Obsess over results not gear

We all love our camera gear and high-quality cameras and lenses. I see so many social media posts about photographers obsessing over gear when we should be obsessing over high-quality photographs. Gear can be important but we can get high-quality photographs with virtually any gear. I like fancy camera stuff just like many but I love great photographs more and could care less about what equipment was used to create the great images.

A few years ago I had a conversation with a beginning photographer about using a so-called kit lens. The new photographer was asking about getting a better lens because they were unable to get sharply focused photographs with their kit lens. I explained that it was possible to get good photographs with their lens and used a kit lens to show them examples. We even did the pixel-peeping on the resulting images. We talked that it was technique and knowledge of how to use their camera settings to ensure sharply focused photographs. I mentioned that while the so-called kit lenses may not be as fast or have as robust of a build as the professional-grade lenses modern consumer-grade (kit lenses) were very good with modern glass elements and coatings.

The advice I give photographers, especially new photographers, who are looking to get new equipment is to decide how your current camera or other equipment is limiting your creativity. Learn to use your camera equipment to the fullest and then push it further. You just may learn that it truly isn’t the gear that gets great photographs but rather the person operating the gear.