Buying a fancy SLR...

When I first started taking an avid interest in photography, I never thought I'd end up with a website & Facebook page. I just wanted to create photos and grow in my abilities, predominantly in portraiture because I'd never attempted anything like it before. And that is still all I aim for, pure enjoyment.
I decided early on that in order to gain experience taking portraits & grow some skills, I needed to actually find people to take photos of. One night I sat down and mapped out a website, launched it and had fun watching my 'hits' reach a couple of hundred. Quickly my Facebook page followed.

Only problem now was that I felt like a pop-up photographer, not yet ready to take on the world, in fact purely and intensely mortified at putting my work out there to be critiqued. Anyway, this stuff makes me cringe and the last thing I wanted was for someone to look at me and think "oh look at her, she thinks she's a professional photographer now with her website. But in reality all I want is to take photos and get experience.

And here's the thing: I'm not shooting with expensive SLR equipment at the moment. I decided not to just go out and buy a big camera, but to instead make sure I was going to stick with this hobby, enjoy it and have some skill before spending money. I imagine a photograph in my mind but when I take the shot it's not as I imagined and it's disheartening. The other day I was so frustrated I thought 'I need better equipment!' - so wrong!!! It's not the gear, its the user. I read a blog recently that talked about dispelling the idea that if you have a fancy camera you'll take awesome photos. Yes it was disheartening to know it was me that needs to improve but I also think it's great that I can make the photos I want if I just practice practice practice.

Check out this cool video by SLR Lounge of fantastic photos taken with just an old iPhone 3GS.

A camera captures the image using light, but the photographer sees the image first.