{"id":1057,"date":"2016-03-06T22:12:38","date_gmt":"2016-03-06T21:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2016-04-15T10:04:08","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T09:04:08","slug":"not-a-professional-photographer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/?p=1057","title":{"rendered":"Not A Professional Photographer"},"content":{"rendered":"

That’s what I am. This might be relevant as I see a lot of photography blogs and websites written or curated by professional\u00a0photographers. Some of them can be quite\u00a0gear oriented, saying something\u00a0about this or that camera, lens, light-setup, whatever. I really do appreciate the work that these photographers\u00a0are doing as well as their openness in sharing their knowledge. But I also\u00a0get the feeling, that clever marketing people at camera manufacturers\u00a0are facilitating this channel \u00a0to persuade\u00a0customers\u00a0to\u00a0buy “professional” gear. You know, in order to take “professional” photos.<\/p>\n

“I can only imagine how\u00a0great my cooking would be if I just had the same\u00a0stove and oven as Jamie Oliver.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am not immune to all that influence, I still look up at professional photographers and I still suffer from\u00a0the “I need that gear” reflex from time to time. And I had a\u00a0“professional” full frame camera setup with all the fancy f\/2.8 lenses.\u00a0But I sold it\u00a0by now, because <\/em>I am not a professional photographer. And because this setup\u00a0was actually preventing myself\u00a0from taking more casual, “non-professional” images.<\/p>\n

I want my gear to help me\u00a0capture moments of my life, I want it to be an expansion to my own\u00a0memory and helping me to tell stories. Gear is just not very\u00a0important for doing that.\u00a0Moments like being\u00a0on a short vacation in Venice strolling through narrow streets with my beautiful wife.<\/p>\n

\"Visiting
Visiting New York City for the first time and taking meaningless pictures during the bus ride into the city.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Enjoying
Enjoying a\u00a0beautiful sunset in Croatia on a summer vacation together with\u00a0friends.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Being in a city for the first time. Again, taking rather meaningless photos in the\u00a0streets.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the most important part of photography to me.\u00a0It is great to know a thing or two about exposure,\u00a0composition or editing, as this might help to get “better” photos.\u00a0But after all, for the most part it\u00a0is about memories and stories. And being able to do that\u00a0without the need to produce or deliver something is the great freedom of not being a professional photographer.
\nBut I guess that this story doesn’t help you to\u00a0sell a 5000$+\u00a0camera\u00a0setup to an enthusiast.<\/p>\n

PS: Check out the “Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera” series<\/a> from DigitalRevTV. It’s all about Jamie Oliver’s stove.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s what I am. This might be relevant as I see a lot of photography blogs and websites written or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1057"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1164,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions\/1164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthiaswunsch.com\/photography\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}