gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

It seems to me that the focus on capturing great photos is mostly on using great gear rather than having great artistic vision. For me, it's the vision. Without artistic vision, the gear matters little. Admittedly, I don't have great artistic vision but I do take a nice snapshot every once in a while that pleases me and others. My gear is adequate for my needs.

jcolton

It depends on your objective. I can get into the latest gear, even without buying it, and it's a lot of fun. But if you want to produce great artistic photos, by far the most important element is your artistic vision. Artistic vision can be learned by studying a lot of good photos and reading some good books on the subject, e.g. "Photography and the Art of Seeing" by Freeman Patterson and "The Fundamentals of Creative Photography" by David Prakel.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Artistic vision versus GAS sets a false dichotomy. Vision and gear are not mutually exclusive any more than a woodworker owning both a chisel a plane excludes them from being an artist. The skill of an artist is not simply vision, but knowing which tools to use to bring the vision to life. And a professional knows how to fill their toolbox so they are equipped to do so.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Good gear can help any photographer who has studied diligently to become good at the artistic craft of photography. However, having even the very best gear will not help a photographer who has either no skill or no intuition or knowledge regarding photography. As in all things "photographic," it's a dance of a sorts. When I started photographing birds in flight I did not have a lens that would let me get close enough, when I did obtain the lens I had to practice the art of getting the bird in flight, in the right place, with the right wing set, and in focus. So, skill and gear and technology all applied to get a good shot. I was at the beach a few days ago and just happened upon a circumstance where rainbows were riding the waves in, an incredible site. I was shooting with my Nikon D800 and soon realized that the buffer was not helping me out at all; switched to my Nikon D500 and was able to get wonderful sequences of the waves so I could pick and choose from the best of the bunch. So, again, craft and gear. It takes it all to get that really good shot. I am not, however, a photographer who believes that better gear will get me a better photo so I do not pursue the latest and greatest, but do keep alert for gear and technology that will help me to reach my personal goals.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Right on. Just consider the simplicity of Ansel Adams' view camera.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

There is another catch to that which most amateur photographers don't have to deal with. The idea that a good photographer can take good pictures with almost any camera is valid, but that specifies only that it be a good picture of some random subject.

It is a very different project to do a commercial shoot where an art director has just one specific image in mind with a long list of specifics defining how it has to be done and what it will look like! Just any camera, even a modern entry level DSLR, may not even be capable of the shot, never mind making it easy. For that matter even the wrong high end camera might not be the right tool. That is why owning both a D810 or now the D850 as well as a D5 is not uncommon. Each model targets different types of work.

karno Loc: Chico ,California

[quote=gvarner]It seems to me that the focus on capturing great photos is mostly on using great gear rather than having great artistic vision. For me, it's the vision. Without artistic vision, the gear matters little. Admittedly, I don't have great artistic vision but I do take a nice snapshot every once in a while that pleases me and others. My gear is adequate for my needs.[/quote
The proper gear for the artistic vision, the better the gear the better your artistic vision may be implemented. Also better gear can spawn new artistic visions that once was not possible or imagined.
No gear is needed for great artistic vision, but proper gear implements it greatly.
If I did not have a camera I would be making art in other mediums gear and artistic vision are two separate things that come together.
I will end this with whatever camera I have I push it to the limits, even if I had a point and shoot.

Hank Radt

I can hammer a nail with a crow bar, but I prefer not to.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

I would also prefer a good professional 16oz hammer as opposed to a "kit" hammer from a house warming gift tool box set.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I believe this is a false dichotomy. Some people may purchase a new camera solely for the prestige of ownership {like having a Formula One car permanently parked in your driveway}, but I believe most of us are looking for added capabilities when we make a purchase.

One of the analogies I rapidly tire of is "a great photographer could take great pictures with an Instamatic 100". Well, maybe he could take some; he would also throw a lot of film away in frustration. Recently, as I near completion of scanning 40+ years of media and am reaching the bottom of my box of old stuff, I have posted here several pictures taken roughly 50 years ago with my "dear old" Instamatic 100 - the camera I had through high school and college {it died in April 1969, just before I graduated from college}. Yes, I took a few pictures I liked at the time, and a few others that I came to appreciate only after fifty years of separation, but I also took a lot of duds with that camera. As a hobby interest, I have been taking photographs of trains for fifty years now; the Instamatic 100 was OK for that when the train wasn't moving, but not so much {actually not at all} when the train was moving - it had neither the viewfinder nor the shutter speed to deal with that. Try to imagine the pictures shown here of great predator birds taken with an Instamatic 100 - not enough shutter speed, not enough reach, inadequate viewfinder to figure out what is going on ... forget it!!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

👍👍👍👍 I agree - they are not mutually exclusive.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Simple - yes, low quality - no. AA was very focused on his equipment. A good portion of his 3 classic books (The Camera, The Negative, and The Print) are focused on technique and equipment rather than composition.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

People go to Art college to learn about art.....owning a camera does not endow 'artistic endeavour'.
The two are not mutually inclusive. A skill isn't necessarily art either. 'Art' can 'be' in many forms - But suggesting that every skilled workman is an 'artist' is nonesence.

The rules of photographic composition draw from Art as do abstracts. Your cupboards and tables obey the golden rule 1:1and1/8th. Food is 'constructed' to appear pleasing. Art may go unnoticed, but it actually appears in most things we see and appreciate consciously or unconsciously. Learning to understand what works and why makes an artist.

Gear will obviously help in how you express your artistic intent....if you have one!

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

To ANY Professional, composition is merely a given. It does NOT need to be talked about. The variable is the equipment, it needs to be picked carefully to get maximum results, not just merely results, in the kinds of conditions they shoot in!

Pro basketball centers don't stand around and ask each other how HIGH they can jump, it's a given, they can ALL jump high!!! LoL
SS

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado