Stephanie Brim
Mental Experimental.
I'm really getting sick of having to justify to people, most of them people I've never met and people who have only seen a smattering of the total of my photography, why I want the gear that I want. To some people, no reason is good enough.
I mentioned in one of the chatrooms that I frequent that I was having a hard time now deciding between going medium format (Mamiya 6) or staying with my 35mm format that I've always used (Leica M2/3). The fact that it is a big decision because I won't have the money to blow on the other set for some time is the reason I want to really choose carefully. I figured that I may get decent comments from some of the few people in that chatroom who still use film cameras. I was so wrong.
"Don't you already have enough gear?"
"Yes, I have a lot of fixed lens rangefinders, but I only have two interchangable lens rangefinders, Argus ones, and only one of the two is in working condition."
"So why do you need more? You have enough."
"I have nothing wider than 40mm and I'm not quite getting the shots that I want because that isn't quite wide enough."
"Well THIS photographer used 40mm for it."
"I said *I* am not quite getting the shots that *I* want."
"Well these photographers started with this focal length."
Pretty much the conversation to a T. This is one of the things that pisses me off the most about some photographers. It seems to happen more in the digital SLR/P&S crowd where they're used to cropping/manipulating their photography to look how they want it in a computer instead of composing the shot in the camera, but it is by no means central to this group. There are people from all kinds of photography that do this. They argue with you over your choice of kit. They argue with you over your choice of lens. They argue with you over your choice of shot. They argue with you over your choice of film. No one bothers to ask you why you made the dicision you did or, when they do, they try and tell you why it was the wrong decision in such absolute terms that you know they think that they are the authority and everything they say is the word of a photography god.
Criminy these people need to get over themselves.
A good kit is an extension of the photographer. A good kit does nothing for the photographer except put their vision into a format that other people can share with them. A good kit is what *you personally* feel that you need. If, after trial and error, you feel that you need another lens to better broadcast that vision, it is your own choice to buy it or not. You, the photographer who actually knows what your vision is, would know best. People who try to talk you out of things instead of actually helping you do nothing but hinder your progress as a photographer. Trying to talk you out of a piece of kit for a legitimate reason is one thing; trying to talk you out of it for as petty of a reason as them thinking you already have too much is another.
So yeah, that about sums up my rant post for the day.
I mentioned in one of the chatrooms that I frequent that I was having a hard time now deciding between going medium format (Mamiya 6) or staying with my 35mm format that I've always used (Leica M2/3). The fact that it is a big decision because I won't have the money to blow on the other set for some time is the reason I want to really choose carefully. I figured that I may get decent comments from some of the few people in that chatroom who still use film cameras. I was so wrong.
"Don't you already have enough gear?"
"Yes, I have a lot of fixed lens rangefinders, but I only have two interchangable lens rangefinders, Argus ones, and only one of the two is in working condition."
"So why do you need more? You have enough."
"I have nothing wider than 40mm and I'm not quite getting the shots that I want because that isn't quite wide enough."
"Well THIS photographer used 40mm for it."
"I said *I* am not quite getting the shots that *I* want."
"Well these photographers started with this focal length."
Pretty much the conversation to a T. This is one of the things that pisses me off the most about some photographers. It seems to happen more in the digital SLR/P&S crowd where they're used to cropping/manipulating their photography to look how they want it in a computer instead of composing the shot in the camera, but it is by no means central to this group. There are people from all kinds of photography that do this. They argue with you over your choice of kit. They argue with you over your choice of lens. They argue with you over your choice of shot. They argue with you over your choice of film. No one bothers to ask you why you made the dicision you did or, when they do, they try and tell you why it was the wrong decision in such absolute terms that you know they think that they are the authority and everything they say is the word of a photography god.
Criminy these people need to get over themselves.
A good kit is an extension of the photographer. A good kit does nothing for the photographer except put their vision into a format that other people can share with them. A good kit is what *you personally* feel that you need. If, after trial and error, you feel that you need another lens to better broadcast that vision, it is your own choice to buy it or not. You, the photographer who actually knows what your vision is, would know best. People who try to talk you out of things instead of actually helping you do nothing but hinder your progress as a photographer. Trying to talk you out of a piece of kit for a legitimate reason is one thing; trying to talk you out of it for as petty of a reason as them thinking you already have too much is another.
So yeah, that about sums up my rant post for the day.
