Listening to a thoroughly engaging podcast recently had me thinking of the past decade of photography related purchases. There have been many. What comes to me only now when reflecting back on all of these camera/lens/accessory purchases is the self justification in buying them in the first instance and how I created a perfect logical narrative on why I needed the said new shiny electronic item.

Doing a wedding shoot - need a camera with 2 card slots (Remember when wedding photographers got by fine with just one?)

Landscape photography passion - need a high megapixel count camera for large prints (posts on Facebook and Instagram - makes five A3 prints in a year)

Purchases $2000+ 135mm F2 Zeiss Milvus lens for portrait use (135mm lens usage ends up being less than 0.2% of entire Lightroom catalogue)

I think you get the general idea. The thought I get is that by purchasing these objects of desire is somehow a substitute for the actual taking of photographic images - a kind of “action faking” if you will (another level up from procrastination - even whilst typing this I found myself wandering off to a YouTube rabbit hole researching Nikon F6 film cameras). At some stage I wanted to explore the possibility of maybe earning a decent income from photography, but the only income generated in my case was that going to the camera companies. As the saying goes “If you don’t know who the sucker is at the poker table - it’s you..” (Take the beautifully created Fujifilm productions/advertisements - some even feature movie length like this one here are entertaining, but commercials for the companies products nonetheless - Photography is a business, and I dare say that Fujifilm made this not for the “likes” but to increase sales and brand awareness by a means of a emotive story of the design team striving to make the product…) which takes me to the title of this little piece “The influence others have on you and your photography” - but how and why does it matter?

Many choose photography for a multitude of reasons, some to showcase to the world their creative side, some to make a dollar or thousand.( Not that their is anything remotely bad at all in making money from photography if that is your purpose! - absolutely go for it if it works!) What I’m looking at is for all of the people who take an image, be it on the phone they have, right upto to 100 Megapixel pseudo medium format $10,000 behemoth - who, or better yet, what is the end point of the image? Is it for yourself having an image to be printed and placed within your own house? Is it to document an event in time to show the world? Or is it to gain attention, likes, thumbs up - the modern day currency of an ego-coin which to some is more valuable than actual cash to buy food, clothing and accommodation with.

I have been down all of the paths, and I hope you might gain some insight (or even simply relate) I’ve taken and reflect on the aimlessness in some of my endevours to come to the realisation, too late maybe, that doing anything that has the outcome determined by another takes the power, ownership and enjoyment away from you. Case in point - you take what you feel is a beautiful and meaningful image only to then upload it to some social media platform for the digital world to judge, and it is judged as an “average” image when compared to your internal LikeMeter - then, in moments, your judgement and opinion on your own creation has now decreased in perceived value. In the words to Greta Thunberg “How Dare You !” Stop. Just stop being a slave to the opinions of others when it comes to your own work, so many seek approval in so many aspects within their lives - do not let your passion and love of photography, your art, your creation be destroyed by the anonymous, judgemental, malevolent world. Only when you pass this point, when you go back to what photography was once - an image in time, that was then printed and prized as a precious possession by few, then you have known. Known that it is better to create an image loved by one for a lifetime, than it is to have an image liked by thousands for a second.

Here is to all those photographers who are known and unknown who have made the choice to delete, or at least no longer upload images to the social media giants who deem your loved creation simply as “Content” - same can be applied to the large companies and corporations who have a department called “Human Resources” - think about that for one moment HUMAN - RESOURCE. Going online to the Oxford dictionary, you’ll find that the definition for “Resource” as “A supply of something (In this case…Humans) that…an organisation or a person has and can use, especially to increase their wealth”. You are more than simply a content provider to a company than profits from your attention and others.

Go it alone for a while. See what matters to you.