The Glamor of Photography: Setting a Course for 2012

This will hope­fully be the last “gear” ori­ented blog for a lit­tle while. This one’s a lit­tle bit dif­fer­ent than the last two, though, so I think it’s use­ful to think about.

Head­ing into 2012, it’s time to take stock of where I am pho­to­graph­i­cally, and make some plans for the new year. Part of that involves start­ing a new Light­room cat­a­log for 2012, mak­ing sure all my 2011 files are backed up, and think­ing about any gear changes I might need to make in prepa­ra­tion for wed­dings com­ing up. I, prob­a­bly like most pho­tog­ra­phers, tend to focus on the excit­ing, big ticket items–the new cam­eras, the new lenses, the upgrades that we want or need mov­ing for­ward. So, you might think­ing that the Fuji­film X-Pro 1 would be tops on my list of wants for 2012. And cer­tainly, it’s way up there.

You might think my list involves a 5DmkII, or a 1Dx, or a 1DmkIV, or some excit­ing lens like a 24mm TS-E. And all of these things are on my list of wants, though most of them are on the very periph­ery of pos­si­bil­ity. What my actual list looks like, and prob­a­bly what other photographer’s lists look like (or should look like), is more like this:

• New 1Tb hard dri­ves for 2012 photo stor­age and backup and exter­nal RAID array
• Lexar dual slot reader
• New LCD monitor
• Cold shoes
• Gator Clips
• White and gray seam­less paper
• New shoes
• More RAM for my desktop
• Pec­pads and other clean­ing supplies
• Think­Tank Air­port Inter­na­tional (I already bought this one for a wed­ding in February)
• Sav­ing towards 2013 Ice­land trip

So, no cam­eras or lenses in the top 10. After those odds and ends, we get down to the X-Pro 1 and its lenses, and maybe a 5DmkII or sim­i­lar, but con­sider all of the above–nothing up there is photo-taking equip­ment, but all of those things are impor­tant ele­ments of my pho­tog­ra­phy. They are all the things you don’t want to buy because they’re not sexy or fun or new, but they are the things you need. To ful­fill your pro­fes­sional oblig­a­tions and back up your valu­able pho­tos. To be able to accu­rately edit your pho­tos. To be able to safely trans­port your gear. To be able to ingest and man­age your pho­tos. To take the gear you already have to exotic loca­tions and take once-in-a-lifetime photos.

As you plan your pur­chases for the com­ing year, whether you are a pro, an enthu­si­ast, or an ama­teur, take the time to pri­or­i­tize them, and don’t for­get to include the mun­dane things. And if  your pock­ets aren’t bot­tom­less, don’t for­get about things, like trips, that can offer tremen­dous bang for your pho­to­graphic buck. Because, as I repeat over and over and over on this blog, the expe­ri­ences, the light, and your vision and cre­ativ­ity are far more impor­tant fac­tors in good pho­tographs than the gear. You might decide that your 5D can hang in there for another year with just a ser­vice, and put that grand you’d ear­marked for the 5DmkII towards a trip to Yosemite, or Yel­low­stone, or Zion instead. Or you might spend that money rent­ing some­place cool to shoot por­traits. Or you might decide that, after all, it’s really time to upgrade your cam­era, because there’s noth­ing wrong with that. Just take the time to give it con­scious thought.

What about me? I’m going to make my way through that list above, with maybe a few other odds and ends added to it (there’s always some­thing). My one indul­gence this year will likely be the X-Pro 1. If it works out as I hope it will, I might pick up a sec­ond and jet­ti­son some Canon gear. If it doesn’t, I might end up with a 5DmkII after all. Or maybe not. I have to get through all that other stuff first. Mean­while, I’ll keep shoot­ing with what­ever I’ve got, and in the end, that’s all that really matters.