Watching a Photo Career Go Down the
Drain Because of One Bad Choice

The Danger of Being Seduced by Photo Gear

How did I come to the realization that obsession over photo gear and technique was leading most people away from the true path of photography?

It wasn’t when I was an amateur photographer starting at the age of 12 with my second-hand Argus C3. And it wasn’t even when I began my career as a fashion photographer 38 years ago. I never saw that there was a clear choice you had to make, and that it would cost you for not making it wisely.

It didn’t become totally clear to me until the Covid pandemic 5 years ago. My business was so intense from the very beginning of my career that I didn’t have much time to actually think about photography, because I was so busy doing it.

Shooting seven days a week most of the time, long hours most days. It was a passion that consumed me. And it was fun being consumed.

Things didn’t slow down until Covid came along. In March, 2020, my business practically died. It made me stop and allowed me to think. And it made me talk about photography with a close friend.

He was a rapper when I met him more than 25 years ago, while shooting his CD covers and posters. What started as a photo gig turned into a long professional relationship and eventually into a deep friendship.

After several years, he took up photography as an avocation and said he was inspired by me. We worked together, travelled together, and spent a lot of time talking and arguing about all things photographic. He assisted me on a few shoots and helped me with my equipment.

He was mostly shooting models as I was, so his approach to work was similar to mine. But after a while, I came to realize my friend was obsessed with gear. He was also making Techno House music and doing videography.

Whether he was talking about photography, music, or video, his focus was always the same. It was all about the gear. After hundreds of hours of conversation, it seemed like he talked about photography, music, or video, hardly at all. But he would spend an hour or two talking about how one piece of music software had changed in a negative way.

He was clearly obsessed with the tools of the trade. And as you might imagine, he became very good at understanding them. He became a resource to me whenever I had a question about equipment. And his understanding of photo gear (as well as music-making equipment and video gear) was impressive. I would watch it grow from day to day.

Sadly, his photography, music making, and videography did not grow. And he didn’t seem to care or even notice what was going on.

Was what happened to my friend that unusual? No, it wasn’t. But with all the talent this man has, it’s hard to stand by and see him waste it, especially since he is a close friend.

Then I came to see that this wrong choice was common with most people when they enter the field of photography.  Every day I would come across 15-20 articles that appeared to be about photography. Hardly any of them were. Instead they were about a piece of equipment or a new trick on how to use it. There are forces out there that steer most new photographers in the wrong direction.

I’m not sure how this obsession develops. I won’t blame it on the marketers of equipment. It was already there in most people from the beginning.

It seems to be more prevalent in men. When we were little boys, we played with toy soldiers. Then we moved on to video games. When we grew up, we looked for new toys to replace them.

When my friend talked about photography, two things were obvious. One was the obsession with equipment. The other was the near total absence of thinking about image-making itself.

How to engage in making a great photograph. How to craft personal approaches to image-making that elevate your work above the merely generic. How to develop your own distinctive style. Nothing. The essence of photography was absent. I’m not sure pursuing technical excellence necessarily means you’ll never be a good image maker, but it sure seems that way.

That’s why I recommend keeping image making first and foremost in your mind and efforts. Too much concern about equipment is a dangerous distraction! Can’t figure out which camera to get? Start using your phone and concentrate on the images you are making and how to make them better.

The same goes for technique. For most kinds of photography, little technical expertise is required. And you can always add to it as you progress toward becoming a better photographer.

For most photographic subjects, a student can learn what she needs to know about how to use a camera competently in about 20 min. I’ve taught many students, and that’s what it takes. Focus, exposure, composition, etc. Each of which improves with experience and may take a lifetime to perfect.

Yet many people spend years filling their heads with technical trivialities.

Most people will run from this advice. Some seem to be scared at the thought of serious image making. They just want to do decent snapshots. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

You want to shoot your young child, your cute dog, your cool vacation, etc. Fine. You’ll be making more generic images, but they will be your generic images and hold intrinsic value for you. I do it myself sometimes.

My criticism of the common approach to learning photography and my advice on how to find the better way is reserved for the many people who do want to approach this subject with seriousness and reverence.