To start off today I need to apologize to all of you for keeping this quiet for so long, but I needed to get it resolved before I told the world.
Just over a month ago I was mugged while shooting in downtown KC. If you live here and read the paper you may have seen something about a photographer having nearly $20k in gear stolen at gunpoint…that was me, and it happened right before what became my busiest month of the year. Not great timing. I’m not going to go into all the details about what happened because on the whole it’s irrelevant to today’s post. Suffice it to say I have equipment insurance through the PPA and I’m obviously still alive so the event became more of an inconvenience than anything else.
The reason I didn’t say anything about this until now is that I didn’t want any current or prospective clients to think that I would be unable to take care of them. Again, I don’t like keeping things from you all so…sorry about that.
Here’s what has happened over the past month as a result, and this is the important part…
Have you noticed anything different about the work I’ve been posting over the last month? Any change in quality? Look? Feel?
Keep that in mind as you continue reading.
I’ve had to borrow equipment from all sorts of people and places while I waited for the insurance company to resolve this. Since the mugging I’ve shot with every non-professional dSLR that Canon has to offer, and lenses from the best to the worst. From the lowest rebel with it’s kit lens all the way to the 5D Mark II and L-series glass.
I preach this a lot and in some weird way I’m actually pretty glad that I’ve had the opportunity to prove what I’ve been saying. You don’t need the best gear out there to take a good photo, or even to make a living with photography. Don’t get me wrong, it helps. That’s the point of professional cameras, there are little issues that you just don’t have to worry about. A pro-level camera allows you to concentrate on the image with no question about whether or not things like missing the focus will happen.
But…
It’s not necessary to be a successful photographer. All you need for that is a solid combination of passion and practice…and time.
As far as my gear is concerned, the replacements will be here tomorrow and this little Rebel is going right back to the store. I feel like I’m going to crush it every time I press the shutter button.
See you tomorrow,
D