Home Opinion It’s the photograph, not the gear

It’s the photograph, not the gear

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During the week I attended an interesting presentation by Nick Moir, one of the Sydney Morning Herald‘s photographers. Some fabulous photos; just my sort of shots. Yet it really annoys me when you go to these events with all these superb photos, some taken at considerable personal risk, and the first question from the audience is “what gear do you use?” As if it mattered.

He obviously agreed with me as he answered, “a camera”.

He then went on to say that most of the controls and menus on modern cameras are superfluous and that the main thing is to stick with one camera and know the key controls instinctively. Exactly my philosophy

You can find John Shingleton at The Rolling Road

4 COMMENTS

  1. I have heard that Nick Moir’s best mate is Fred Vignet…

    🙁

    But seriously, this is precisely what I am attempting to do (I am an old man) with my recently acquired M2…

    Just learn, a simple high quality, camera, inside out, and hopefully learn about light, and good composition in the process.

    I might be here quite some time!

    • Isn’t he married to Felicity Overexposed? But you are right. That’s why I treat digital cameras as film cameras, never straying far from the holy trinity of aperture, speed and sensitivity. I wish Leica would produce a standard version of the M240 without a screen (similar to M60 Edition but lighter and, with luck, a bit slimmer.

      • I agree regarding a "simple" digital M… If only.

        Regarding digital cameras, I did have an M8 and I couldn’t cope with the crop factor, but the files were pretty good, it was my skills that were lacking and I realised that there is something about a roll of film and the running out thereof, that concentrates the mind.

        My other digital cameras have been / are a Panasonic DMC – LX3, a Sony RX100 (yuk) and I currently have a Fuji X100S (I love it) and just bought, a Ricoh GRrrrrrr… (hate it). I might like it a bit more if I acquire a 28mm viewfinder, but it is not promising. The files are OK, it is just unusable.

        I will not be buying anything else for a while, I am just going to concentrate on the M2 for black and white, and the X100 for snaps. Though saying that I gave pinhole photography a go in Ireland recently using the M2 and got some great little pictures.

        The M2 never ceases to amaze, in regards to what it teaches me.

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