Do you share your gear when around other photographers?

[dreed]

It's already in business: it's called a brothel.

Uh, no, a brothel is something else entirely.

[Rob C]

Uh, no, a brothel is something else entirely.

Really really?

;-)

Rob

[BAB]

So yes most definatley I have loaned to others, many times over the years even given equipment away. I was in Montana with a group of guys one had a 600 mm with extenders on double tripods.  The guy looks at me and says we both have the same body why don't you slap yours on my lens with a fresh roll of film and shoot this bear on the hill which was about the size of a dog without the glass. Wow  that was really cool I got a few great images.  15 years later I took a workshop in Yosemite  everyone was shooting Hasselblad  including me  at this point in my life I pretty much had whatever I wanted and never borrowed anything from anybody all though from time to time out in the field I would ask people hey you want to put this lens on your camera. We were in a field with a stand of trees far away one of the photographers said to me hey have you ever shot the 350 I said no I haven't he went into a case got the 350 it's a put this on your camera and try it it's a great lens.  So you know you eat dinner together you get up in the morning and go out and shoot together it was a friendly group I loaned out my 28 mm to a guy who only have the 24 and wanted to try the 28mm.  We then moved from Yosemite to Sequoia national it rained every day one night I went on top of the mountain approximately 11,000 feet up and shot the most incredible  Sunset pictures with three rainstorms in the distance.  That next day I invited one of the photographers to go to the spot with me at night and shoot the sunset but he had broken his camera and I opted out. I  asked several other photographers nobody seem to want to go out at night with 80% chance of rain to shoot  The workshop leader brought lots of equipment and we were told before the trip yeah you can use anything I bring .  Nope not the case so something I've never done before I asked one of the other photographers if I could borrow a piece of equipment since he didn't want to go that night and shoot and he replied "I think it would be better if you borrowed it from the workshop leader because I don't have insurance".  He went on to explain couple other different reasons and I said hey forget about it man it's no big deal.  At that point I was kind of embarrassed that I even asked because if I wanted that piece of equipment and I had thought about i'd buy one. The next two days which were the last two days of the trip got really weird so weird in fact....that's a story and lesson learned about workshops in itself, that I divorced myself from the workshop group. I would've never gone to Sequoia but I'm glad I did for two days by myself I move much faster than a group and shot some fantastic images.


In between the rainstorms every day it would stop raining the sun would come out the colors on the floor of Sequoia Forest were at peak it was unreal a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Oh ya The night I went up on the mount to shoot when I had wanted to bowrrow that piece of equipment that image that night turned out to be the best image of the entire trip. So I'll be happy to borrow but I don't think I'll ask.

[dchew]

I do it all the time. In fact, on a workshop a guy was struggling with a mediocre tripod. I had a spare he used the whole rest of the workshop, probably 4 days or so. On that same trip I couldn't find my CF card reader, so I had to borrow someone else's. What goes around comes around. Same thing with someone's ball head that went on the fritz in Death Valley. I had a spare they used most of the workshop.

Lenses, cameras, batteries... as long as I don't need it for that shoot they can use it. I just look at them as tools that should be utilized as much as possible.

Dave

[razrblck]

I have been on workshops only as assistant, so giving out equipment was no big deal for me. I know workshops are good opportunities to go to places where you normally wouldn't, but I have been exploring by myself or with friends all my life so I don't need that incentive to get out and shoot even if it's a rainy winter day on the beach with big waves. As long as my body keeps up, that is!

Maybe it's because I don't own ultra expensive gear and I keep the most sentimental stuff close, but my digital gear is all expendable. All that stuff are just tools to me. All I really care about are my pictures, as long as I can keep them safe I don't care if a camera or lens fails or is lost. It's just stuff. Memories and people are way more important than things I can easily buy or fix.

[Rob C]

Never, ever, although if I ever get over to Rob's Mallorca I'll make an exception.

Hmmm... then I may feel obliged to let you try my great, vintage D200 or, goodness, my state-of-the-art 12 mp D700!

Oh well, just because it's you, then, but be careful with them!

;-)

Rob

[Colorado David]

I am rarely around amateurs and don't lead workshops. I have learned a valuable lesson though. I am booked through an agency that also books other photographers/videographers. One other videographer has asked to rent equipment from me, a slider, a portable jib, and a teleprompter. I have rented to him. However these bits of equipment are an investment and are part of my competitive advantage. When he asks to rent gear over and over, I have to assume he is using my investment against me. I made the investment and the competitive advantage should be mine. It would be different if it weren't a matter of protecting my advantage and investment. I hope that doesn't sound harsh. I would help an amateur, just not my competitor.

