So why do you need a lot of equipment to make photographs? Afterall a smartphone can deliver incredible images given the opportunity. I think the answer to this can be summed up in one word ‘quality‘. This is a really subjective word especially in a world dominated by image consumption on line rather than as a print but it still is the only real way answer the question.

Assuming that the image is good then if it has been produced by a large sensor and good quality lenses it will provide the photographer with so much more to work with in terms of bit depth, pixel quality and tolerance to help make a good image great. The equipment will also allow the photographer to pursue the image in ways that a smartphone simply cannot. This is not to say the smartphone doesn’t have a place, it certainly does and I have long been an advocate for the use of smartphones. But in an art form that relies more than anything else on quality of the image there is no way that a smartphone can out trump physics.

I captured all the images here using a variety of lenses ranging from a super wide 18mm to a long telephoto lens of 600 mm and this freedom cannot be found using a smartphone. Now it can be argued that you don’t need such a wide range of lenses to make excellent images and this is true. But the more you are restricted by the equipment you have available to you then greater the chance that you will not be able to fulfil your creative vision.

The one thing that any amount of equipment cannot do is provide a photographer with the eye for an image. This, to a degree, can be trained and developed over time. However, without it any images created will lack that certain something. Do I have it ‘the eye‘? I think so but you are more than welcome to disagree and that is fine. I only ever make photographs for myself and so if I am happy then that is all that matters.

Footnote:

All the images here were captured in the last two weeks in a variety of locations.