I’ve been lucky enough to interview veteran British portrait photographer David Bailey a couple of times and meet him on a few subsequent occasions. The second time was for a magazine that acted as camera buying guide, meaning it was mandatory to ask all interviewees: “What camera are you using?”
“I don’t f-ing know,” Bailey responded, with that raspy laugh of his.
It taught me a lesson. If one of the most feted photographers of his generation didn’t know or care what he was shooting on – despite being publicly associated at the time with Olympus – why was I giving so much importance to kit, aside from the fact that my magazine had the word ‘camera’ in its title?
It was like I’d asked Constable or Rembrandt about the brush they used. It was so far beside the point that I’d missed the point entirely, despite knowing that my Editor expected me to pose the question, and my readers might possibly be interested in the answer.
So, because photographs and what they show and tell us is more important that the camera they were taken on, I really don’t think you need to own the latest and greatest full frame or medium format camera to be at the top of your photographic game. While nice to have or aspire to own, for me, they are inessential.
Naturally, the argument for owning the likes of a 100MP Fujifilm GFX series medium format mirrorless would be different if I were a commercial photographer and my images needed to be enlarged to billboard size without a noticeable quality drop. Or I routinely shot wide and needed to crop my images extensively to better highlight a certain aspect; again, while preventing any visible softening of the image. But that’s not the case.
As any photographer will attest, it’s as much about the idea in your head as the kit in your hands at any given time. One of the favorite images I’ve ever taken was snatched in seconds on a humble Panasonic travel zoom compact. By contrast, I’ve lumbered around with $5K mirrorless cameras, DSLRs, and expensive lenses and haven't shot anything photo-album-worthy.
Getting the best camera I can afford at the time and working with (and within) its quirks and limitations always seems to push my creativity further. Much further than having the biggest sensor and the sharpest glass at my disposal does.
