Let's be honest. While we as photographers have a troublesome relationship with gear at times, we could mostly do with a lot less of it. In yet another wonderful discussion, Nick Carver gives us his thoughts on hiring a wedding photographer, using less gear, choosing a rum as a digestif, and what it means to be a photographer.
For those of you who don't know Nick Carver, he produces videos that fight the YouTube norm in their speed and content. You will find no fancy transitions or bullet points here. Nick takes his time to explain his process and take you on a journey with him. If you're a film photographer or just somebody who doesn't like 43 transitions in as many seconds, Nick's channel is for you. The videos take some time to get through, but reward you with plenty of takeaways and some great humor to boot. If you have the time and patience, kick back and enjoy.
In this particular video, he takes you on a journey from a beautiful rum to a bit of sunburn and then on to reducing the amount of gear you have with you to foster creativity. All throughout, there are pointers for drinking right, avoiding the most common affliction suffered by white folks, and some great photography tips to sort out your G.A.S. (skip to this section for the gear bit). Not only this, but you'll be treated to everyone's favorite photographer replacement, Arsenal.
Take your time and enjoy this segment, but do follow it up with Nick's Photography On Location series. These looks into the mind of a photographer who approaches his photography with a great deal of thought are well worth diving into.
Easy now, the majority of the articles on this site are "Check out this new thing you should buy." Get people to go simple and what's left here?
Don't worry, Dave. I'll keep the balance by uploading something like that for you next week. Stay safe, stay calm.
Great video, style and content! I completely agree. In German, there is a saying: "Weniger ist mehr.", meaning something like: reduce to the max or less is more. Concentrating on the subject, it's possible movements, the exact moment, the scenery, the light and the necessary camera and lens settings, is already more than the average human brain normally can achieve. To improve your skills, you shouldn't add any more parameters to that already large list.
Thank you for the inspiration and the reminder to do as you suggest.