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Taking Minimal Gear

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Time to read:

2 minutes
Panasonic S5; 37mm; f8; 1/4s; iso 400

I had the idea of leaving all my accessories (tripod, bag, filters, extra lenses) at home to simplify my photography, thinking it would lead to a lighter, more enjoyable experience. Reality doesn’t always meet our expectations, and that certainly wasn’t the case here – check out the video to hear my thoughts about it.

I’ve thought more about my experience since making the video, and I do think that for me much of my enjoyment from photography comes from being very present in the moment, so anything that helps me be present aids my enjoyment, and anything that can pull me out of the moment lessens my enjoyment.

More than anything else I believe expectations of any description tend to take me out of the moment and make my experience less satisfying.

It doesn’t matter if it’s expectations about photographs I want to create, expectations about the weather, or expectations about the experience I will have, any expectations ultimately create this subtle feeling of discontent and unease in me that takes away from my photographic experience.

Panasonic S5; 26mm; f13; 1/8s; iso 200
Panasonic S5; 24mm; f16; 1/13s; iso 200
Panasonic S5; 27mm; f11; 1/25s; iso 200

I’m fairly aware of this in relation to conditions and end results, and am usually very good at going out and just allowing the experience to unfold however it does. But for the last couple of local videos I’ve been more intentional about having a specific topic for the video when I go out, and without realising it this time it led to me having expectations around my experience that ironically led to it being less fulfilling than usual.

I’m going to have to ponder this more, as going out with a specific topic has certainly made creating videos easier, and I think over time and practice will lead to them having more value for you all too. But I need to ensure that it doesn’t lead to me having a bunch of expectations about how the day will go and how I will feel, because the most important part of photography for me is simply allowing the experience to be whatever it is: this is what makes me come alive! Definitely a future video topic right there.

Panasonic S5; 105mm; f8; 1/200s; iso 200

Incidentally, I don’t normally have mid-roll ads in my videos as I don’t really like them as a viewer. But I’ve been wondering if not having them on affects how YouTube promotes my videos (because I’m sure YouTube would like to show more ads), so I’ll be running an experiment over the next 3 or 4 videos by turning them on to see if there’s any noticeable difference to how much my videos are shown. If it doesn’t seem to make any difference I’ll turn them back off again.

Thank you so much for reading!

If you’ve got any thoughts you’d like to share I’d love for you to leave a comment.

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Comments

10 responses to “Taking Minimal Gear”

  1. Jeremy

    so, my travel through learning photography has taken many steps, mostly forward, but not always. this article is something that touches me in a special way. I started self-taught, magazines, books, open darkroom sessions via the US Army, and just looking around at where I was to find interesting to me subjects. then I went to a high-end school. I learned a lot, a lot of technical stuff and a lot of formal composition rules. I LOST a lot of spontaneity in wanting to pay attention to the fine details of “the rules”. I still fight to bridge the freedom of walking around and doing catch-as-catch-can, and studied compositions.

    Reply
    1. Lisa Frost

      Thanks for sharing Jeremy. That’s very interesting to hear about your experience. I’ve been self-taught through books, magazines and forums too, and have had an (almost pathological) aversion to any formalised training in photography, mostly because I didn’t want to lose my own personal vision, style, and enjoyment – it’s something that for a long time felt too tenuous to withstand the influence of “better”, more experienced photographers.

      I’ve learnt over the years that for myself personally I really have to keep my thinking to a minimum to have any chance of taking a great photo…I just can’t do it when getting too much in my head about it. I just have to go with my gut and take what comes from that – the good, the bad and the ugly. And I find I enjoy the experience a lot more when I photograph like that, regardless of the outcome.

      Your experience tends to reinforce the fears I had around formal photography education, though I’m sure there’s much about it that’s valuable. And given it’s part of the path you’ve taken I’m sure that at the end of the day it will have been the right path for you, and that bridge the divide you will.

      Reply
  2. jo haatsu

    Keeping things to a minimum is, for me, about having exactly what is needed – no more, no less. It’s 100% not about some doctrine of ‘one lens, one camera’, or some other arbitrary formula that has no predictive value regarding what The World may present us with. If I’m going somewhere new, I take a full bag – a couple of bodies, a half dozen lenses, all the other bits that may be needed. If I’m going somewhere I understand well, or I know exactly the only shot (or type of shot) I’ll be taking, it could be one lens, one camera (but it never is because I always carry a macro and a Fisheye). What’s most important to me is to be equipped to a degree that, when I find a subject, I have the gear best suited to doing that specific subject Justice – I select the most suitable lens For the Subject, not force the subject to conform to the only lens I bothered to bring. Anyway… that’s just a bit of my take on ‘less is more’ (as long as it’s enough!). Enjoyed the vid and the pics, and sympathize with you for having the added burden of doing the vid thing. All the best from NZ.

    Reply
    1. Lisa Frost

      Thanks so much Jo. I think you’ve summarised well how I normally approach what gear I take too. I had the idea that the less I took the more I’d enjoy it but that wasn’t the case. I think I’ll be sticking to taking gear according to the situation in the future, though it is good to shake things up every now and then…at the least I get a new appreciation of how I normally do things 😆

      Reply
  3. Dawn Hester

    Hello Lisa. Nice video. For the longest I’ve been one of those people that will take less as possible..and tell myself to make it work. If I have a 35 prime & want to shoot a landscape, I just turn my camera vertical and take as many shots needed & stitch later. If there’s an ugly shy, at times I shoot it or avoid it…and maybe convert to b&w at the end. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    1. Lisa Frost

      Thanks for sharing Dawn, it’s great that you’ve found what works well for you.

      Reply
  4. TC Conner

    Do you sometimes feel that setting up all the gear for making videos on location “takes you out of the moment?” Or are you in and out of “the moment” at times? As for turning on mid-roll ads, it doesn’t matter to me because I won’t see them anyway as I have a YouTube Premium account. 😎

    Reply
    1. Lisa Frost

      Yes, sometimes it does. It’s probably why I’m not very good at filming myself while taking photos – something I’m trying to improve on. In saying that, the previous video I made I didn’t notice the intrusion so much…I think because it required less faffing. I think it’s probably about choosing when to film and when not to…I’m still figuring it out 😁 I wish I could follow Thomas Heaton around for a day and see how he does it!

      Reply
  5. Geoff

    Love the last photo above. The wave photo.

    Reply
    1. Lisa Frost

      Thank you! 🙏

      Reply

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