Equipment

[int]

In talking with and reading equipment reviews from some other artists, and a common theme keeps coming up: Equipment is not a factor.

One article I read was from a 30 year veteran photographer that runs a Nikon equipment review site. He points out that no matter what camera and lens you are using, a good photographer will make use of whatever they have at their disposal. And make great pictures regardless.

I related that to music and got to thinking about my experiences.

The last band I tried out for I forgot my bass.

Whoops.

Luckily, I had been trying to get rid of a pos Johnson bass so I happened to have that in my trunk. I used it in my tryout. Everything fit and we had a good, fun, educational year and a half run.

Last night, 2 years after that tryout, I got a call from one of the guitarists asking me to jam again - because he hasn't been able to find the sound and groove that he got from me on my original tryout (not that I got worse in playing with the band - just that they didn't have to pay as much attention).

Last year I was on vacation with my wife's family and my sister in law picked up my camera to take a picture. She's a decent photographer and has her own camera, but it was out of batteries. After one click she gave the camera back to me and we thought nothing of it.

Once I finally copied the 250 pictures on my card to my laptop only 1 stood out. Hers.

The roles were reversed a few weeks ago where my pic stood out. I was happy to hear that. :)

I can cook better steaks on my Thermos 2 burner (extremely uneven heat) grill than my neighbor can on his $3000 grill.

My cousin can nail a perfectly straight 150 yard shot with my 5 iron. I can't do that 99 times out of 100 (but that 1 time is pretty cool).

So while I'm pissed off that my bass amp sometimes goes out and I have to re-solder new parts to it, or I have a camera lens that doesn't always focus properly, I'm learning that no matter what equipment I'm using the only real limitation is myself.

Not that I'm advocating picking up the cheapest musical instrument there is - I'll take my American Deluxe P-Bass over the pos Johnson any day. And I prefer my Nikon SLRs to our Coolpix 100% of the time - but if I have to I can still pull my "style" from anything.

I realized this with music a while ago. And once I figured it out in photography about a year ago I felt liberated. I think this has come into play with regards to my frustration with school, family, and some other facets of my own existence.

Now I'm wondering what other people have to say about this perspective and what I can hope to expect next.

All this has been on my mind because I start trying out for new bands tomorrow, after being out of it for 9 months.

[Hexchild]

I believe the equipment you're using will often affect the outcome, because it limits what is possible to some degree. You can't expect a piano to sound like a chainsaw, for example, although you might get fairly close if you work hard on it. However, equipment shouldn't have to limit the potential quality of your work, because as a sentient being you have the opportunity to be persistent and resourceful, and thus work around limitations.

I often find myself letting my art (be it music, graphics, writing or anything else) create itself rather than trying to control it, for this very reason.