Video summary
The video begins by clarifying that the discussion is not about technical specifications or gear reviews but rather focuses on how a camera influences a photographer's mindset and identity. The speaker presents three distinct cameras to illustrate this point: an original toy Spider-Man camera from childhood, which sparked his initial love for capturing moments; a Canon AE-1 SLR used during formal photo school training; and finally, a modern Hasselblad 907X with the CFV 100 back. While acknowledging that high-end gear like medium format cameras does not inherently produce larger prints or superior technical wizardry compared to digital alternatives, he argues that these tools serve as powerful psychological triggers. The specific choice of equipment matters because it connects the photographer to a lineage of craftsmanship and deliberate practice, reminding them of what photography truly means beyond simply snapping pictures with an instinctive reflex.
A central theme explored is how different cameras alter one's perspective on reality through their unique viewing mechanisms. The speaker contrasts shooting 35mm or using modern phones, where images are viewed instantly in real-time, with the experience of medium format systems that often utilize waist-level finders. Holding a Hasselblad forces the photographer to look down and view the world reflected from above rather than straight ahead through an eye-level finder. This physical act changes how scenes are composed and perceived, encouraging a slower, more considered approach where one visualizes the final photograph before capturing it. The speaker notes that this deliberate process helps him step out of his comfort zone or "lane," allowing him to see subjects on his farm with fresh eyes and appreciate details he might otherwise overlook when using faster, more ubiquitous devices like smartphones.
Ultimately, the conclusion is that while gear certainly matters in professional contexts requiring specific lenses for events like weddings or concerts, its primary value for enthusiasts lies in the story it tells about oneself and how it inspires creativity. The speaker admits to owning an expensive Hasselblad not because he needs a 100-megapixel sensor, but because holding this camera reignites feelings of excitement and freedom associated with learning photography years ago. It provides a sense of exclusivity and specialness that separates the photographer from the masses who constantly take images without thinking about them deeply. The video ends by suggesting that what truly distinguishes photographers is not their equipment but their ability to use tools that unlock new ways of seeing, encouraging viewers to find whatever camera inspires them to slow down, compose thoughtfully, and engage more meaningfully with the world around them.
Read the full video transcript
Hello and welcome. Now, you may notice I
have three cameras
in front of me right here. Now, we are
not a gear channel here, right? This is
not about reviews of cameras and
megapixel and stuff like that. But, the
camera is, of course, an important part
of taking photographs. It's a bit tricky
to take
camera, right?
So, why do I have three cameras here?
Well, this camera here,
this is my very first camera. Look at
that. That is a uh a Spider-Man
thing.
No, the original toy camera. Literally a
toy camera. This is what I started
taking photographs with. I snapping is
fun.
And it's pretty cool, right? It got me
got me in to connect with seeing the
world and, you know, capturing some of
the same Look Look what I've seen.
Here's a picture of the thing that I've
seen. Then I started taking photography
a little bit more seriously.
I went off to photo school and I started
using this. This is my Canon AE-1. Look
at that.
I really enjoyed
the Canon AE-1. And that was great. But,
everybody else had a SLR in those as
well, most people. And as much as this
was nice, you know, hold it up to the
right and stuff.
It It didn't allow me to think of myself
in a certain way.
Now, at this stage in this video,
ideally, I would pick up
a Hasselblad 500C with a chrome 80 mil
lens on it and go, "This is the camera
that made me
think of myself as a photographer with a
capital P."
But, I sold it
about 20 years ago
cuz I'm a tit.
Dope, McFly.
>> [laughter]
>> So, instead,
what I'm holding up here is a Hasselblad
907X
with the CFV 100
back on it. And this camera
which I hope that that There we go.
We'll see. Right?
has done something
quite interesting to my photography.
It hasn't
made me be able to make them huge prints
or something because of course you
can't.
Right? It's got a lovely huge sensor and
that kind of good stuff.
But as I said, this is not about its
technical wizardry.
Right? The fact it's nice and quiet and
that the back can feed onto a 500 C. If
I want to buy one again, maybe I should,
you know, who knows?
