Dave McLean Photography: You Think You Got It Bad?

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You Think You Got It Bad?

via Photofocus by scottbourne on 7/7/10

Let me say right off the bat that this is a simple rant.You've been warned. I hope you'll stick around, read this and pass this message on the next time you hear a photographer complaining about their gear – or their lack of it.

I am constantly amazed by some of the stuff I read online. People complain about everything. They're mad because they have to shoot with last year's camera. They feel offended because they didn't win the last photo contest. They're irate that they had to wait in line 10 minutes at the camera store to buy a lens.

These are all first world problems people. The next time you feel like complaining about stuff like this, try taking a look around you.

The people in the Gulf of Mexico have just had their lives turned upside down by the BP oil spill. People are losing everything. Wildlife is perishing.

Two weeks ago in Arkansas, dozens were hurt or killed in a flash flood that took infants downstream screaming for their mothers.

In third-world countries around the globe, mothers worry about how they will feed their starving children.

Yet we complain about not having enough money for the 1.2 lens and settling for the 1.8 lens instead!

Perspective – it has a special meaning in photography. Why can't we apply the proper perspective to our "problems?"

I'm using "WE" here because I too have complained about small things. As I grow older and face new challenges associated with my circumstances, I learn more and more to be thankful for what I can do. I spend less time worrying about what I can't do.

So my charge to all who read this is simple. Why not focus (pun intended) on what you do have? Why not focus on the opportunities that are within your grasp. Instead of being mad that the guy next to you is eating steak while you eat hamburger, remember that there are many who'd love the hamburger.

If you waste time complaining about what you don't have, I'll almost bet my bottom dollar than you're not making the most out of what you do have.

Go out and photograph with the gear you have today AS IF it were the best gear around. Go photograph the local park AS IF it were Yosemite. Change your mindset and I'm betting you'll change your results. For the better that is.

NOTE: My pal Skip Cohen partially inspired this post with one of his own at Skip's Photo Network.