funny boy…
ReplyDelete… did you get the people at Harvey Norman to make that shot into Black & White for you?
Is it that obvious? Bugger.
Delete