As most of you know by now I absolutely love gear. Whether its my computers I use to edit and write or the lenses and cameras for photography and videography. I know many of you love gear as much as I do.
I love it a little too much. This has often led to me spending too much time searching, buying, trying, selling and buying again. Whether it’s cameras, lenses or whatever. In the grand scheme of thing this is harmless. Who cares, right?
The problem for me is my free time is limited. With a full time job and a family I need to be smart with my free time in order to get anything creatively productive done. I haven’t been great about this in the past few years. This year I’m taking steps to improve. One major step is simplifying my gear by A LOT.
I recently purchased an X-T4 and posted about that on my blog and just briefly mentioned it in my latest YouTube video. I love this camera and for everything I have planned creatively I don’t need anything more than the X-T4. For me it checks all the boxes, every single one. Well except one, it isn’t “every other” camera. Meaning, if I allow myself to I can get seduced by the camera I don’t own, not for any specific reason other than it looks cool, seems cool and the people using it are cool.
I don’t want to fall into that trap. The X-T4 is my camera. I have kept the X-H1 which I still love but I don’t NEED it. Right now it’s an insurance policy should something happen to the X-T4. But I have considered selling it and getting a new lens for my X-T4. I’m still debating.
In order to pare down my photography gear, I had to sell a ton of stuff. A ton of stuff I’ve made videos on, blogged about, etc. Some of that stuff I even said “I’ll never sell”. If I ever utter that phrase again, fly to Vegas and slap me. Then we can go grab lunch.
Making those videos and blogs about gear has helped grow my audience and connect with all of you. For that I am forever grateful. Unfornutately I’ve noticed a small group (I say small because I assume 98% of you don’t care) that connect with you because you use the SAME brand, camera, format, or whatever, as them. And some of that group gets offended or mad it seems when you break away from that certain piece of gear or when you say you like one camera over another. You’ll see hashtags like #TeamCanon or #leicagang or #fujishooter, etc. I am completely guilty of using these hashtags. But it seems that some people take these sub groups very seriously. One of the biggest “gang” divisions is film vs digital. The film hashtags on IG are intense. I absolutely love film. Love it. Like, A. LOT. But I’m simplifying my gear, my creative process, etc. And that means I’m concentrating on 1 camera. That camera happens to be digital. (I’ll blog more about the state of film photography. That’s a big topic)
The topics of gear gangs is really a reflection of what we’re experiencing in many aspects of our culture, especially in the US. We like to be a part of group, a team, a political party (yuck), or whatever. It’s human nature. We like to group together and march forward, even if it’s off a cliff, lol.
If you’ve found me based on photography gear, thats so cool! I’m so happy you’re here but it’s probable that I don’t have the piece of kit that you may have found me from. And I haven’t shot any film in nearly 7 months. Who knows if and when I’ll shoot it again.
I need to work on projects. I need to make prints. I need to shoot more. I need to engage in the act of photography. I need to create.
These are things that are not married to a specific brand, camera model or whatever. We’re all in love with the same artform of photography. I hope to take up the majority of my blog space and YouTube space with creative, general photography related topics. I will still do the occasional gear review but I don’t want that to be my main thing. I want to talk about my creative process. I welcome photographers and creatives of any brand, camera model, shooting format, film or digital to be a part of it.
If you read all of that, wow, I’m impressed. I truly appreciate you being here.
We don’t have to be a part of a gear gang we can be the #photographygang and include everybody.
Thank you so much! And I will talk to you again very soon.
Craig Bergonzoni's Blog 
I enjoyed this read Craig!
I get what your saying about people love having loads of gear, I’m equally guilty of it myself (granted I don’t have as much as I would like) but sometimes you end up not using everything. I have 3 film cameras, and probably only use 1 and on occasion.
It’s great to see that you’re going to focus on more projects and just enjoying photography, I started following you because of a camera review, but now prefer to watch your street stuff and get hints and tips on how to become a better photographer.
I’m solely a Canon user (now anyway) but everything you show us is all transferable to other brands of camera so it doesn’t matter what we all shoot with.
Looking forward to more content this year Craig! Take it easy.
#photographygang
Hey Nathan! Happy New Year! Thank you so much for reading and for your comment! I’m happy you’re sticking around regardless of what gear I might be using at the moment. It’s greatly appreciated. I hope all is well with you and I’m sure we’ll chat more through out the year.