Unteachable Photography Lessons

Lesson One: The Gear Trap

There are some lessons in photography that no one can teach you.

People will try. Forums, YouTube videos, great Jedi master photographers, they’ll all say the same thing: Gear doesn’t matter. Focus on the craft. Buy less, shoot more.

And you’ll nod. You’ll agree. You’ll even repeat it to others like you’ve somehow absorbed it.

But secretly, you’re still scrolling listings wondering if that new lens will finally make your photos look the way they do in your head.

Some lessons can’t be taught. They have to be lived.

Buying new gear feels like momentum. It feels like motivation. And in a way, it is. A new camera gets you out the door. A fresh lens has you seeing the world differently, at least for a while.

But then something happens. The high fades. And despite the fancy specs, your images still fall flat. The spark you thought you’d bought? Gone.

Because it was never the gear. It was always you.

This is the gear trap. And it gets all of us.

Shit… Even right now as I type this post, like Frodo being tempted by the One Ring, that lens in my Amazon cart is trying to lure me to the buy now button.

You can read this post. You can agree with it. Hell, you can share it and say “SO TRUE” in all caps.

But one day, you’ll convince yourself that your photography is plateauing because your camera is “holding you back.” You’ll upgrade. And when the results are the same, you’ll feel it. That sting.

That’s the moment the lesson lands. Not a second before.

But once it does? That’s where it all shifts.

You stop chasing specs. You stop refreshing gear pages. You start asking better questions. About light. About timing. About what you’re actually trying to say with a photo.

And that’s when you get better.

Not because you bought something new.

But because you didn’t.