i've gotten asked this questions so often:
"what camera do you use becuase it takes great photos?"
"do you shoot nikon or canon?"
"why is professional photography pricey"
here are my thoughts on these questions in the long form:
when i first began photography rod got me a canon rebel camera. i took all my classes using that camera. i really liked it but then i got to where i felt i needed more from my camera body. i wanted it to be better with handling low light and i wanted to move to a full frame sensor. so i searched and searched for camera bodies and photographers i liked to see what camera gear they were using.
i'd been taught that it was me as the photographer that made great pictures and not my camera. and in fact, i knew that to be true because my photographs had gotten significantly better by taking my classes. yet there i was looking for a new camera body and still, i had thoughts in my head like "to shoot like 'so and so' does who uses a nikon, i would need to have a nikon camera instead of a canon." see i'm a curious soul by nature. i just always wondered what a nikon would be like. i read forums and reviews that seemed to talk about the differences between nikon and canon. some of them mentioned color differences. some of them talked about the focus points. the more i read about the camera bodies, the more i thought that i really wanted to try a nikon full frame camera. admittedly, in the back of my mind i think i was even more convinced when i heard three of my very favorite well known photographers say they swore by nikons. again, i somewhat still believed the camera was making their work the best it could be so i wanted a nikon!
so two summers ago i was trolling ebay. i found a nikon d700 for sale for a steal of a price. so i pulled the trigger and bought it. this meant that i then spent the next month or so selling off my canon gear (camera and lenses) so that i could purchase lenses for my nikon d700. i slowly aquired all the nikon lenses i wanted. i did a bunch of photo shoots. i had a big learning curve as to how to use my new camera. the menus were all different. i had a lot to get used to with the change in brand. but i realized quickly that it wasn't the camera that made my photographs any better. it wasn't the brand atleast. i edited the same way and i shot the same way as i always had. it was just a different set of buttons i was pushing to take the photos.
fall came two years ago and i was super excited about a big family session i was going to do for a friend of mine. and wouldn't you know it, my camera started acting funny. things were out of focus and i thought it was my eyes but came to learn it was my camera body having difficulty focusing. so i sent off my camera to nikon to have them fix it. that process took a little longer than i expected it to and i wouldn't have my camera back in time to do this big family session. so i ended up going to bhphoto.com and buying a brand new nikon d700 body! yep. this would be my second nikon body! i got it in record time and excitedly opened it up and began shooting. i thought somewhere deep in my mind---again---for whatever crazy reason----that surely now this brand new nikon body will produce even better photos!
the photos were the same as they'd always been. because i was taking them. they were fine and they were better after a little bit of post processing them. but they were still "my" style and "my photos." they were not the photos of those three amazingly famous photographers. they were mine. i made them. really, the truth was that my nikon d700 camera was shooting really well in low light and giving me the range i wanted with the full frame sensor. but that was not because it was a nikon. it was because it was a better camera body than the entry level canon rebel i had had and the d700 had far better components that were allowing me to get great shots in the low light and more of what i saw in the eye piece in my actual shot. my point is that yes, a better camera can give you better functionality in many cases but the photos that one takes are still a product of that person's style, knowledge, and "eye" if you will. and the point is also that with training and instruction and practice using the priciples of composition and processing those photos can become even better and better. it is not just the camera or the brand of camera that takes great photos. it is the photographer using the camera to the best of the camera's abilities and coupling that with the photographer's knowledge of composition, their personality, and their specialized use of editing techniques that can make the greatest photographs.
let me draw an analogy here. nothing bundt cakes makes the best chocolate chocolate chip cakes i've ever in my life had. really. we get one every year for my birthday and everyone else's birthday just because they are that good. i've tried in my oven to make the very same cake. but it just isn't ever as good as nothing bundt cake's cake! and you know why that is? it might have a little to do with the fact that my oven isn't as good as the one nothing bundt cake uses. i'm fairly certain however, that if i were to go over to nothing bundt cake's store and make up my own chocolate chocolate chip cake recipe and bake it in their oven, my cake still wouldn't bake or taste like their cake's do! granted their oven might bake my cake more evenly than my oven but it wouldn't make the flavor or the taste any better. that's because it is only about the type of oven to a point. the bigger factor of why my cakes will not ever taste like a nothing bundt cake is because my recipe is not their recipe and i am not trained in how to make a nothing bundt cake using their recipe. so much of a great cake is about the recipe and technique in following that recipe. so i gave up trying to replicate a nothing bundt cake and i just go and buy one for special occasions! i savor the cake, too, each time i eat one because i know that i just can't make what they have got! it is worth it to me to pay $38 for their cake! i value it that much.
