Photographers. Is this running through your head?

• If I buy that new camera that everybody is using then everything will change for me.
• I just need to get this lens which will dramatically improve my photography.
• I’m worried if I don’t have specific lenses I won’t look like a professional.
• Having the equipment that photographer has, will make my photographs look like theirs.

Firstly, I want to say I’ve been there. And it’s a place of not enoughness for sure, but also it’s misplaced energy.

Here’s my story.

When I first started wedding photography I was spending months and months and full days of research looking at different photography styles. How did they achieve the looks I loved? What were they doing in their business that made them so successful? What camera equipment did I need to become succesful at wedding photography?

My first large lens purchase was the Canon 70-200 f2.8l lens. And I FELT professional everytime I pulled it out, I felt that it was going to propel my business to the greatest lengths that I have always imagine. I think I specifically remember telling my husband  “I neeeeeeed it because all the top photographers say it’s a must have”.

Here’s the thing.

It didn’t book me any more clients.

It didn’t make my photography any better.

It was a convenient lens to have for sure, but should I have shelled out $2k of my hard earned new photographer money for it?

No. Absolutely not.

I wish I could say I wisened up but I went on to buy a few more very expensive lenses, until I learned.

And here is what I learned.

Your success as a wedding photographer is not in a lens.

It’s in your client experience, it’s in your backend process and organization, it’s in your learning how to take a beautiful photograph with any lens, it’s in learning your craft and shooting as much as possible, it’s in finding mentors, it’s in your grit, it’s in your marketing…and much more.

But it’s definitely not in your lens.

So please, please please….get yourself one nice lens and rent the others until it makes sense to buy your next one. I photograph all of my weddings almost exclusively on an 85mm and a 35mm for wide shots. And I love the simplicity of it, as it allows me to focus on more important things then running to grab a different lens all the time.

Would you like to know where to spend your hard earned money instead? Contact me and let’s chat about how I can help you      1-1.

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