it’s through your eyes, not your lens.
1 month ago
i understand i am about to touch upon an issue which some find controversial and others can shrug off easily. i only write this from my point of view and mean no harm with my opinion, everyone will have their own personal feelings about this topic. i hope i can represent a large amount of the photographer’s community with this voice as i know just how irksome other creatives can find it as well.
for as long as i can remember, i have been most offended when people ask what photography gear i use. it may sound silly and you may say, “grow up kitty, what harm is it doing to ask?” but to me, it is doing every inch of harm and i will explain why; so the next time i get asked this question, i can give them this heartfelt article in hope they’ll understand why to sometimes not ask a photographer.
so what? the gear is merely what the photographer uses to capture what they see with their imagination. but the way some people so thoroughly believe it is ALL about the camera is an assumption some (like myself) find incredibly offensive. personally, i have never had a problem with answering those who are looking for advice or feedback about my gear. i will not however tolerate 11-year-olds emailing me, “what camera do you use? it’s my birthday and my parents said i could have a new camera and i want the same as you so i can take as good photos.” on average, through my contact form on my website as well as facebook page, i get an average of 6 of these questions a week. and they are worded in ways that make me wonder what i will personally get out of the deal by sharing such information. a camera is personal to the individual just like a wand is to a wizard, so finding out what works best for someone else won’t always help you fulfil your needs in a camera.
for one, if you are relying on your parents buying you something that only professionals use then it is probably too powerful for you to fully appreciate. don’t get me wrong, of course there are exceptions, but i for one do not like hearing from spoilt little pre-teens who have no interest in photography and can get what i spent 3 hard years earning, at the click of their fingers. if you are a budding photographer, there should be no issue if your parents are helping you out. my parents bought me my first little camera and from that, i then earned my professional equipment job by job from that very first camera. we all have to start somewhere.
asking someone what gear they use can be a personal question to some. i am tired by the amount of times i have actually told someone and they say, “wow, you’re RICH” - i find that truly offensive. i’m not rich, i don’t roll in money. if i was rich then i wouldn’t be working. i have worked day and night for what i use, i have sometimes done 3 shoots in a day at times to earn my keep. every little penny has gone towards investing in my photography business so i can help myself excel. just because my camera may be more expensive than others on the market does not make me rich in the slightest.
mainly, the biggest pet-peeve that gets to me is just the assumption that my camera creates my images for me. it helps, but it doesn’t do my hard work. my camera sits in my camera bag whilst i go to the meetings, plan the shots, put the teams together; my camera doesn’t do the planning. it comes out and captures my hours of planning, but it doesn’t do my “hard work” for me. i photograph and it gives me the ability to capture life-like features with the megapixels and my lenses can create all the effects i need, but in no way does it make my photographs “what they are.” having a decent, professional camera does help and i will not deny that, but i just can’t stress enough how it is not always necessary to have one to make beautiful art. so answering what gear i use so you can achieve the same effect is a pointless question that i will most probably ignore as i don’t feel it is beneficial to anybody involved.
so why do people ask? what good is it actually achieving to know what someone uses? all they can do is google it and pass judgement on that person and that isn’t what art is about. art is about appreciating something for face value and seeing the passion that has gone in behind an image. some of the best photos can be taken with home-made pin-hole cameras made out of old shoe boxes or even on a mobile phone. if the photo is beautiful then that is what counts - not what was used to make it so it can be mimicked by someone with the wrong mindset.
if i had the same paint and canvas as leonardo da vinci, would i be able to paint the mona lisa? no, i’m terrible at painting. if i had an olympic swimming pool in my back garden, would i be an olympic swimmer? no, i’m terrible at swimming. if i bought the best trainers in the world, would i be able to outrun usain bolt? the list goes on. it takes someone endless practise to excel in a field, and the same goes for photography. just because someone has a good camera does not necessarily make them a “good” photographer - or any less of a photographer too for that matter.
all in all, i say this to hopefully voice my opinion in the most tactful way. i have done so before which has caused a lot of anger in the past and i hope that this time by weighing it out in a bit more depth, others can understand just why i personally find this question such a burden.
