The Luminous Landscape just published a very thoughtful essay by Mark Dubovoy about whether equipment affects creativity. In short, his answer was it absolutely does. I agree with him, but I have some additional points below, which are applicable beyond photography.
Some argue vociferously that tools don’t really matter: Ansel Adams could have taken those shots with any camera. Ken Rockwell’s $100 camera takes just as good a picture as his $8000 camera. Obviously, in some cases that may be entirely true. But, every tool has its own limitations. If they didn’t, there’d only be one tool.
Think about the limitations of your equipment. Is your view camera heavy? Does your point and shoot not allow you to make big enlargements? Does your pinhole camera force you to take long exposures?
When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
When I shoot with my 5d2, with the intention of stitching together a panorama, the way I see and the way I shoot are totally different than when I’m shooting with a 617 Fuji. With the film camera, I look to capture action and movement. That’s a pain in the ass to deal with when I’m stitching though, since things moving between frames creates problems. So when I shoot digital, I try to use long exposures to smooth out any movements, or I pick subjects that aren’t going anywhere.
So not only does my subject and the way I shoot change depending on what camera I’m shooting, so does my mood. With digital, shooting is often harder. It’s sometimes frustrating. With film, I’m often happier because the process becomes so much easier. And my mood definitely affects the type of image that comes out of the box.
Similarly, if I’ve got my 50/1.4 on my 5d2, everything’s gonna get a shallow depth of field. I paid for the damn glass, right? Might as well. The compositions I start seeing all seek to utilize that. If I’m using my point and shoot, I’ve got essentially unlimited depth of field, so I’m start looking for compositions where I can utilize it. I don’t even think about it at the time, but looking back at my shots, that’s what inevitably happens. When I pick up my 100-400, I take 5x as many shots at 400 than I do at 100 200 or 300.
None of this is necessarily bad, but it can definitely lead to things getting stale. Zeb Andrews had a great line on one of his recent flickr posts: “I have really come to value photographing the same places in different ways, as opposed to different places all the same way.”
I spend an awful lot of time in the same places, trying to get new compositions, new conditions, and new shots. But, almost all of the time, I’m photographing those places in essentially the same way. And I got pretty bored with photography.
So how do I get those creative juices flowing again? Well, I picked up some new equipment, and my juices are flowing. I didn’t get a new lens or body. I started using Adobe Illustrator to make some elaborate designs. I started playing guitar again. I built this blog. I wrote this post. While I may not be great at any of those other things, my juices are flowing again, both with those tools, and with photography.
So if you’re stuck or bored, change the equipment. Find another outlet, whether it’s cooking, or painting, or singing, or jamming. I guarantee you’ll get those juices flowing again, and your art will be better for it.
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