Some of the best advice you can get from a photographer when you are starting out is when a more experienced photographer answers the question, "what would you tell a younger you about photography?" Well, here is one photographer's five answers to that question.
The question is a common one and you'll likely have seen several people create videos and articles answering it from their own point of view. I believe I have answered it too, to people I have either taught or in articles I have written. Nevertheless, I will offer one tip I haven't before, and if I were able to go back and speak to me ten years ago about photography, this is something I'd bring up.
While there is a lot to say about gear and the purchasing of it, the tip I think that would be most useful to me ten years ago flies a little in the face of one of Mattias Burling's tips, though I don't think he'd disagree. I upgraded my camera and bought a large smattering of lenses in the last decade; some were good investments, some were middling, and some were poor decisions. Now, they are almost all good or middling, with almost no poor decisions, and that's an improvement made by changing my metric. By simply looking at how much you're paying and what you stand to gain, you can avoid impulse purchases that don't have much value in your camera bag. For example, I moved from a Canon 5D Mark II to a Canon 6D some years back, when the 6D was new. Looking back, it was a completely sideways move with little gained for how much I spent. However, contrast that with my move from a 6D to the Sony a7 III (and thus the shift to mirrorless) and the gains were substantial to my workflow.
What tip would you offer to a younger you?
