Camera vs. Photographer - Why gear does and doesn’t matter.
The other day, on one of the photo groups I am part of on Facebook, someone posted a screenshot of a conversation they had with what looked like a ‘mentor’ of sorts. She told him what equipment she owned (a mix of cameras and lenses much like me), and he proceeded to tell her that she should sell her equipment and only buy either Sony or Canon equipment. Needless to say, the comments were comical, especially because it’s an all-women group and the mentor was a man. I found this post and all the comments intriguing, considering I have had a lot of trouble with ‘gear heads’ in retail stores over the years. I would like to provide my personal opinion on the subject.
When I got to my first Purdue photography course with my brand spankin new Nikon D3500, I was told to leave and come back with a film camera along with all of the material and equipment I would need to shoot, develop and print black and white film. The Pentax K1000 I bought from the local photography shop is still to this day my favorite camera. The feel of the photos it produces is ethereal, nostalgic, and beautiful. I am very grateful for that course; it created the base of knowledge I needed to do my job and respect to the original cameras and photographers.
Fast forward and getting to why gear matters, I was still shooting with those two cameras up until last year when I decided it was finally time to upgrade. I didn’t want to spend the kind of money it would take to fully upgrade to best there is so I got a couple of cameras I am very happy with. The technology had advanced enough in the cameras I bought that it was truly like night and day. However, I had to get through the retail process while receiving a lot of unwanted advice. I actually had one guy try to give me his number because he “teaches courses” on how to pose and shoot weddings. My first thought was, “if you think you can do better than Purdue University you have quite the ego”. I ended up bringing my husband with me the next time I bought equipment and it went phenomenally better. My point is that the gear heads need to take a step back and be willing to set aside the ego to talk about the technology. When I am finally ready to upgrade to a mirrorless camera I hope there will be people out there to talk to about all the incredible changes being made.
Something I consistently try to remind myself to do is be a photographer who lives in the moment. I even spent several years actively choosing to forgo bringing my camera with me everywhere. At some point, I realized no matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t always going to be able to capture every moment, and it was best just to live in it instead. One of my favorite photos from early in my career was on film. It’s about the photographer. The photographer is what matters.
Talk soon,
Kate
