Why Gear Doesn’t Worry Me Anymore Whilst I’m Shooting Street Photography

The Leica M9-P Hermes Edition

I started off my photographic career with a my a Nikon D60 two years ago. I loved it and loathed it and wished that I had something that had video mode, so I looked into entry level DSLRs and thought the Nikon D3100 sounded like a pretty good shout. After about two months of using it I felt like I didn’t look professional enough, and people wouldn’t take me seriously enough unless I had a camera to match my ability.

So after a lot of working, saving up, working some more I decided to order a Nikon D7000 and a 17-55 f2.8 DX Pro lens. This satisfied me for a while and I definitely had a great case of G.A.S! Again I grew bored and felt like the big boy D7000 was just not up to it, and as I started moving towards street / documentary photography felt like it was to much of a “big black DSLR”, a very in your face camera.

(Copyright: Charlie Atkinson)

Moving on a couple of months, the hugely most eagerly anticipated camera of the decade (maybe) the Fuji X100 came out. Me being all G.A.S’ed up I dropped everything and HAD to have it! So me being me I sold all my gear to get hold of one of these beauties. Again, I guess I was satisfied and thought that everything I would ever need in photography the camera could give me. I grew bored of it and well… I was wrong…again.

My AE-1 Program In Chrome

So in comes my Dads Canon AE-1 Program. Wow. I hadn’t really shot film before this but I knew after my first couple of rolls that I wouldn’t want to or need to go back to digital. There’s something so smooth and fluid about shooting film. As Eric always says, It’s not about the gear, its what works for you, and film just seems to click for me. I don’t have to worry about the gear anymore as I’m totally happy with what I have at the moment, and can spend my money on books or film!

I much prefer shooting film as it allows me to slow down and actually think about what shots are good (rather then being excited and “mistaking my emotion” for a good picture) which really helps with the editing process. It’s also nice for me to be able to differentiate from shooting my own personal work, to shooting digital for my job.

If I could start photography again with the gear I have now I definitely would! Here’s a quick list of what I have now:

– 2x Canon AE-1 Program (one back up body)
– Ricoh GR1v (28mm f2.8)
– 35mm f2.8 FD Lens
– 50mm f1.2 FD Lens
– Speedlight 199a

This is all I need, of course I would like to get a Leica MP but at the moment, it can wait! I shoot Agfa APX 100 as well if anyone was wondering!

Let me know what your prefer shooting in the comments bellow!