I love gear as much as the next guy. I always get suckered into thinking that if I buy a new camera, a new lens, or some new gadget– I will somehow be more creative, and inspired.
In reality, it never happens. All of my big breakthroughs in photography have been practicing (shooting a lot) and studying the master photographers. Especially buying photography books (lots of them). You are what you eat, if you look at lots of inspirational photography books, you will become inspired to make great images. I’ve regretted buying a ton of gear in the past, but have never regretted investing in photography books.
To learn more, read my original post: “Buy Books, Not Gear” and also see a list of my recommended photography books: 75+ Inspirational Photography Books You Gotta Own.
Also as an added bonus, here are some non-photography books which have influenced my life deeply:
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- Antifragile by Nassim Taleb
- Letters From a Stoic by Seneca
- Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell Version)
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
- Epictetus – Of Human Freedom
- Debt: The first 5,000 years
- The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
- Seneca – On the shortness of life
- The Illiad
- Elon Musk Biography
- Steve Jobs Biography by Walter Isaacson
- The 4 Hour Workweek
- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
- Zero to One – Peter Thiel
- The Power of No – James Altucher
- The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday