You Don’t Need a New Camera
Some friends of mine jokingly call it DLP, short for Dad Loves Photography. It’s the phenomenon in which a dad buys an expensive camera so that he can dabble in photography. Don’t get me wrong — specialty cameras can be mighty useful. But for many of us, our phones can take pretty good photos already. So why get a fancy new camera?
I spoke to one of my videographer friends and asked him what kind of camera I should use if I wanted to start vlogging. He told me that his honest opinion was that using my phone was the best way to get my feet wet. This answer initially annoyed me, because using my phone is not what I imagined when I pictured myself making vlogs. And then I realized he was absolutely right.
Sometimes we buy fancy gadgets in lieu of doing meaningful work. We buy a treadmill with the intention of getting fit, instead of proving to ourselves first that we have the discipline to use it. Or, we buy a fancy camera with tons of customizable features, when our phones will likely do everything that we need it to do. For me, I find myself browsing productivity tools on Product Hunt for hours, instead of actually doing work directly tied to my clients.
Buying gadgets feels like work even though it isn’t. We know how to buy cameras but maybe we don’t know how to frame a great shot. When we face the uncertainty of a new career or hobby, it is tempting to lean on the familiarity of shopping in order to avoid the potential failure of experimentation.
In order to get around this problem, I first work with what I have. I think “Let me prove what I can do with the tools I already have in order to justify my need for bigger and better tools.” If you want to make a video game, you may think you need the most powerful computer on the market. But if you’re just starting out, what can you make with the computer your already have? Or with just a pencil and paper? Can you outline a game’s logic and sketch out characters?
Fancy tools certainly help us gain more control over our craft (it’s the difference between using iMovie and Final Cut Pro). Having an up-to-date phone also helps us stay in the loop with software updates and trends. But you don’t need much to get started, and you’ll likely have a better picture of what kind of camera you want if you start out with what you have first.
