Three Years of Photography
On this day three years ago, I bought my first mirrorless camera and started my journey into digital photography. Perhaps it is better explained as me “getting back on the horse”, because I did own cameras back in the day, but they were point-and-shoot devices. Nothing fancy. But none of that seemed to matter to me back then; I just really loved taking photographs, digital ones, and I didn’t care what I was using to take them.
Now let me say something violently divisive real quick to differentiate me from basically every other person who calls themselves a photographer. Photography, that is to say the physical act of taking photographs with a film camera has always been fascinating to me. Especially the oldest of old-school cameras that had the curtain you had to go under and all of that. I remember flash cubes as a child, and those fascinated me too. Darkrooms looked cool, but believe me, I had zero fucking interest in getting my hands dirty, fascinating or not. I’m a nerd. I need to keep my hands clean for the keyboard. So when digital cameras became a thing nobodies like me could get into their car and go buy at a store, it was like a sign from the Computer Gods. "Come to me!" they said, and come to them I did because I answered almost immediately.
Anyway, with today being three years, I thought I would take some time to reflect on some things I have observed since getting back into it.
Photography is Expensive. Once upon a time, I saw a YouTube video by a really cocky creator about how, “If you’re not making money with your camera, you’re just taking part in the world’s most expensive hobby.” Now, I may have been put off by how this guy delivered the message (and most of his content), but his statement is spot on. There isn’t anything cheap about fucking around with cameras. Not one thing. You want an exception. The 4x6’s you get printed at Walgreens. Those are pretty cheap as far as this photography thing goes.
Gatekeepers Galore. There is a monstrous amount of gatekeeping in this community. Luckily it’s 2026, so a combination of YouTube University and access to today’s most powerful AI models and your ability to ask a solid question basically can get you all the information you need without having to deal with a bunch of assholes who are 20 or 30 grand invested into their gear and ego, and want to make you feel like a piece of shit for not having a PhD in every nuanced topic photography could ever propose. And you should know how to do everything on film, too. Yeah, right. Go fuck yourself. Expect to sort through a lot of noise if you decide to engage with online forums and things along those lines. Everyone thinks their way is the way and they’re all set in their ways. You can tell who was editing photos before Lightroom split off into two versions, the ones who were doing it before the internet was broadband, and all sorts of weird characters in-between. New kids on the block often get one-liner answers like the person responding is typing left-handed on a mobile keyboard T9-style. My advice here: YouTube University and your favorite AI model.
90% of what you need to know from a technical aspect is in this video.
Stress, anxiety, and other things that pop up along the way can almost always be sorted out thru one of Shawn Tucker’s Creative Philosophy or Photographer Documentaries videos.
If you’re starting out and going out shooting and have multiple lenses, take only one lens. That is to say, the one attached to your camera’s body. One camera, one lens. It will all make sense one day.
Keep microfiber towels in your bag. If you wear glasses, keep a whole bunch of these literally everywhere. In your bag, in your pocket, in the car. You will need them. You won’t have a choice in summer.
There is a lot of poo-poo to the idea of wearing a vest. Feel about that as you will, but you’ll have that lens cap, microfiber towel, batteries, your phone that you’ll want at the ready, without having to necessarily go into your bag. So work that out however you like. If I’m going out very seriously and will be walking around for hours, I will rock a vest. I scoured the earth to find one that worked. But if I’m just going out for 90 minutes or so, just having a stroll downtown, I can get on with just my bag.
Get a wrist strap, neck strap, or cross-body strap. You’re asking for a really shitty day if you walk around with your camera raw in your hand.
Regarding bags and the things mentioned above. You get what you pay for. Buy quality. Your gear is expensive. Camera bags on Amazon should be avoided. Look into Wandrd and Peak Design. Watch their videos about the gear. Get AirTags or whatever the by-now Android equivalent is for whatever you do buy.
Acquire gear slowly. There is a term these photographers use called GAS. Gear Acquisition Syndrome. It is real. Please try to avoid it. Exception: Spare batteries.
Take all kinds of pictures. Don’t try to fall into a category. Just take the pictures that tell your finger to press the button. Repeat this process over and over.
Be mindful of the write-speed of the SD cards you buy.
Buy large external hard drives. Get a backup plan in place starting from photo one.
Post-production is a very serious discipline. When I bought my camera three years ago, I knew of the term RAW, but I had no real idea what it meant. I certainly didn’t know it was a file-type, and I didn’t know fuck all about post-production. Don’t let that hold you back. It’s a lot like computer shit. A lot of big words to scare people away. If you really got an eye for this shit, these details will work themselves into your subconscious. You just need a bit of patience and the desire to learn.
The first year I did all my post-production in Darktable on Linux. There are some really good resources out there to help you learn Darktable, Bruce Williams probably being the best out of all of them, but knowing what little I know now, I can say that Darktable is definitely geared towards the crowd that knows the technical ins-and-outs of photography. They can explain all the terms and what all the dials and sliders do without having to reference anything. They know that dodging and burning is a thing people actually did in the darkroom. Long story short, despite pushing it out to an entire year, I didn’t really make it too far regarding knowledge gained.
So I did what every photographer online complains about: joined Adobe Lightroom. After having been in Darktable for a year, Lightroom does seem pretty dumbed-down. Furthermore, Lightroom CC is definitely dumbed-down compared to the other version of Lightroom they have. The “desktop” version that doesn’t really exist. So for me, it was the opposite. This is exactly what I needed. Suddenly, all those things I was half-understanding in Darktable started to click. I wouldn’t feel confident teaching someone how to edit photos, but I've got a lot of those keyboard shortcuts memorized, and I’ve got things worked out just the way I like them.
Canon, Nikon, Sony, FujiFilm? It’s all bullshit. You already know which one you want. Lenses are what’s important, not the body. I know it’s sad to talk like that, but it’s true. Go with your gut. This is your vision afterall. ■