Nothing quite like a blindfold to spice up one's life.
Blinders work.
Actually living in denial is a prerequisite to being a photographer.
The odds of making it are about one in a trillion. The family will gasp when you say "when I grow up I wanna be a photographer" and your Dad will go hide his wallet in the garage and make a note to pay off the local census clerk to have your birth status changed to adopted.
The blinder thing is the only thing that makes it work because if any of us wanted reality we'd been accountants.
If you looked at reality and only photographed that without some artistic interpretation in most instances it would be a pretty damn boring life.
That's our job . . . right . .. to look at a bunch of ugly s**t, crop it out of our mind and make something good out of it.
Blinders.
Now I can promise you that 90% of what we do is in front of the lens, not in the camera and I can also promise you a plastic lump like the 5d is one hell of a machine at any price.
But just like putting on those special pair of jeans that make you feel 4" taller, if you really dig the equipment your using and it makes you feel more creative, or special, you'll probably shoot better, even if you only shoot 12 frames instead of 12,000.
I hear on these forums all the time about microns and CA and what lens is 4% sharper than the next and all I can think of is why do I even know what a micron is?
I also recognize the name Kardashian and that's another bit of useless information that takes up brain space for no good reason.
Out the the 45 things it takes to make a good photograph maybe 15 of those really don't make a difference to anyone other than the artist him/herself.
But if those 15 things make you feel better about the whole process then go for it because if you feel good, you'll probably shoot better.
Also digital has just changed things. Some good, some awful, but I do know that it has made us more secluded and singular.
If anyone thinks that sitting in your office/studio and processing out 12,000 images in lightroom is as interesting as going to the lab and walking down 5th Avenue, rue Joseph de Maistre, or Sunset Blvd. then they've never been there.
If your going to shoot life then I think it's a good idea to get out into it.
If anyone really believes that having 5,000 facebook friends, or walking into a room and hugging the person that started you in photography is the same experience then maybe it would help to turn off the i-phone and take a drive around the block.
I embraced digital early on because it allowed me in commerce to get the committee idea in the can quickly, then get on to more productive and hopefully prettier images.
For the first 5 years it was golden to me.
Now, digital has done a 180 on the artist, regardless of level. We don't get to explore like we once did because 12 people stand around a monitor and our 2, 3, or 8 shot day became a 28 shot day.
That's all well and good for the fortune 500 companies, but when I sit back and think about the 90+ grand a year I use to give to labs that now goes to apple inc., and a whole bunch of corporations, I really wish the last ten years and however many (many) thousands of dollars/euros/pounds I spent went to people I personally knew and liked. The lab owners would invite me to dinner. I don't think Steve Jobs, is gonna give me a lift on his G5.
Yes I can live in denial very well and enjoy nearly every minute of it.
IMO
BC