I wrestled with the title for this newsletter. I vacillated between the word ”told” and the word ”sold” for at least an hour before moving on and doing the actual work of the actual writing. I finally decided. The first lie that has been going on for as long as I’ve pursued making photographs is that better cameras make better pictures. That really started accelerating with the lie of autofocus. Let us just list the most basic lies; if I tried to list all of the sub-lies, it might take days or weeks, given the sellers of these lies have been at it for so, so long.
Better cameras make better pictures.
Better lenses make better pictures; perfect lenses make perfect pictures.
Faster cameras make better pictures.
Better film, better sensors, the perfect capture medium make better pictures.
Deciding everything after taking the picture is better and necessary rather than deciding while taking the picture.
These five basic lies have been around since before I was born, long, long ago. Why do we continue to buy in? Do we want it to be true? Probably… Deep down, I think we desire a magic easy button, some magic solution that will turn anything we point our camera at into a beautiful, meaningful work of art.
The word ”sold” fit better because we’ve all bought the lies to some degree, both literally and figuratively. Buying into the lies hurts your bank account, but more importantly, it eats into some fundamental truths and distracts us from the actual things that produce good work. If you take nothing else away from this reiteration, please take away these few truths.
Good light trumps everything else (note: future discussion required)
Preparedness beats speed hands-down every time, all the time.
Practicing the above, making real, considered photographs is way better than new, better, faster gear.
There is a silver lining
The massive rush of most of us that have bought into these lies has produced millions of capable cameras and lenses that are dumped into the used market for more than a decade. With a tiny bit of discipline, you can have anything you need for mere pennies. Want to save the planet? Buy used. Don’t worry, even cheap “consumer” gear will make hundreds of thousands of fantastic pictures, let alone the vast amount of “pro” gear.
Are there actual needs when it comes to cameras and lenses? Absolutely! Do those needs exceed old, subpar, suboptimal, substandard new gear? Rarely, if ever, for 99% of any photograph you ever make. Heck, most of the improvements center around edge cases that have nothing to do with your output. Most of the improvements have a giant cost that goes far beyond the monetary aspect, like size and weight. Do you really care about focus breathing? No, that’s mostly a lie based on another lie that you should use continuous, automated tracking autofocus while making video. Bullshit, watch an actual movie by great cinematographers sometime and see. Do you care about movies???
Here’s the truth if you want to make a forensically okay picture in bad light quickly: Use your cell phone. In fact, let anybody make the picture with any relevant new-ish cell phone. That’s what I do. I am serious; I’m recruited regularly by many friends and family to “make good pictures” on many occasions. I readily do that, but when they insist on making those pictures in horrible light, especially “posed” pictures with no time, a cell phone will do an adequate job, even a better job, paying no attention to the light or background, etc. They will automagically start recording high frame-rate HDR images and imitate flat lighting or 1:1 fill ratio pictures when pointing the camera before you even hit the button.
Does this mean I never make candid photographs of events without control over every aspect of lighting, background, and composition? No, but when I do, I’ll spend time and experience evaluating the light and where it’s good. I’ll prepare for a shot and wait until it appears. I won’t bother making pictures that will be horrible. I’ll anticipate a subject’s movement and position myself to grab it. I’ll spend time doing it1. Faster is not better. Thank goodness for auto-capturing, auto HDR cell phones; now I am unburdened from making badly lit, badly composed pictures because I’m the only one with a camera. Thank goodness I’m not forced to make a documentary picture of a lousy scene from a lousy position, in lousy light as evidence “I was there.”
Like all great photojournalists, wedding photographers, street, and candid photographers have always done.