[razrblck]

I think it goes without saying that you shouldn't help your competition?

I haven't really specified it, but all I said above is about amateurs. In the professional world you don't just lend your gear to someone who can steal your job. You are out there to make money for a living, not to do charity for photographers that are clearly not prepared for the job (and would be better off learning a hard lesson instead).

[Rob C]

Wot, no jaunt on the Campbell yacht?

;-)

Ah Keith, had the Campbell yacht materialized back in '80/'81 the Campbell family would have been bankrupt within two years. Skipper Rob had absolutely no idea that buying a boat big enough for living on wasn't the same as buying a house or a car: the purchase is but the tiny tip of that titanic, growing iceberg... Fortunately, the First Mate knew better - instinctively. Blessed be First Mates!

NEVER share first mates. In comparison, cameras fade into nothingness.

:-)

Rob

[Rob C]

I've been trying to convince the First Mate that it would be wise to replace our ten year old Mini with a nine year old Cayman. No luck so far...

I imagine your First Mate is just as all seeing as was mine. Looking at this equation coldly, from the outside, where it is often that bit cooler if one discounts artificial heat or freshness within, I'd say that her reluctance is understandable. Looking at the Cayman with male admiration, I'd say it's a far more delightful object than the 911 which should really be retired and allowed to fade into the questionable, hedge-ploughing glories of memory.

However, I believe your FM probably mirrors my own reasons for not buying some old(er) exotica: replacement parts and the specialist labour involved are geared to suit the deep pockets of the new buyer. If I were able to afford that, then I'd opt for the whole thing, new. I have no idea where you'd have to live to get reasonable insurance: after we left the UK I bought a year-old Fiat 127 (in 1982) to keep there for use during our returns (I was still working) and the only permanent address available to me was my mother's up in Perthshire. She left there, and as my son, living in Glasgow, also used the car, I had to transfer the address to his, city-centre: it was going to run over a grand (pounds!) so I just told him sorry, and sold the car back to the dealership. (This was owned by our yachtie friends here...)

A new Mini would be very nice, too! However, if your Miss Cooper has no rust problems, I'd run her into the ground and then see what's available on the market at that point. The smell of new upholstery fades within months... and with it the pride in the new purchase, but the security of the guarantee is still firmly alive and on paper somewhere!

;-)

Rob

[Jeremy Roussak]

I do it all the time. In fact, on a workshop a guy was struggling with a mediocre tripod. I had a spare he used the whole rest of the workshop, probably 4 days or so.

That would have been me, Dave. I was very grateful at the time and remain so, although your generous gesture gave me a lust for an RRS tripod which in due course is going to cost me a lot of money!

Jeremy

[adias]

Looking at the Cayman with male admiration, I'd say it's a far more delightful object than the 911 which should really be retired and allowed to fade into the questionable, hedge-ploughing glories of memory.


;-)

Rob

Respectfully disagree.

While shooting at Yosemite noticed this beauty posing on the landscape. And I doubt it was available for a test drive or lending.

[Jeremy Roussak]

While shooting at Yosemite noticed this beauty posing on the landscape. And I doubt it was available for a test drive or lending.
https://goo.gl/photos/vieeYuTu412VER6T6

It looks pretty much like every other 911 ever made, doesn't it? Apart from the lack of a picnic table on the back, of course 

Jeremy

[Rob C]

Respectfully disagree.

While shooting at Yosemite noticed this beauty posing on the landscape. And I doubt it was available for a test drive or lending.
https://goo.gl/photos/vieeYuTu412VER6T6

What you've done, actually, is underline my own problem with landscape: again, it's been proven that landscape is best used as background to something else.



Rob

[BrownBear]

...it's been proven that landscape is best used as background to something else....

If I ever need a pitch line for another Ad Men show, you've provided it.

Thanks.  I'll file it away.

[adias]

What you've done, actually, is underline my own problem with landscape: again, it's been proven that landscape is best used as background to something else. ...

Rob

Well done!

[ripgriffith]

Wow, you can really learn a lot about people by how they responded to this post, from the very generous to the very self-protective... very interesting.

[adias]

It looks pretty much like every other 911 ever made, doesn't it? Apart from the lack of a picnic table on the back, of course 

Jeremy

You mean like this one parked on the Apple campus?

[Jeremy Roussak]

You mean like this one parked on the Apple campus?

Of course not! Anyone can see that that one is red.

Jeremy

[Rob C]

No, this one has a picnic tray:



From my discontinued series on the cellphone - a waste of time. (IMO)

Rob