Many photographers get too hung up on brands, image (lifestyle choice) and technology. We are told to believe that buying a certain branded camera system will make our photographs better when in fact, the best thing you can do to improve your photography is to get out more and work with what you already have.

Many friends and fellow photographers upon seeing my images have asked me 'what camera did you use to make photo's like that?' when in fact they should be asking me 'what working practices do you employ?' or 'what makes you decide on certain subjects?'

There is a plethora of camera 'gear head' web sites and magazines out there that practically endorse the philosophy that 'upgrade' is the way forward. They encourage gear lust. Yet have you ever realised that you did fine before you bought that 'must have' piece of equipment?

In my own case, my photography has not changed as I've moved from 35mm to medium format. All that has changed is process and an improved resolution in final output. I find that with medium format, things are much less automatic than with a 35mm autofocus camera. A camera is just a tool, it is not the reason for photography.

However, I accept that moving up to better lenses and larger formats will yield sharper and more detailed images. But is the camera responsible for capturning the spirit of a place and if so, do certain cameras provide a stronger capability to capture that spirit?. In short, will the artistic output be any better?

I doubt it.

The strength of an image lies within the photographer and not with the equipment. If it were true that it lay with equipment, then we'd all be taking fabulous pictures, but that's not the case. Some photographers have a way of seeing that is exceptional.

Robert Capa's war photographs are a perfect example. Technically they're blurred, fuzzy and taken on films that are poor by today's standards, yet his images contain a depth and impact that overcome any technical limitations of the equipment that was available to him at that time. This was not a man obsessed with gear lust, this was a man who was obsessed with making powerful images.

I believe that if you want to take great photos, you have to invest in finding and developing your style of photography. If you have a desire to create strong images you will do so no matter what the technical limitations are that you are faced with. In fact, often it is these limitations that provide us with the need to experiment, to be inventive and extract as much out the equipment as we can. In other words less is more.

I have found that too much equipment can act as a barrier, distracting me from getting closer to the images I want to capture.

Find a system that gives you a good starting base and work with that system. As you become more comfortable with it, using it will become second nature (and subsequently less of a barrier) allowing you to get closer to and improve upon the art of photography.

Bruce Percy.