We've talked about how talent and skills are not enough to make a photographer stand out above the crowds nowadays. While I believe patience and persistence are the best way to deal with this, there are other ways a photographer might try to be different -sometimes even unconsciously.

An obvious one is camera gear. Indeed, today a photographer's camera is not so much about image quality but about signaling who you are as a photographer. These are some examples; they are generalizations and they won't fit everyone, but they might sound familiar to you. I definitely can see myself in 2 of these.

Film as a filter

A film camera signals a photographer's dedication and knowledge. It says the photographer took their time to learn how to properly expose an image, it shows they are willing to take the added effort of carrying a heavier camera and load new film every once in a while, and signals they really care about their images because every single one costs them money.

This identity is important for film photographers, even if all of this makes shooting more inconvenient. It is actually this inconvenience that keeps aspiring film photographers away, acting as a filter that only lets through those with the dedication this medium requires.

It's about vision, not the camera

A small camera tells the story of a photographer who believes the image has less to do with the gear and almost everything to do with their vision.

Ironically, this wouldn't work if the photographer were using a bigger -and/or better- camera: "easy for you to say that camera gear doesn't matter, when you shoot with a medium format camera". To send the proper message, they need a small and/or affordable camera.

That's what she said

Big cameras and big lenses scream professional. You won't see photographers shooting with compact cameras at the Olympics, and you won't want to pay $$$ to have your wedding shot on tiny cameras either. Even if the quality from those cameras were more than enough.

A pro needs to show they are a pro. And when it comes to showing, size matters.

The red dot

While Canon or Sony are familiar brands to almost everyone, photographers and non-photographers alike, Leica's red dot is more subtle and recognizable only by the insiders. This is a message directed exclusively to fellow photographers: shooting a Leica is unlike shooting any other camera -even if the performance is on par with much cheaper gear-.

I want to argue that the practice of customizing the shutter button with a red one on non-Leica cameras is what ultimately led the german manufacturer to remove it from some of their models, to make it even less obvious. Only the people with enough knowledge in expensive camera gear will recognize a Leica without a red dot, from a distance at least.

As I said, these are generalizations. There are plenty of scenarios where specific camera gear is the right choice, and not about signaling who you are as a photographer. I believe that for most photographers out there, though, camera gear wouldn't make that much of a difference. It might say more about us and the type of photographer we want to be than have an effect on the images we make with it.

When we purchase a camera, we buy an idea, a better version of ourselves

It's only human and not surprising. It happens with every product we might use that gets some public exposure, from phones to cars. The things we use, wear and own tell a story about us, not always accurate, but most of the time perceived as if it was.

I wanted to offer some food for thought here, I think that every once in a while it's useful -and healthy- to think about our choices and the reasons behind them.