It seems pretty prevalent in photo culture to deal in trade secrets and technical ‘tricks’, to achieve polished final products. However, I feel like the technical aspects of photography are the easiest to learn and share, most people would be hard pressed to spend more than a week learning the functions of a camera, including understanding the results. I am also certain that a short google search will reveal thousands of blogs freely dispensing the technical side of photography.

I intend for this blog to focus more on the creative aspects of photography rather than the technical details. Gear, though important, in the end is only a tool like a rake or a shovel and just owning a rake and a shovel doesn’t grow a garden. It is far to easy to get pulled into a mindset of believing that “tools = final product”. Photography is far from the only trade that indulges in this fantasy, most creative vocations have developed highly specialized tools of the trade that are usually only accessible to the very talented or the very wealthy. That creates a paralyzing trap for most of us, where we begin to doubt that we can create with the tools available to us.

Don’t get caught in the trap of believing that you need more gear or better gear to make great images. If you spend your time making images with a point and shoot digital and a desk lamp when you finally get the SLR and strobe lights you will already know how to use them. Because the camera is just a tool, and even the most expensive camera in the world is just a black box with a hole on one side, there is nothing magic about it.

Is there a piece of gear that you would love to own, if so what is it? Let me know in the comments.

The hardest part about photographing Squid in the studio is that he is too cute. In most of the images of him he ends up looking like a stuffed animal, instead of a real dog.