It’s easy to get caught up in camera lust and what new cameras can do, but are you focusing enough on your photography to get the most out of your gear?
Gear lust and gear envy are two very real things that all photographers go through at some point during their photography journey. While it’s nice to fantasize about the newest camera on the block, or pour over technical specifications, you shouldn’t spend too long there. If you’re not careful you’ll fall into trap that becomes harder to get out of as time passes by. Not only will you never be happy with what you have, your photography will suffer too. YouTube star and photographer Thomas Heaton has just found this out for himself as his quest for a new camera continues. After the break we have his latest video that explores what he has gone through and the realization that he has made. You don’t want to miss this.
The camera market place is a minefield these days. It seems as though new, improved cameras are coming out every other day. This can make it incredibly difficult for someone looking for a new camera to make a choice. More often than not we get lost in the sea of numbers that manufacturers tout, and we end comparing endless camera bodies next to each other to see what one offers over the other.
When we go to rent one of these cameras to try it out before we buy, it’s easy to become lost in the promises of what the camera can do. Instead of actually putting the cameras to work to see the image quality and how it operates, we generally spend our time with the new camera drooling over technical jargon, which in the grand scheme of things means nothing.
Being in a constant state of gear lust will also make you loose sight of the fact that the camera you currently have, the camera you have taken hundreds, if not thousands of amazing images with is still good enough too. Do you really need an upgrade or do you just want to? That’s a good question to ask yourself. Unless there is a technical issue with your current body, why upgrade? A newer camera will not make you a better photographer that’s for sure.
Part of what makes a great photographer is being able to be in the moment, and making yourself a part of your surroundings. If you’re stuck in a daze of numbers you won’t be seeing how the light and the shadows fall around you, you won’t see the interesting shapes and sights in front of your eyes, and you’ll miss those glorious candid moments because you will have removed yourself from the moment, and therefore the image itself. This is exactly what happened with Thomas Heaton as he went through his own bout of camera lust after getting his hands on everything from the Nikon D850 to the Fujifilm GFX 50R.
The videos Thomas has been producing over the last few weeks have been interesting to watch because you can almost see him struggling to capture the gorgeous landscapes he’s known for. He is so focused on the new cameras that he’s trying out that he forgets some of the basics when it comes to photography. His eyes are glued to the new gear so much that he misses the wonders around him, and the images he produces are a shadow of his images from the past.
Thomas freely admits this in his latest YouTube video and he’s embarrassed that camera lust got the best of him. He was putting so much pressure and stress on himself to dig through all of the technical data that he forgot to just be himself and shoot. It’s an easy thing to do. I have been there before, and I’m sure you have too. Like many others who have been through this, Thomas lost focus on his photography and paid a big price for it when it came to his work, so much so that he pulled an entire video and refused to share the the images he captured.
His message is simple. Your camera isn’t important, just focus on your photography and be happy. Wise words I think we can all live by.
Thomas Heaton is once again a free man after realizing what was happening, and he has found his happy place again. Check out the video and let us know if you’ve ever been caught like a deer in headlights when it comes to camera lust. What were you lusting over, and how did you snap out of it? We can’t wait to hear your stories.
