The Gear I Use In Photography
It’s an honest question, and one I get a lot “wow nice photos, what kind of camera do you use?” I totally understand where they’re coming from, but it’s sort of like asking a chef “wow nice food, what kind of knives do you use?”. We all know that good food tastes the way it does because the chef is skilled and the ingredients are well prepared. Often, years of experience and unique creativity are the root of an amazing meal.
A world class chef could probably make a nearly identical meal if he were using poor quality tools, but as a business he runs the risk of something breaking during dinner. What if his cheap stove kicks the bucket at 4pm on a Friday? What if he has to spend 30 minutes a day sharpening all of his $5 knives because they won’t keep a sharp edge? You see - often it comes down to a business decision when talking about gear or tools in any creative business.
It’s similar for photographers - the “big” camera and “fancy” lights are just specific tools with certain capabilities required for a job. They’re also built to last for years of daily use without breaking down. Could we function with an entry level camera? Perhaps, but we also want reliability and the absolute best image quality when we put so much work into all the pre-production before the photo is even made. Think about it - if you spent days preparing for a shoot, and the client has invested thousands of dollars in pre-production as well, set decorators, food stylists, wardrobe, models, location, etc - would you use a $500 camera or a $5000 camera?
All that being said - I love gear. It’s one of the fun parts of the job that’s always fun to talk about. To be specific, I use Nikon cameras & lenses, and a large mix of lighting equipment, stands, backdrops, video equipment, and the list goes on…
Some portraits of my friend Ed who is an amazing photographer and videographer himself, along with his collection of film cameras:
