iedei Posted March 30, 2013 Share #1 Posted March 30, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) A strange thing happened earlier today....i was going through my older photographs on iPhoto; taken before the days of me shooting raw, etc. i found some photos taken with a Panasonic LZ5 'point and shoot'.....started converting a few to B&W and realised something pretty amazing. I had taken some of these photos while traveling to England and Pakistan between 2004 and 2006....and the photos looked great. Great not because of what gear i was using, but great because of the atmosphere of the place, the scene, the inspiration, and the idea behind the photos themselves. The technical merits of the photo didn't matter....nor did how many megapixels the camera had....or what brand the lens was....or whether blah blah blah....all that mattered is that i was there, capturing a moment. The gear was insignificant. Having thought about it....i think thinking too much about gear is a substitute for actually going out and taking photos....i think it is an activity which bides our time when we aren't actually doing something creative or interesting. I'm going to stop monitoring ebay auctions for my 'dream lenses'....and stop reading opinions about the latest cameras, I am going to keep looking at other people's photos to appreciate what others do....and of course will keep getting inspiration from the environment around me, and try to create and capture what really matters. Once in a while....when i feel like i need some gear....i'll shop around for something....but otherwise i'm quitting the obsessive reading about gear from now on. Back to purist tendencies! the gear doesn't matter. the world seen through our eyes and captured through the lens is what matters. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 30, 2013 Posted March 30, 2013 Hi iedei, Take a look here had an epiphany about 'gear'. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Manolo Laguillo Posted March 30, 2013 Share #2 Posted March 30, 2013 Photos must stay untouched and unseen for some time (months, years...) in a drawer (now it's the hard disk), in order to forget the exact circumstances of their making. Lee Friedlander says he needs at least two years to achieve that unavoidable distance in time with the work, if he wants to judge it well. It's the most difficult issue, to be good judges of our own work... Gear-obsession is one pretty nice way to distract ourselves from this task, of course;) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted March 30, 2013 Share #3 Posted March 30, 2013 It's all about the image. When have you ever seen a great photo and been disappointed that it wasn't taken with a Leica? Does it suddenly make the photo not so great? So many on this forum harp on about sharpness and bokeh but where are the images? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iedei Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share #4 Posted March 30, 2013 So many on this forum harp on about sharpness and bokeh but where are the images? and then there are the times where i see someone buy a $8k lens after 5 months of anguish and shopping....and then proceed post 3 uninspired photos of their cat on a couch to prove how good the lens is......AND THEN WHAT? ultimately gear is a dead end. the only variable that really determines whether good photos will come out of the camera is US....nothing more, nothing less. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted March 31, 2013 Share #5 Posted March 31, 2013 [...]Having thought about it....i think thinking too much about gear is a substitute for actually going out and taking photos[...] Duh! . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iedei Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share #6 Posted March 31, 2013 Duh!. it may be obvious...but it's not so easy to remember...especially when one wanders through this forumm---which is often a haven for new gear shopping above else! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hepcat Posted March 31, 2013 Share #7 Posted March 31, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) You have just found that you have become a photographer. Congratulations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDFlood Posted March 31, 2013 Share #8 Posted March 31, 2013 I think it depends on the person. It's a hobby. So for some people, part of the hobby is analyzing, dreaming about, and buying gear. For some folks, that is most of it. Since it is a hobby, you cannot usually justify everything. If you were a pro, you could get all the gear, and spend 10 hours a day using it. You wouldn't be dreaming about gear, you'd be dreaming bout the new sailboat or whatever. For me, gear is a means to an end. New gear can boost the quality of my photos, and help reinforce the positive feedback I get from the activity, so that is good. But ultimately, practicing photography makes you better. In the hands of a skilled photographer, astounding photos can come out of common equipment... But for a lot of us, a crutch of really good equipment helps. JD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJH Posted March 31, 2013 Share #9 Posted March 31, 2013 I had taken some of these photos while traveling to England and Pakistan between 2004 and 2006....and the photos looked great. Great not because of what gear i was using, but great because of the atmosphere of the place, the scene, the inspiration, and the idea behind the photos themselves. The technical merits of the photo didn't matter.... I had a similar epiphany recently. I realised that all of the power in an image comes from an ability to convey an emotional connection in the image, and by extension any discussion of the technical merit of an image is only valid in so far as how the technical aspects detract or enhance the impact of the image. These concepts are much much easier to convey in music. Everyone understands (or should) that a musician or singer can either use vibrato to show off or because they feel it. Its usually pretty easy to listen to a singer and tell if they are really feeling it or just showing off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hepcat Posted March 31, 2013 Share #10 Posted March 31, 2013 I think it depends on the person. It's a hobby. So for some people, part of the hobby is analyzing, dreaming about, and buying gear. For some folks, that is most of it. There's nothing wrong with collecting cameras and photo equipment as a hobby if that's what does it for you. That, is NOT, however the definition of a photographer. A photographer is a practitioner who uses photo equipment to its best advantage to make images. To a photographer the equipment itself is only important in