But what this is doing,
it is taking me back to the time when I
had access
at photo school to all these pieces of
equipment and specifically Hasselblad.
It was the first time I was introduced
to Hasselblad.
And it was like, "Wow, this is such a
cool camera. I love this." I loved the
way that it felt in my hand. I loved the
sound of it, that mirror slap, clunk,
clunk, snick. All that kind of good
stuff. I loved learning to do the
mystical thing of loading the film in
the back. All those things made me feel
like, "Hey, now I'm getting into the
world of photography. I'm seeing past
the velvet rope." As well. I'm seeing
all these little secrets. Since of
course there's no secrets in
photography. It's just things that are
gate kept properly. And it changed then
the way that I thought about my
photograph. Up until that point,
obviously, I had been shooting 35 mil.
And 35 mil is Is a different kettle of
fish to medium format. It's like, "Hey,
I'm
looking through my I'm also left eyed.
So
So the camera
is it just blanks everything out.
But what was happening is
that if I hold this up to a scene
and looking
straight ahead. So the scene itself is
kind of on my eye. And that's perfectly
fine.
But something interesting happened when
you hold or when I was holding in those
days a waist level finder.
I'm looking around.
All of a sudden, everything changed. And
there is actually there's a photograph
of me standing with my head down like
this, which is one of my favorite
pictures of me. And that's the way that
I took photographs for a long time.
Looking down, but looking at the world
reflected. Reflected on the back of the
camera. Well, in the back of the camera
in this case, but in those days it's
obviously on the top in the waist level
finder. And of course, we can make this
nice and flat. Look at that. So, what
this is doing
is connecting me back to that feeling
that I had
when I was
19, 20 getting into photography,
starting to think about
what it means to take photographs. And
this
this camera now
cuz it's it's part of the lineage of
this 500 C
that helped
open the door
for me. I started to think about
photography as not just like a kind of
boom boom boom boom snap snap snap snap
snap process.
Which of course it can be.
But more of a a little bit more of a
considered idea. Because
using a Hasselblad
using a 500 C, using the 907 X, it's a
slower process. It It feels like to me
that it's more
deliberate. I love shooting in an
instinct.
And you know, my phone allows me to do
that. You know, the small pocket
cameras. It's Oh, I see a picture of
boom boom boom I've taken it. But right
now, I feel like I also want to be
slower.
This helps me do that.
The very nature of the camera
helps me do that.
I've been taking photographs
around on the farm, where we live. There
are images there that I wouldn't
necessarily take with other cameras. And
I've been thinking about why that should
be, that you know, having a Hasselblad
in my hand,
looking down,
composing, being deliberate. I love I
actually love
It's probably not good for my shoulders,
but I love I love looking down like
this. It
It just It changes the way that I'm
seeing the scene in front of me, and and
what I'm photographing. The things that
I'm photographing around on the farm are
nothing like what I would normally
photograph
with
my go-to
uh camera, which is actually my phone.
Two different things entirely. So, this
is opening up a world for me once again
that not necessarily was closed off,
but didn't quite fit with the approach
that I had with my current,
you know, with my phone. So, the idea
like you know, gear doesn't matter.
Well, it Okay, look, it does.
Right? As long as you have something
that will take a picture, you can take a
photograph.
It's what we want to do with these
things. It's what we want to explore the
ideas, the feelings, not from a
technical standpoint. I think this is
important. Obviously, there's going to
be times when you need a certain lens.
You need for If you're going to shoot
concerts or weddings or stuff, you need
a fast lens. Okay? That that Gear very
much matters in that case. But, for most
people, I think when they're just for
for the enjoyment of photography, then
gear matters in a different way. It's
about the the the the story that you
tell yourself. The story that I tell
myself when I hold this camera, and it's
This is This is weird because
it's not about looking at the
you know, the the leatherette and the
the chrome and stuff like that.
It is It is the It's the the heft.
It is the way that I'm holding it. It
takes me back to
the time when
I There was a lot of excitement in my
photography because everything was new.
I was exploring avenues. I had like a
like a freedom to do things.
