The Travelling Tripod

Spring has arrived… what better time to resume posting

To get the mojo flowing I’d like to start with an analogy that came to my mind a couple of weeks ago during the kick-off event of a new photo club. A member of the audience asked me if it was necessary to have a “professional” camera to attend the events, photo walks, workshops etc.

Interesting question… it goes to show that when it comes to photography, people associate the end result with the equipment they use. But in the end the camera is like a car. A car will take you from a point A to a point B but you need to know where this point B is… the car won’t be able to make that decision for you. The same applies to the camera, it’s a light capturing device, a box with a sensor (or film, whatever) but you’re the one holding it and pointing it at your subject, you’re the one that’s supposed to know what the end result should be, not the camera.

Some cars are more comfortable or faster than other, meaning they get you to your destination faster or more comfortably but still you need to know where you’re going… in the same way, some cameras have more options, more functions and more buttons but again, if you don’t know what your end result is supposed to look like, the camera won’t tell you; and let’s not forget, the camera captures the light, there’s still the post-processing part to be done but that’s for another blog post.

If you decide to race or do off-road, then you might have a real need for a specialised type of car that is more suited to that particular type of activity. But there’s no point driving a formula one car in the city… and, by the way, you first need to learn how to drive a normal car and then you train for racing. The same applies to photography… unless you’re a professional or commercial photographer, chances are you don’t need (and you probably wouldn’t even know how to handle) the latest and greatest in photographic equipment.

So, do yourself a favour and, instead of investing in a lot of heavy and expensive gear, which is absolutely no guarantee that you’ll make better photographs, spend your money in workshops and classes and work on defining what it is that you want to achieve with your photography, and use the equipment you have. The rest will follow…

Let us know what you think…

Expose to the right and have fun!