Cakes and Cars

One of the things that you often hear is that you can create art with any camera that you have, even your phone.

Yes, this is true. However, there is another perspective to consider.

Often people feel that it’s their abilities that hold them back from producing an image that they are satisfied with. The reality is it’s also about the tools they are using as well – the gear that they have even if they are not even aware of it.

As your skills increase the more the abilities of a camera are important. You start asking yourself the “what if” and “can I” questions. You might start off on your photographic journey with a point-and-shoot, or a phone camera (which is essentially a point-and-shoot camera). As your compositional skills and your love for photography increase, you start asking yourself the “can I” and “what if” questions. But the answers never really materialize because of the camera at hand.

An analogy I often like to use is Formula 1 racing. I love fast cars. I used to watch F1 races as a kid religiously every weekend. It was one of the dreams that I had as a child to become an F1 driver. That did not occur but I still love a performance car, a fast, well-oiled growling machine.

Think about yourself and the F1 drivers. When you first get your driver’s license you are not automatically qualified to drive a high-performance race car. The reality is you do not have the skills or experience to get behind that wheel.

As your driving skills increase and you understand the dynamics and the physics of an automobile, your confidence increases and you increase your speed. At some point (if you have the need for speed like I do), you crave an experience behind the wheel of an exotic, high-octane automobile.

An F1 driver in the seat of a standard vehicle limits the abilities of the driver. Yes, the skilled driver can squeeze much more out of this vehicle than a standard driver, but there is a limit that the vehicle imposes on the driver. The horsepower, tires, suspension, and physical attributes of the vehicle restrain the driver. Likewise, putting a skilled photographer behind a less capable camera can still produce wonderful images, but the photographer is throttled. There is only so much you can get out of that camera. In my experience, the more capabilities my camera has, the more I can push the limit of what I can create or even imagine.

In my workshops, I see a variety of cameras. Digital cameras have improved exponentially in the past 10 years. I’ve discovered folks tend to upgrade their camera once they realize that they can produce better work using a better camera. This often goes against everything that we hear across various sources, be it the internet or a camera club presenter.

Going back to the F1 analogy when you become proficient as a driver you want a better automobile to drive. The better automobile gives you a better ride. The same thing applies to photography. I love hearing folks tell me how amazed they are at the new camera they just purchased when they go from an older camera with lesser capabilities to a newer camera. They are blown away at what they can produce. This also inspires them to push the envelope. This analogy can be applied to anything that requires skills using tools, photography, baking, driving, woodwork, musical instruments, painting, et cetera.

If you are a baker like me, you know that the quality of your cakes using a stand mixer is much better than if you mix a cake batter totally by hand or with a manual mixer (you know the one pictured with the rotating handle and the double hooks). Using the stand mixer, the butter is blended with sugar and eggs at a finer consistency. The resulting crumb of the baked cake is enhanced and more delicate. This inspires you to use higher-quality ingredients. It also motivates you to create more exotic creations because of the stand mixer’s ease. Just like baking a cake, the better tools you have the better the quality of the creation can be. There is less struggle, and there is a better refinement of the final quality. This also applies to photography.

This is why it is worthwhile to upgrade your camera and/or lens systems. Keep in mind that a “new” camera can also be a used, late-model camera.

I recently read that there is a surprising increase in camera sales. For many years, the well-publicized “truth” was that cameras were defunct and that cameras would cease to be produced because of cell phone cameras. Not. People are discovering the power of DSLR and mirrorless cameras and in doing so, they are pushing their visualizations and ultimately their skills, forward.

What is your experience with using better tools? This doesn’t have to be photography-specific. Let’s hear it in the comments.

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