I’ve Actually Been Paid to Do This Work

Now, here’s something else I should mention.

I’ve done photography for hire. I’ve done videography for hire.

People have actually paid me to produce photographs and video.

And here’s the interesting thing.

None of the equipment I was using was technically considered professional equipment.

Did that mean I couldn’t accomplish the work?

Obviously not.

I have friends who own professional photography equipment. I’ve seen what that equipment is capable of doing, and I’m certainly not going to argue that there aren’t advantages to using it.

But here’s the question.

Is the additional expense justified by what you’re trying to accomplish?

Let me give you a perfect example.

Suppose you’re taking photographs of neon signs.

Now, you might think the best time to photograph neon is at night, when everything is dark and those bright colors really stand out.

Except there’s a problem.

You might end up with beautifully illuminated neon surrounded by darkness, losing the building, the environment, and everything else that gives the photograph context.

Or you end up overexposing the neon trying to bring out the surrounding details.

That’s where understanding light comes into play.

You photograph around the golden hour, transitioning toward the blue hour, when there’s still enough natural light to define the building and its surroundings, but it’s dark enough for the neon to be visibly illuminated.

Now you’ve got something.

You can see the sign. You can see that it’s operating. You can see its colors, its lettering, and the environment around it.

And you didn’t necessarily need a five-thousand-dollar camera to accomplish that.

You needed to understand when to take the photograph.

You needed to understand exposure and how the available light affects your subject.

You needed to know what you were trying to capture.

That’s something I learned from my father, and it’s something you continue developing through experience.

You experiment. You make mistakes. You try different settings. You learn what works.

And you have fun doing it!

That’s the part I think people overlook when they become obsessed with purchasing equipment.

The professional photographer with expensive equipment might have more creative and technical options available.

But an expensive camera isn’t going to automatically tell you the best time of day to photograph a neon sign.

Sometimes the difference between a good photograph and a bad one isn’t the camera. It’s knowing when to press the shutter.

And that same principle applies to computers, video production, and practically every other creative business.

You can spend thousands of dollars obtaining equipment.

But you still have to understand the work.