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The idea is romantic in the notion that there are organizations and agencies willing to give you money to fly to exotic locales and capture memorable images for publishing in nationally and internationally prominent magazines. The reality of the hard work it takes to get those memorable images is much harsher than what our ignorant romanticism would have us think. Professional photography is a rough and tumble world where the equipment can be battered around and needs to be tough enough to withstand the abuse and punishment a pro can inflict upon it. In the amateur world, tax -write offs and expense accounts generally do not exist to allow such attitudes to prevail. There is also a sense that the amateur photographer is a craftsman, looking at the greater goal of artistic achievement rather than just getting images to satisfy an illustrations editor. Photography equipment can be very expensive to purchase and because most amateurs do not earn income with the money, battering the equipment is a decided no-no. You will see the amateur carefully put away his or her equipment into the cases or pouches that came with the equipment. It’s natural after all, for how many among us can afford to toss away a few thousand here and there for the sake of pure imagery, equipment be damned? Heck, I use to carry around the dedicated leather pouch for my Nikon flashes and would pack them away into those pouches and then into the camera bag or cabinet after using them. But no longer now for what am I exactly protecting the flashes from? How much extra harm can come of it when inside a padded camera bag? As if a leather pouch would actually provide significantly more protection than by putting away the flash into a padded enclosure inside the bag or case. My flashes are already a bit scuffed up anyway from banging into each other when I have two cameras hanging off of me during a wedding shoot. Running or walking quickly from one moment to the next causes the camera systems to be jostled and one cannot expect the plastic lens hoods or exterior shells of much of today’s equipment to come out looking 100%. I can understand that people who have invested a lot of hard earned money into their photography equipment want to protect it as much as possible to ensure long lasting use; however, some of the actions taken by amateur photographers just seems a bit much and adds little to no value for the equipment. I don’t throw my equipment around but I have confidence in my equipment being built to a high standard that they will take the little bit of abuse I might throw at them every now and then. When I use my cameras mounted to flash brackets, they become fairly large and bulky to pack away. I also want them ready to go at a moment’s notice for shooting a scene. At present I have no practical case or bag large enough to accommodate three camera systems completely rigged up with brackets, flashes, and lenses (two F100 bodies and one medium format SQ-Ai). My Lowepro Omni Trekker case is like a large briefcase or laptop case and I have configured this case to accommodate my SQ-Ai with its Newton N7400 flash bracket and Metz 45CL-4 attached to the bracket. Until I purchase a Lowepro Pro Roller series case, one or both F100 bodies just sit in the car trunk with the flash and lens attached. I’m not concerned about them sitting in the trunk like so because the F100 camera is built to professional standards. Not as much as the Nikon F5, but then what 35mm SLR is? Likely there are more than a few amateur photographers who would be aghast at the cavalier attitude towards the equipment, as to just throw them in the boot of the car and not worry about them, as I or another person drives away to the next location for a shoot. Or, from placing the camera on the passenger-side seat or floor of the car and having the camera roll around as I’m driving. I recall the first time I shot with my wedding photographer friend Larry Rotta, and how I just casually placed the cameras in the trunk and he asked if I was okay with that. Sure, I said, it’s professional equipment, no problem, while he had all his gear nicely packed away in his Lowepro cases. After a few shoots together, I’ve noticed Larry doing the same thing, just putting the camera in the trunk and then speeding off to the next location. He also has lens hoods all scuffed up from always carrying two cameras with him as he works and having them bang against each other.
I still like handling the equipment; however, my attitude is to regard the camera as a finely crafted tool instead of a jewel that needs to be pampered and cared for with useless leather pouches. Or always having to be packed away into dedicated photo cases and bags. Associated with this “jewels” attitude is the idea that a piece of equipment should be looked after as pristinely as possible to ensure future resale value. People often remark what to look for in used equipment, such as rotting foam lining the seals of a camera back door, or dust inside the lens, etc, etc. Amateurs don’t like to see scuff marks or brassing; preferring a mint condition piece of equipment and then trying to pay as a low a dollar for said mint condition equipment as possible while trying to obtain maximum dollar as possible for their own scuffed up equipment. Yah, every one of my pieces is mint so why the hell shouldn’t I get 90% of the value back. Oh that scratch on the front lens element, don’t worry about that, no problem, won’t affect the image at all, and even if it does, well heck, you’ll still get 90% of the quality of the lens, so just give me 90% of the value of its new price. Equipment
is made to be used not bought and stored away for some future perceived
value. Even those gaudy collector’s editions of the Leica rangefinders
with the ostrich skin finish (or whatever the animals were that gave
their life for the collectors’ cause). |
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Correspondence & About this website Copyright © 1998-2008 Edwin Leong |
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Edwin's
Vignettes -
Tools Not Jewels
Amateur
photographers can be an odd lot at times. Can there be many of these
serious amateurs who do not wish to be a full time professional photographer;
out there making money by doing something they love to do anyway?
I certainly have dreams of flying around the world shooting stock
and/or doing correspondence work for National Geographic magazine.
So,
it seems that while amateur photographers treat their equipment like
jewels, to be cared for and packed away for posterity, professionals
treat their equipment like tools, to be used hard and fast in order
to get the job done. Now, while I am an amateur photographer, the
days of me being obsessive-compulsive about how I treated my equipment
with kid gloves are past.