Seems like the more I listen, the more I hear people talking about the gear, the business of photography, the widgets. Let us not forget the simple love of photography.
I understand why there’s so much rhetoric in our industry about the business of photography and the gear and the gadgets. There is the common stereotype that most creative people aren’t good business people. There is fear. Gear is easier to talk about than vision. Exposures are exact, the camera dials have numbers. There is a ‘right’ answer to many of these questions.
But where is your love of pictures? Where are your actions that back this up?
Can you pick up a book of photographs and get lost in it?
Can you walk around with your iPhone or Android or your point and shoot or whatever and take 100 pictures knowing that they’ll never be for a client or a portfolio?
Do you love hunting for pictures?
Will you stay up late or get up early for pictures?
Do you sometimes ‘see’ life as a photograph?
It’s different for all of us, but when you can take a break from all the chatter, remind yourself–as often as you can–why you love photography.
Thats right sometime too much work make us forget the joy of taking a good image
Chase,
Came up with this quote the other day and then I watched several of your podcasts and thougth that it applied to you as well as a few other photographers I follow.
Quote: I want to be an inspiration to someone I will never meet, never know and hope they do something great!! ~bradley thomas
Keep up the Great work!
I definitely love to go hunting for photographs…when I have the time. The thing about making your job in photography is that the things Chase first mentioned, the gear, the business, etc. can come to dominate how photography is represented in one’s life.
But even when I am out driving with the family to the grocery store, my eyes constantly frame things as photographs. If I glance at a scene things like, “I’d compose like this, shoot low, probably be black & white” pop through my head, and I’ll make a mental picture of it. Maybe some day I’ll go back to that spot and photograph it.
For a couple months I regularly drove by a couple of monster 4×4 trucks parked in front of an auto shop. I always said to myself, got to get out here and photograph them sometime. Well, I finally made the time and did:
http://jasoncollinphotography.com/blog/2009/12/22/monster-4x4s-of-16th-avenue.html
And I was very glad I finally got around to shooting them because as sedentary as they looked, the next time I drove by they were gone and I have not seen them back since.
Actually I don’t think that love for gear is a bad thing. I am sure that there are many people out there who are very creative but also love their gear. I know that somehow most of the people think that either you love playing with gear or you are really creative and don’t care about what are you shooting with, but I don’t agree with it.
Sure that vision is very important in photography, but the quality of the end result is also important. Maybe less important but still. And as some said in comments here the “L glass” can deliver this quality. If you are creative person, having a good (or great) gear can only improve your end result.
And also you have to know your gear in order to use it to its full extent and have it help you express your vision.
So, in short, people, don’t dismiss gear!