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A Creative's Musings
. . . Matters of the eye and heart
. . . Matters of the eye and heart
Fantasies of Equipment
A striking feature of the American consensus is that we believe we can purchase whatever it is we seek. We creates piles of material things as evidence of who we are. Competency has morphed into acquisition, the prevailing notion is that you are what you own. Ownership operationalizes being, defining sufficiency in our lives.
One can see no greater evidence of this than in photography. It is easy to imagine that the next camera body, or lens, or whatever, will make one the photographer they have never been. We imagine the machine makes the photographer.
I have heard this expressed so many ways. Most recently a guy mentioned to me that he could not compete with me because I have great equipment. He has adequate equipment, but he equates equipment with artistic expression. Nothing could be farther than the truth.
It is true I have just about the best equipment I can afford. I have top of the line lenses (just a few), and a second line camera body (but a very good one). These provide me with coverage from 24mm to 560mm, 21mp, and usable ISOs up to
2000. These items cover all the bases for me.
Confession. Often I go on shoots with only one zoom lens. I like to travel light and be nimble. It is true that I have a great backpack camera bag, but I feel like a pack mule if I carry it. Lately I have gone to a gutted hydration pack to hold a second lens and my 1.4x multiplier if I am feeling under-equipped. I hike for miles with this light rig through wilderness country. If I am really feeling ambitious I take my tripod, but mostly, I don't. This small kit more than does the job.
The romantic side of me imagines taking landscapes with an enormous view camera, maybe even an 8x10 in my wildest fantasies. A giant wooden tripod and sheet film. An all manual monument to deliberation and the ghost of Ansel Adams. When I awake, I realize that would be pure drudgery. Maybe there is something there, but not for me.
Great art is made by great artists. It is vision, heart, imagination and inspiration that defines a great artist. I have never heard a painter say the barrier to their expression was better brushes. The challenge is not getting that next piece of equipment, that is a distraction. We must not confuse our tools with the pathway to our art. Perhaps simplification would remove the clutter that blocks our creativity.
A striking feature of the American consensus is that we believe we can purchase whatever it is we seek. We creates piles of material things as evidence of who we are. Competency has morphed into acquisition, the prevailing notion is that you are what you own. Ownership operationalizes being, defining sufficiency in our lives.
One can see no greater evidence of this than in photography. It is easy to imagine that the next camera body, or lens, or whatever, will make one the photographer they have never been. We imagine the machine makes the photographer.
I have heard this expressed so many ways. Most recently a guy mentioned to me that he could not compete with me because I have great equipment. He has adequate equipment, but he equates equipment with artistic expression. Nothing could be farther than the truth.
It is true I have just about the best equipment I can afford. I have top of the line lenses (just a few), and a second line camera body (but a very good one). These provide me with coverage from 24mm to 560mm, 21mp, and usable ISOs up to
2000. These items cover all the bases for me.
Confession. Often I go on shoots with only one zoom lens. I like to travel light and be nimble. It is true that I have a great backpack camera bag, but I feel like a pack mule if I carry it. Lately I have gone to a gutted hydration pack to hold a second lens and my 1.4x multiplier if I am feeling under-equipped. I hike for miles with this light rig through wilderness country. If I am really feeling ambitious I take my tripod, but mostly, I don't. This small kit more than does the job.
The romantic side of me imagines taking landscapes with an enormous view camera, maybe even an 8x10 in my wildest fantasies. A giant wooden tripod and sheet film. An all manual monument to deliberation and the ghost of Ansel Adams. When I awake, I realize that would be pure drudgery. Maybe there is something there, but not for me.
Great art is made by great artists. It is vision, heart, imagination and inspiration that defines a great artist. I have never heard a painter say the barrier to their expression was better brushes. The challenge is not getting that next piece of equipment, that is a distraction. We must not confuse our tools with the pathway to our art. Perhaps simplification would remove the clutter that blocks our creativity.
The camera for an artist is just another tool. . . Beyond the rudiments, it is up to the artist to create art, not the camera.
Brett Weston
Brett Weston
