Why Did I Buy This Camera?
Spending money on art related things isn’t really spending money, right? That’s what I keep telling myself, but looking at my bank account I’m starting to think that’s not true.
I recently bought a used Canon 70D SLR camera off Craigslist. It was a pretty big deal for me. I had been thinking about buying a camera for a while. I had been trying to make prints at home and the phone camera just wasn’t doing what I needed it to do for capturing my larger paintings. Being the controlling artist I am I really wanted to have command over the whole production process: taking the photos, doing the editing, making the prints. And hey, I could use another skill in my back pocket—why not photograph? So, yeah, here’s the thing…photography is a whole other professional art form onto its self. A fact that I don’t think I fully understood before I dropped a bunch of cash on a nice, albeit used, camera while knowing absolutely nothing about the craft. I didn’t even realize I needed to buy a lens separately for the camera to be operational. It honestly took me longer than it should have to even figure out how to turn it on—fully starting with zero know-how.
After hours of watching YouTube tutorials on photography, learning what the hell an exposure triangle was, playing around with the ISO and F-stop functions, I was able to take a half way decent photo. I was triumphant! I had some photos on my digital camera…now what? And this brings me to yet another steep learning curve. I downloaded some software form Canon’s site and was able to get the photos from the camera to my computer, but um yeah, I don’t have editing software. And I’m not exactly trying to spring for photoshop after just blowing a bunch of money on a camera. So I used what I already had. I got the photos form my laptop to my old tablet to see if I could edit them in Procreate (a digital drawing software I use for my digital art). That went okay. It’s not what it’s built for but it let me have a little more freedom than just using the photo app on my computer. I was even able to print of some test prints. The problem is they still don’t look right to me!
After all that I couldn’t help thinking that buying this camera was more trouble than it’s worth. Maybe my time would have been better spent improving my painting skills. I probably should have just paid a professional to make the prints. But I was just too in love with the idea of doing it myself. I’ll keep the camera. I do want to get better at using it, and I still believe in the long run it will be good to have. But I do feel I jumped the shark as far as my art business is concerned. The reality is I didn’t really need the camera for my art business; I used my art business to rationalize buying a camera. Which, as I’m writing this I’m realizing I do with a lot of enticing art supplies. I’m guessing a lot of creatives with small businesses do this. And It’ s a good reminder for me to check in and question— is this actually necessary for my business? And do I need it now or do I need to scale into it later?
Oh, the joys of running a creative small business.