And and over time, and again, maybe this
feels like it's a little bit of a
confessional stuff, that
I have
so gravitated away from doing loads of
things.
Despite the fact that, you know, I think
for
I do talk about a lot about
experimenting and trying stuff out. But
I experiment and try stuff out within my
lane. This has helped me go outside of
those lanes again. It is
changing a mindset. And I think that's
important.
Didn't get this
because
Hey, do you know, I need a 100 megapixel
camera cuz I don't. I could have got
the Hasselblad X2D Mark II, but I didn't
want that.
Right, because the thing does the
There's a connection. There's a lineage
there. That other camera, all the Leicas
and all the other things, they don't
tell me a story about myself.
And I know that that I've said this a
couple of times, but I think this is
really the heart of where we are. It
This is an expensive camera. It is an
engineered piece of of
of greatness.
Okay, it's lovely. It feels great. It's
It's, you know, it's not It's It's
certainly not
a $5 Spider-Man camera. And I appreciate
that it is not in everybody's
Yeah, budget and desires and what have
you.
But what I would say about this this
idea of of gear
mattering or not matching or something
is find a camera that inspires you, that
encourages you to go and take
photographs.
This has encouraged me to get out and
photograph
the things behind this wall, not behind
that exact wall, but cuz there's a
laundry behind there, right? But the
things out there.
Things that I have been looking at
for the
last 5 6 years we've been living here. I
have to say actually it's not my it's
not our farm. Right, so it's not like
I'm going to be looking at this and
going like, "Hey, we need to tidy this
up." I'm not I'm not Jeremy Clarkson.
Don't run a farm.
Uh probably a good thing cuz it looks
like a lot of work for not much money,
much like a YouTube channel.
Yes, but I don't have government grants.
I I certainly don't have to check things
things for TB.
It It is is encouraging me to go out
there and take photographs, to enjoy the
process,
to remember what it felt like
to have something
that not other people could do.
Just let that sink in for a second.
An ability to do something other people
couldn't. And in those days
it was okay, medium format film and it's
all that kind of thing and you feel like
you're special.
But it's a little bit deeper than that.
You're watching this channel
hopefully
because you want to see the world
slightly different to other people. That
idea of like I'm looking through
viewfinder, I'm seeing the world as it
is,
seeing the world straight to my retina,
there's no difference. This
500C and all that kind of stuff, I look
at it, the world comes through here and
I see
an image and I can
change the image just like I'm looking
at a print. And of course, back in the
day the image is upside down. So it's
all different. So you're looking at
you're not looking at the world as it
is, you're looking at the world
how it will be as a photograph.
That was a fundamental so so important
in changing the way This is This is This
is why I'm like
you know I'm I'm like oh my god. I love
this because of just that one thing is
cuz that reminder
of what
Hasselblad the 500 and this and all the
other other
you know, cameras from the that I've
that I've used unlocked just that seeing
the world. And if you find a camera if
you find something that helps unlock
for you a way that you then see yourself
that is is is is
in that world of having a photographer's
hat on,
right?
Then use it. Chase it.
Do it because
these days
everybody's got cameras. Obviously on
the phones and so forth.
Image taking is ubiquitous. What
separates us
is not the gear.
It helps in certain situations.
But what really separates us is the way
that we think about the world. The way
that we look at the things in front of
us that catch eye and the way that we
can compose them in a waist-level
viewfinder and an eye-level does not
matter
and say the same that I did when I had
this camera when I was like 8 years old
and say I've seen something awesome.
Let me show it to you cuz I've taken a
picture of it. I'll say a huge thank you
to to Hasselblad.
Thank you very much and a huge thank you
to you for being here listening to me
talk about cameras for a second and
yeah, if you have enjoyed this
talk, this conversation, until the end
of August, there is a special offer
running with the TPE tribe where you
join on the annual plan, you'll get a
one-to-one session with me, and and we
can talk about finders or how you see
the world or what cameras you have or
just
whatever inspires you to take pictures
and and make that process more
fulfilling for you. Thanks once again
for watching, and I will see you again
soon. All right. Cheerio.