Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

burkphoto posted a link where a professional photographer talked about using a point-and-shoot camera vs. a more expensive system camera. She said the most important aspect of good photography was what came from a photographer's head, not from their gear.

Here is a challenge for you: This does not require an experiment of using high-end equipment vs. basic entry-level equipment. Either will do fine for this challenge but will exercise the gray matter between the ears. This is not something I came up with, but am passing it on from a professional photographer who gave a talk to a camera club I once attended.

Here is the challenge: Take your camera and go for an all-day shoot using only a single prime lens. This photographer would a couple of times a year go into NYC (where we live in the Lehigh Valley is less than two hours from the city), and take only a single lens with him. Sometimes he chose a wide angle like a 24 or 35mm, and other times take a 50 or 75mm lens. He would challenge himself to take the best shots he could using only that lens. If you don't have a prime lens, use a zoom, but only at one focal length setting.

I think too often we get comfortable with our ability to zoom in and create using the equipment rather than using our minds. I plan to do this exercise at least twice this year, once using a 24 or 35mm prime and then using an 85 or 105mm.

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Go on an "all day shoot" with a P&S ??!??? Im already on an all day all night every day shoot with my phone. Its my photo sketchbook thaz always in my pocket.

Since most of us are carrying such a phone, what would be new about that "all day shoot" project ? You got your phone, so just use it !

A few sketchbook pages are attached:

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Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

I find myself shooting more and more with my camera with a fixed 35mm lens. Here’s one I took on Market Street in San Francisco.

BebuLamar

The term Point and Shoot as used is a misnommer. The camera she used has all the controls one might need just like a full fledged professional one. A full fledged professional camera like the Canon R3, R5, Sony A1, Nikon Z9 can be used as just point and shoot if you want to. So the camera she used isn't point and shoot but rather a small camera with fixed lens and small sensor and relatively inexpensive (but at $500 many may not think it's inexpensive). In fact her camera has 4MP more than my full frame camera.

BebuLamar

For the challenge I tend to do it often.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

burkphoto posted a link where a professional photographer talked about... Bridges please realize that photography isn't a profession it is a simply a Craft... It requires no academic credentials, nor does it require license from a governmental agency (State and/or Federal)...

That said there are indeed highly skilled and competent Commercial Photographers that easily can command very high fees to shoot a client's needs and meet their expectations. I know full well since as a member of ASMP I've assisted with quite a few and my Day Rate i.e. per diem is more that spare change.

Same with Fashion Models... Which is also a highly specialize craft... and only a choose few are able to run the gauntlet and survive to go on to become Agency Represented. An example: "In an interview printed in the October 1990 issue of Vogue, Evangelista said: "We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day." (with current inflation equivalent to over $22,000

My sincere advice to both you and Burkphoto is to put down your "hammer" and instead get up and out of bed and start trying to book clients. You will likely discover as Burkphoto probably did that unless you are working for an commercial entity that books your clients for you that life in Sales is a bitch.

As for going out every day to experience life as a Photojournalist (i.e. shooting reportage)? Not happening for me... I'm unable to walk more than a few hundred feet on level ground (or walk up several flights stairs) owing to health issues (Stage III Heart Failure) however that doesn't keep me from shooting in my studio non-stop which I do constantly now so I'm able nail the complex illumination scenarios effortlessly and instantly achieve critical focus on a talent's near eye. Oft said When one door closes another opens (that is for those who chose "Carpe diem")

Below is a deliverable from a Christmas Eve commercial shoot... It's all about meeting and/or exceeding client expectations Bridges. The sooner you can except this edict the more likely you'll be able to convert an avocation into a vocation. Also maybe try shooting "Professional Models" a.k.a. Agency Represented talent... When you become proficient enough at your "Craft" you can possibly become a "Testing Photographer" for agencies in your market (where there is no monetary exchange only trade for services.

Hope this helps or is at least food for thought.
Wishing all who strive to become Commercial Photographers much joy & success on your journey.

A deliverable for a Maternity Shoot with an Agency Represented Model on Decemeber 24th 2023

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charles brown Loc: Tennesse

My nephew, who teaches photography, recommends the same exercise. He also recommends using the 50mm f1.8 on a FF camera or the 35mm 1.8 on a DX camera.

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Different users will settle on different FL for primes. I suspect thaz simply a personality affect. That seems OK rather than thinking that some particular FL (usually 35 or 50) represents a global recommendation for the exercise. And since we may have different moods it shouldnt violate the concept if on tuesday I feel like a 50 but on wednesday I feel more like a 24.

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FWIW, I use a "Snapshot Skopar". Its a FF 25mm whose focus ring has click stops for three distances, just like so many P&S film cameras used, usually having symbols for Portrait, Groups, and Scenic views. Those oldies used sub-50 FLs to increase DoF for that "guesstimation" focusing method. The Snapshot Skopar leverages DoF somewhat more with its exceptionally wide short FL. BTW, its a film era lens, so designed when cropping didnt provoke pixel count anxiety.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Very nice! I like this shot a lot.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Thank you, Thomas, for your input. You are always a deep thinker and give good advice with professional insights. I know your advice will educate and inspire some here on the Hog but your advice for going from avocation to vocation is too late for this old soul! I'm 74 and have no designs on making any money doing photography. All I do is 95-99% just for my own enjoyment. It would be 100% but people who know I've done photography for over 40 years will once or twice a year ask to hire me to shoot a corporate event, do a small business' head shots for their website, or photograph a lavish birthday party.

I give and take advice here on the Hog because I like talking about photography. Other than golf a few times a year, it is my only hobby, so I spend time doing, learning, and at times passing on some knowledge to others. I am a lifelong learner and know my knowledge base will always be inferior to the knowledge of the entire group here on this website.

Thanks again, keep imparting your knowledge and I wish you the best for your studio work. Sometimes when things pinch down to a fraction of what once was, there is an attainable perfection that wasn't so earlier. A sharp pencil that has been whittled down to a sharp point is preferable to a dull one.

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Can almost them :-)

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I think in spite of your opinion posted here, people are still going to refer to those who earn a living doing photography as "Professional Photographers".

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

I love 'em, especially the last

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Photography is 80% mental, and the other half is PhotoShop.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

That is a good exercise, but I think one day is too short a period of time.
I agree that it is easy to rely too much on the zoom function.