When the pandemic started, I went out bought a full size digital piano (Roland FP30 if you are interested). I've always wanted to play the piano (like Jim I can play a guitar badly). 3 years later and I still can't play it well - but I still enjoy sitting down and fiddling around. So, I've got something out of it. [It doesn't help that my son is an excellent pianist - and I am so jealous of him)
ALan
That's not funny!
I did not say that, but some of my actions and failures actually COULD be summarized by:
"Well, that camera was shitty anyways."
Talking about Nikon D610 with Samyang f/1.4 prime or Sony A7R. 😂😂
Still guys, this is wholesome response. Great inspiration and help. Books are bookmarked already, and I will buy some of these mentioned.
@davidwien:
On the desire regulation:
Sometimes money are good regulator.
In time I find that this buying/reward system doesn't satisfy the craving and mood about reward much. One is either unhappy when he gets the gadget right at the moment, or the happiness goes away in days more often than not.
I only stayed happy after some development achievements with some nasty high end 21" subwoofers, because they could rock/ruin multiple people's day including mine easily. We like to play with stuff that can kill uss, don't we!
I usually look at photographing something that interests me, then go about photographing the subject in a way that interests you, if you are going to take photographs that are done based on the need to please someone else you may find that you will quickly become bored with photography.
Pick something that you wished you could photograph, a great deal of what I photograph is wildlife and for a season I like to pick a subject that I have yet to photograph. This peaks my interest in that much of the time I need to know my subject and understand what, where and how my subject interact with nature.
This in its self is just as rewarding as photography is.
Go about photographing the subject they way you want to, I often hear that wildlife you need to photograph them from a distance using glass longer than 300mm with a cropped camera, for me using FF seldom do I go above 400mm, the interaction and the planning that goes into photographing wildlife is also something that will connect you to your subject and photography. I also like the perspective I get from photograph subjects much close as this give the feeling that the subject is right there in front of you and not off in the distance.
One of the most remembered photograph I have taken over the years is of a Belted Kingfisher taken at less than 5m working distance, The planning and just the chance of being that close to the Kingfisher defining moment.
No. Story trumps Tech.
I recommend (as a start).
Photographers on Photography: Carroll, Henry: 9781786279156: Amazon.com: Books
I think I'm able to answer the question in your title with a clear: No, I'm not!
Am I obsessed with gear in general though? Yes, I absolutely am... but for the most part not in the way most people here are I guess.
Because while I can rave for hours about the incredible ingenuity some lens designers showed when developing some 50 year old Agfa prototype triplet lens (that's a real example, by the way 😅) I forget about my Sigma Art lens for months. While I can invest a lot of time and effort looking for a way to adapt any insignificant and flawed no-name industrial lens to my bellows system and make it work, I give up on a new lens with too much CAs for my taste almost immediately and return it.
I don't really long for the very best, the latest, the most effective gear there is usually, but I care a lot about optimizing my setup and abilities to use a lens which speaks to me for some reason, to its full ability.
There have been a couple of lenses which really 'inspired' me for lack of a better word, so I certainly have to admit that gear has a significant impact on my photography and motivation in some (weird) way. If you're interested I can show you one or two samples of that.
I have a lot of fun participating in various flickr groups with weekly themes. I find it easy enough to come up with something that satisfies the theme's requirements usually, but challenging enough to get an image I feel good about, which works well as a motivation to keep improving.
I take photographs.
shooting amazing images is about effort . not just a push of a button. you want first class portraits you spend $50k an build your own studio and lighting equipment. you want amazing extreme macros again you build your equipment you cant buy it. you want to shoot the ultimate extreme macros you shoot live subjects at 10x that very few can :-) if you havnt a workshop or any hand tool experience your options are limited and very expensive. 90% of the fun is actually building your gear.
Heh, I am obsessed with lenses, not with technology. My three lenses cost more than twice as much as my camera body. I experienced so much headache with new computers as a kid, and cameras being computers now, so maybe I am naturally cautious. But when I look at my screen of my mom's Iphone 14 Pro Max after using my E-M1 Mark II, I can't help but be tempted by the idea having a dedicated camera with a more modern screen.
But I have always been more motivated by looking at other people's photos, especially in print, first in magazines and lately in books. And there also is a lot of inspiration that has to come from outside of photography. My main interest is not photography, my main interest is actually urban geography. Human geography was my major in university. My passion for photography comes from my desire to express my views on urban planning and architecture. Photography is just the means to an end, and so photography equipment is also just the means to an end.
Photography is fun, cameras and lenses are fun, but fun is not the reason I am willing to endure crowded hour-long bus ride through a construction zone to photograph a particular neighbourhood in cold, wet, snowy conditions.
From someone that uses manual focus tele lenses at around 40 years old, nope. The box is a box.
Danny.
I believe that depends greatly on what your goals are for your photography. Don't assume your goals are the same as everyone's goals.
Your beliefs play no role in my answer to the original question Are you obsessed with the technology only? No assumption on my part required either.
You made a general statement, "story trumps tech" and recommended a book. Both are not specific to you.
I answered the question posed by the OP.
I also suggested a book, as others had done.
About half of my interest in photography is because of the technology.
Not that. In the roughly 47 years I've done photography, I'm not sure I've ever gone walking around somewhere looking for something to shoot. I do the exact opposite of that. I take pictures of things I'd be doing anyway. Other than hired gigs, the only time I do photography for the sake of photography is when I'm shooting astro stuff (i.e. going out to shoot a lunar eclipse). The rest of the time, I just shoot the activities I do. Maybe you could either do more activities or consider better documenting the ones you already do.
This is me. My gear just comes along for the ride. It's not the reason for the ride. You could nearly say I'm just an opportunist photographer. And calling me a photographer in itself is probably stretching it a bit. In saying that, I do thoroughly enjoy taking pictures, if I didn't get enjoyment out of it, I wouldn't bother.
Yeah, I've gone through a bit of gear, not in the pursuit of ultimate image quality, but more along the lines of looking for something portable, light, and not crazy expensive that I have to stop and worry about damaging it, but still giving reasonably good image quality. I think I'm there now, spent a few years now collecting a selection of small, relatively fast m4/3 prime lenses, and tried a few different sized/specced m4/3 bodies along the way. Anyway, a couple of shots to show what I'm on about
My favourite subjects, a very very pleasant way to spend an afternoon/evening, wandering about with a beer, munching on a hamburger or baked spud, watching these go by. Therapeutic.
My motivation for buying gear is as a result of a pet-peeve. Nothing annoys me more in photography than seeing something I want to photograph and being unable to do so because of the gear. So I'm constantly looking for focal length range, aperture range, speed, accurate focusing and so on so I don't miss the shots I want.
mine too, i upgraded if the camera was letting me down in some way. but i have reached the top of my ladder, and cant see anything beyond my a74 tamron 28 75 2.8 and tamron 70 180 2.8 it will last me for the next 10 years. I would like a nice tiny apsc compact with a great evf and fixed zoom 😁 its not going to happen though, camera companies will make sure of that.