so far as it's reliable and is able to produce the quality of images he requires; and that it can do that in a fashion that he is comfortable with. The "comfortable with" part is where different brands and styles of cameras come into play. A professional photographer is merely one who earns part or all of his income from the practice of photography. I think those distinctions, simple as they are, get lost in the translation sometimes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDFlood Posted April 1, 2013 Share #11 Posted April 1, 2013 It's really not black and white. You have to break down your interest in a pretty objective fashion, and most folks like a particular hobby for several reasons, and the weigh differently to each person. I love high-end audio... For the resultant enjoyment of the music. A lot of folks would say the same, only the continually swap out equipment. You can eventually verify someone is actually in love with the process more so than the music... But are insulted when you point this out. It took me nearly twenty years to put together my dream system, but now I just enjoy the music. I'm mostly into the art of photography, capturing the emotion and nuance of the subject. But I will still have that 20 % equipment passion re-surface in a week or two lusting after some new lens or something. This would not be as likely if I was a pro... As I would get so many more hours of photography. JD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkP Posted April 1, 2013 Share #12 Posted April 1, 2013 and then there are the times where i see someone buy a $8k lens after 5 months of anguish and shopping....and then proceed post 3 uninspired photos of their cat on a couch to prove how good the lens is......AND THEN WHAT? They love their cat very much Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hepcat Posted April 1, 2013 Share #13 Posted April 1, 2013 It's really not black and white. You have to break down your interest in a pretty objective fashion, and most folks like a particular hobby for several reasons, and the weigh differently to each person. ... But I will still have that 20 % equipment passion re-surface in a week or two lusting after some new lens or something. This would not be as likely if I was a pro... As I would get so many more hours of photography. JD Pros still have that occasional gear lust, especially when a job isn't going well and you know that $8,000 lens would make the job easier. The difference is that a pro measures his "need" for that lens against the income its going to produce and decides he can do the job without it because that's $8k out of his income. A hobbyist will just save up to buy it for the sake of having it. The hours of shooting don't have much to do with it. It's a practical matter of income vs. expenses for pros. That's why I have an M9 backed up by an M8 (both used) instead of having two new M9s or two M-240s on order. And the definitions I gave earlier are pretty accurate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnloumiles Posted April 1, 2013 Share #14 Posted April 1, 2013 Gear only matters in the way it helps you capture the image. If you have any camera at the right moment a picture can be spectacular. It's not a bad thing to have gear you prefer using and there is a difference between cameras and lenses when it comes to day in day out shooting. If there wasn't then a lot of us wouldn't be using Leicas. Lastly I'll say that good lenses and sensor/film do matter if you are making high quality prints. Again if you happen to be there when Juan Romero is holding Robert Kennedy after he is shot, the print doesn't matter so much but if you are creating art then the print quality could be of importance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
drolfe Posted April 1, 2013 Share #15 Posted April 1, 2013 Press photographers have an expression for this; "f/8 and Be There." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDFlood Posted April 1, 2013 Share #16 Posted April 1, 2013 Pros still have that occasional gear lust,. Well, I hope you are successful enough to get all the gear you lust after. I forget how difficult it must be to make a living in the field, hence I keep my day job. Good you have the spark. I agree with your definitions, my point is they are simply definitions, abstractions.... simplifications of what people's motives are and hence don't capture the underlying motivation, which is quit multifaceted. JD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblitz Posted April 1, 2013 Share #17 Posted April 1, 2013 agree 100%, does anyone really NEED an $8000 digital camera that only takes b&w? that the mm is a great camera is beside the point consider the great photos taken before and will be taken going forward. yes, it is important to get off the gear merry-go-round. i would go a step further, all this endless chatter about gear, of which i do read and chatter about, is, in the end, an excuse for not taking pictures. or, to put it better, for not putting the same effort into being a better photographer. gear talk is a lazy way to go -- unless, of course, you are a professional and the next best thing is important for earning a living. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayewing Posted April 2, 2013 Share #18 Posted April 2, 2013 Yes of course the gear is almost irrelevant. My great grandfather was a photographer in the 19th century and he took some fascinating portraits of individuals and families using what would now be described as primitive equipment. His images were all B&W as that was the current technology. Interestingly we now use expensive gear to reproduce the same effect. However unlike my great grandfather I am not a professional photographer. Photography is my hobby and taking the photo and processing the image, formerly in the darkroom, now on a computer in Lightroom is only part of the fun. I like tinkering with gear and collecting Visoflexes and the myriad of adapters, bellows, lenses etc which are my grown up toys. I have enjoyed Leica rangefinders for over forty years but I also enjoy exploring the new stuff such as DSLRs and the new compact mirrorless system cameras with EVF. I used to enjoy building up a Hi Fi system but now that I am too deaf to appreciate the nuances I stick to photography. I know I will never be a great photographer but photography enhances my pleasure in travel and I like to document the growth and development of my children and grandchildren. I am sure that many are like me and we do not have to justify our interest in and enjoyment of gear as well as the real purpose of learning to take better images. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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