It’s a Friday afternoon…

I’m sitting at my desk tabbing feverishly between Amazon, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, a Youtube product review, and a few other comparison articles. I look at the clock and look back down at my computer screen. At least 10 different videos show up on my YouTube recommendations all saying how one bit of equipment is better than the other or that you most definitely shouldn’t buy this product versus that one. I look up again to find an hour has passed. Frustrated, I shut my laptop and get up from my desk. Another hour wasted.

“I’m stuck in equipment shopping purgatory”

This gear envy has been with me as long as I can remember. I’m stuck in equipment shopping purgatory. I recently picked back up on photography and also filmed a few videos here and there for my Instagram story and was fancying my progress that I’d made since I decided to resume photography midway through last year. I thought my photos were getting a bit better with each outing. However, as much as I enjoyed my progress, the thought crept back into my head...”If only I had a bit better equipment I could REALLY step things up.” That’s usually when the browser opens back up and I search for the best deal, look at the videos, the reviews, the “What’s in my camera bag” content with all the gear so beautifully laid out.

“The difference comes down to the ability to see a story and follow through with capturing it.”

In high school, I used my parent’s Olympus DSLR (I have no idea what kind it was) to take a photography class. I thought the photos it took were ok but I recall borrowing a high-end camera from a friend for a day and thought to myself, “Wow, now this is so much better, look how great these photos are. If only I had one of these.” Fast forward a few years and gear envy is still a part of my life. The very worst part about this is that sometimes you buy yourself something that you really built up in your head and it ends up on a shelf gathering dust; partially because you may lose motivation to use it, and partially because someone else online starts raving how something else is so much better. Obviously, there are clear reasons why having better equipment can offer better results, but the thing that gets lost in this shuffle is the whole reason why we need this equipment: to tell a story. The hardest part of that? You can’t buy a story (unlike the equipment I look at online). I see a video or a photo and the comment is always there “”What lens was this? Were you using a filter? What were your Lightroom settings? What preset can I buy to get my image to look like this?” These are definitely valid questions that I have spent a lot of time asking, but the real motivation behind these is this question: “How can I tell a story in a way that you do?” For as many videos there are about what gear to buy, there’s another video telling you it won’t matter what you have if you don’t use it or if you don’t use your creativity to figure out how to tell a compelling story. Everyone started somewhere. The best content creators out there all started with a basic tool as you or I might have. The difference comes down to the ability to see a story and follow through with capturing it. Combine this with determination and dedication to your craft and you can make something incredible. The skill that makes the best so proficient at what they do isn’t their equipment (although it can help) and I wouldn’t doubt these creatives would let that factor alone stop them from telling their story how they see best. No matter what, if you have an idea and have the drive to see it through, it finds a way. As I look at my cheap camera from BestBuy and the two cheap lenses I own, that’s what I want to remember. I want to look back on what I’ve created with pride. Not because I swung the biggest stick, but because I used my own creativity to see something and use the tools I had to present it in the best way I could while having the mindset to see that idea through.