PixelatedImage Blog

Scott Kelby returned from Dubai yesterday and in several posts alludes to it being the week of always having the wrong lens on the camera. Man do I know that feeling. You make choices as an artist, you pick a lens and go for a walk and every vision you conjure up requires any lens but the one on your camera to capture it. The comment trail on one of his posts testifies to the fact that many people feel this way and all of them offered tips on how to travel light and still have the gear to get the shot.

All this led me to two thoughts, and Scott and I will probably talk about this when we have lunch next week (I’ve been waiting to do that bit of ostentatious name-dropping for a while,) but for now, let me springboard into some thoughts about “the wrong gear” because we’ve all been there - and will be there again.

Thought One.
If capturing the vision you have in your mind’s eye without compromise is important to you or your client, forget traveling light or inconspicuously unless light and inconspicuous are vital to you capturing that vision. There is a reason pro shooters on the job talk endlessly about schlepping all their gear and protecting it, etc. It’s because they NEED that gear to do their job. You could probably get an excellent series of images with only a Canon G9 (many do), but if they aren’t the images the client wants, traveling light just lost you a client. I feel like a satellite location for B&H Photo when I am traveling and shooting. It’s part of what I do. If you’re a tourist, by all means, travel light and make your time a little easier, and shoot some great images, like Scott did, even though you’ve got “the wrong lens”

Thought Two (sub-thoughts A, B, and C).
We photographers are a funny bunch. We bounce between unrealistic self-praise, and un-deserved self-criticism. Some of us linger at one of those poles more than the other, but for those who end up, like me, overly-critical of our work - here’s some sub-thoughts.

A. It’s rarely your gear. If you didn’t get THE shot, that’s one thing, but if you didn’t get A shot, that’s another. It may be the “wrong” lens, but it’s the only one you have right now, so work with it and make a great photograph.

B. Client concerns aside, and speaking simply as an artist - it’s not the shots you missed that count. No one will see them. I come home from every trip with a mountain of images I didn’t get, did have time for, didn’t see until it was too late, just missed the moment, whatever. You need to be a little more Zen about this. The photograph that matters is the one you are capturing, not the one you’re missing. In that regard there is no wrong lens, only your “now” lens.

C. Creativity happens within confines and limits. So put the wrong lens on occasionally. Colour outside the lines.

Gear matters in as much as it enables us to capture our vision. Better gear enables us to capture our vision faster, or easier. But lack of gear only provides a confine within which our creativity can better function. As an artist, this is important. The biggest lack in photography - for most of us - is not a lack of bigger, better, newer, gear. It’s a lack of vision and the creativity to realize that vision within the confines (one of which might be TOO MUCH gear. It’s far easier to make creative choices when limited to a 17-40mm lens and natural light than it is when faced with a bag of 7 lenses and 8 strobes. Too many options can cripple an artist as easily as too few.)

So that’s Thought One and Two, if you’ve got Thoughts Three and Four, or other push-back/discussion on this, the comments are open.