the difference between canon and nikon cameras is similar to the difference between driving a honda mini van and a toyota mini van. basically it is the fit and finish work that it is a little different. both are great for toting kids around town and are fuel efficient and ride smoothly. the buttons on the dashboard and the media features are a little different. this is just like shooting with a canon 5d mark ii or a nikon d700. in the end i think you just have to purchase and use what you feel most confident using. which button or menu or "way it feels in your hand" fits best for you.
the past year of shooting with my d700 i have really missed some of those buttons in different places. i have missed feeling as confident with my nikon as i felt with my entry level canon. and this feeling was growing bigger and bigger for me. i finally decided that for me in the end i am a canon gal. i like the fit and finish better. it handles so similarly to the d700 but there is something about the canon that resonates with me more. i feel more confident with it in my hand. maybe it is hearing that familiar click of the shutter again (even the click sounds are a little different on the two cameras.)
so at wppi this last february i did some dealing and got samy's camera to sell me the canon 5d mark ii and the lenses and grip that i wanted for cost. (i went to adorama's booth first and got them to write down their pricing for each item i was wanting to purchase because i knew they were selling at cost prices and shipping the items to the buyer from their location in new york rather than carry inventory at the tradeshow.) samy's however, is out of california and had brought with them a bunch of inventory. i gave them the price list for my items that adorama quoted me and they dropped their jaws in disbelief but matched their prices all the same. so i was able to walk out of the tradeshow with a new canon 5d mark ii and grip and lenses. i felt relieved in a way. i was a little nervous because it meant now i would spend the next few weeks listing my nikon gear for sale. but when i came home and opened the canon and started shooting with it, i immediately felt like i'd returned home. i felt confident and at ease. i felt like i wasn't trying to be someone i wasn't. i was not worried about trying to get my images to look like so and so's anymore. the old me was back. the photographer who started with that rebel crop sensor camera in classes long ago. i liked myself again and my images. it is odd to describe how that felt but that confidence was worth the switch back.
i am convinced now that the camera you have doesn't fully make your images better or worse. a higher end camera can only give you better images if you know how to use it properly. which brand of camera you use has less to do with the images and more to do with the photographer. which camera "feels" better to the one using it is the most important thing. it is like the artist who just knows which brush feels best for the stroke he/she wants to paint.
photographers study and work very hard to develop a style and a "recipe" if you will of how they want their images to appear. they take classes, read books, ask questions of mentors and practice, practice, practice until they are getting something they feels represents them. they invest in editing software and create editing "recipes" for their images. all of this is an investment in developing their skill and product. and it is worth paying for images of your family, your newborn or your pet from a photographer who has done that. you will treasure images taken of loved ones of yours by a photographer who has done his/her homework in developing a solid style of their own. as long as you like their style, you should be happy to pay for their work because if you were to step out and try to do it like they do, you'd find 1 of 2 things: 1) it takes a lot of work and time to learn all that they know and 2) their style is their style and though it may be close to your taste, you'd only be able to come close and not match it exactly because each person's style is suited to the individual that they are. and because i have identical twin children, i can tell you that no two people, even when they share the same genes, are not exactly alike in what they produce.
and the short lessons:
1) both canon and nikon are great. use what makes you feel most confident as a photographer so you can be bold enough to try new techniques.
2) pay for good photography and hang it big in your home.
3) buy a nothing bundt cake for your birthday and savor each bite without guilt.
because you only do these last two things about once a year anyway!
and now to the most exciting photography news lately: my new camera bag is a fabulous find! i've had many a camera bag (seriously--nearly all the main ones) and landed on this one last. love the color, the size and the cuteness.
cheers,
lesli
(incidentally, i got my first nikon d700 back from the nikon repair center fully fixed and in working order amonth or so after having it repaired. then i sold it on ebay--having diclosed the history of the camera and including all of the paperwork from the repair center ; ). i kept the new bhphoto bought d700 camera body to use. i know cameras can malfunction but i think what i learned from that experience was that i prefer to buy my gear from someone i trust and know the history of the camera or brand new from bhphoto or samy's camera shop rather than off ebay for a steal of a price.)
