Based on my admittedly limited experience, I think the capabilities of
the gear do enhance creativity, but that it pretty quickly bumps up
against the law of diminishing returns. By way of example, my initial
interest in photography was fired by a Canon P&S while taking snapshots
at a drag race. I learned pretty quickly that the slow shutter response
made it almost impossible to get a decent image as the cars launched off
the starting line. After a certain number of attempts, I quickly became
discouraged from trying to take such images. But, I really, really
wanted to be able to take shots like that, so I started socking away
pennies for a DSLR so that I could have a camera with the necessary
responsiveness.
But, when I got the camera that was capable of doing it, I tended to
expend a great deal of effort taking those kinds of shots, and not much
else. Then, boredom set in and I wanted to take more artistic photos.
But, I started to rely heavily on gewgaws and whirligigs like digital
filters and long focal lengths, which produced a lot of frustratingly
pedestrian results.
It wasn't until I put my hands on an M50/2 that I ever noticed any
appreciable improvement in my photography. I learned to appreciate the
limits it placed on me, and adjusted accordingly. So, in essence, the
capabilities of the DSLR allowed me to get the kinds of photos I
couldn't have gotten with the P&S, but it wasn't until I introduced a
the limitations of the lack of autofocus and zoom and automatic
metering, etc. that ever learned how to truly exploit the capabilities
of the camera.
-- Walt
On 8/9/2012 12:13 AM, Igor Roshchin wrote:
It has been said many times that abundance of equipment can suppress
the [necessity for] creativity. Or, maybe the opposite is correct:
lack of proper equipments boosts up the creativity.
This guy, shooting Olympics with iPhones, has been feature in many
news/blogs:
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/08/covering-the-olympics-with-three-iphones-and-some-binoculars/
Or see it with all photos at once:
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/08/covering-the-olympics-with-three-iphones-and-some-binoculars/?pid=3287&viewall=true
Short link: http://goo.gl/bl2Qv
Indeed, some of these photos may not have appeared if the photographer
were sitting in the photographers' row.
(Being in the photographers' row can be dangerous:
http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2012/08/01/photographer-in-focus-with-courtside-crash/
)
Being challenged by the "inferior" equipment, he is looking for more
unusual shots.
For example, when my wife takes photos with her P&S photo camera
at dance festivals, because of the short flash range, focus/shutter lag,
and other inherent limitations of many P&S's, she is looking for shots
that she can take with her camera.
E.g. at one of tango festivals, she did this collection:
http://www.fluidr.com/photos/jprusakova/sets/72157630979383784/
Of course, the fact that you have your top-notch DSLR doesn't forbid all
this creativity. But it doesn't stimulate it either.
The question remains open, - does too much gear hinder your creativity?
What do you think?
Igor
PS. My wife made a suggestion for the actual reason why this photographer
decided to use 3 iPhones instead of his 3 (5? 10?) DSLRs:
their office ran out of ponies that carry the heavy photo bags. So, he had
to carry his gear by himself.
--
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