Photographers and Equipment

Have you ever noticed that when you get a few photographers together a big part of the conversation is taken up with a discussion about equipment. Sure, you will get a few snippets about technique, subject, locations, humorous antidotes and if you are lucky individual images. Photographers love for camera equipment seams to affect us all too some degree, this “camera collection addiction” and it plays on our confidence; “I would be a better photographer with that new camera” I could get the image with that bigger lens” “how have I managed to live without that gadget”.



Before the camera manufactures gang together and shut down this blog, let me say that the advances in camera technology have been great (keep it up) and some photos you just cannot get without the right equipment but it has made us all lazy. Do not get me wrong, I love technology but I think that it is holding many photographers back from reaching their full photographic capability. There seams to be an attitude of “the camera will take care of that, if not I will fix it on the computer and if I can’t then just delete it, after all it did not cost me anything”, well it has cost you your time and a little bit of your enjoyment of photography.



Photography is a great past time that gives vast rewards and like any endeavour the harder challenging the greater the reward. Like many endeavours, photography challenges you on many levels from learning about composition to the working and handling of your equipment, and carrying it all around. To start off, how well do you know your own equipment? When was the last time (if ever) you read the users manual for your camera or equipment, if you are not sure how a particular feature would benefit you then why not executively use that feature for a few days till you know it inside out and what it can do for you.



Probably the best way to increase your enjoyment of photography is to be forever expanding your boundaries and improving your skills, that also includes pushing your equipment to its limits. If you know that a particular lens has coped well in poor lighting then next time you are in a similar situation you will have confidence in your lens leaving you to concentrate on the image that your are creating. So next time you see a wonderful image why not push your equipment to its limit to produce an image as good if not better.




Disclosure: many of the links on this blog are affiliate links from which I receive some money, but if you use them, you get the added benefit of knowing that you are helping support a fellow photographer with their own camera collection addiction, thank you.

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