Today's guest post is by David Moore, a photographer and multimedia expert in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is pretty active on Twitter, where you can learn more from him. Check out his website, Clearing The Vision: Documenting The Everyday Joys Of Family Life.

Stop me before I look at another gear website

My name's David and I'm a gear review junkie. It's a blessing to be surrounded by all this great photography information and constant improvements every year from manufacturers, but it's also a curse. You end up never satisfied with what you've got, and it can actually hinder your improvement as a photographer (and drive you bankrupt if your'e a pro).

We spend all this time devouring news and reviews, speculating over the amazing images we'd make with new gear, but deep down we know that what we have already is likely more than good enough. It's just easier to read up on stuff than to go out and work hard.

It starts simply enough. There's a new camera or lens announced that promises to be better than what you currently have in some particular way – sharpness, focus speed, low-light performance, whatever.

Oh, says your Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS – thanks to Zack Arias for the useful term), you want to be prepared. You want to have the best gear, to deliver the best service. You should read up on this new shiny bauble, and maybe even get it.

So then you disappear down a rabbit hole. You compare MTF charts, you read five different reviews of the same thing, pixel peep giant sample files, and then it gets worse as you start reading forum discussions.

Soon, it's an hour later and you're looking for bad images on the website of a landscape photographer in New Zealand who made some comment you didn't like discussing a camera you've never seen, and you realize … what the hell am I doing?

People have taken amazing photographs for decades with cameras much worse than mine. And some of my favourite images are those I shot with my first DSLR – a Rebel XT – and the cheap plastic Canon 50mm f/1.8.

If this were a hobby for me, then reading photography gear reviews would be a leisure activity. Like cycling enthusiasts reading bike reviews – it's part of the lifestyle, something that comes with being part of the club. I might be able to improve my photography more by doing something else but if it's a hobby, and if I love looking at 100% crops of the edge sharpness of a particular lens, then I should go right ahead and do it. And if I have disposable income and want to spend it on gear I don't need, then that's my choice.

But this is a job for me, so my concerns are (or should be) different. From a business perspective, I need to spend the least amount of money I can on gear to successfully complete the paying jobs I have. If I spend any more, then I'm not making as much profit as I can. There might be times when successfully completing a job means having all sorts of expensive gear (like Chase Jarvis and his range of helicopters), but that's not most of us.

So for a pro, having the absolute best gear is not always the best solution – having good enough gear is better. Wedding photogs all have stories of guests at the reception with better cameras than they have – but it doesn't matter if you can't even get the best out of what you have. You could give me the best guitar in the world, but it's not going to win me a Grammy.

Pros also need to budget their time as well as their money. The time I spend thinking about gear is time I'm not earning, marketing, improving my skills, networking or doing anything else that will improve my business or my craft more immediately.

Amateur or pro, it's clear that we'd produce markedly better images if we stopped fetishising the latest new announcements and actually went out and photographed more and more thoughtfully, read more books, or attended more workshops.

A documentary photography workshop attended (led by Deanne Fitzmaurice) earlier this year was a much better investment than putting that money into the 35mm f/1.4 lens I'd been coveting. I learned a ton and throughout the four days not once did the subject of specific gear even come up. I still have no idea what most of the other attendees were even shooting with – it just didn't matter.

Unless you have money in your pocket and you've been butting up against a very specific limitation in the gear you currently have that's hindering your progress, then you have no place reading gear reviews.

Obviously, I'm not the first to point this out (David duChemin has made his ‘gear is good, vision is better' approach a key part of his career, but since I'm suffering from a bad case of GAS myself right now, it's time for some hard medicine.

Here's what I prescribe:

1) Unless you've identified a real need for new piece of gear, and have the money to buy it, don't look at gear reviews. At all.

2) Go to the library and check out some photography books, especially monographs by some of the great photographers. When you get an urge to see how the D600 compares to the 6D, study their work instead, telling yourself that almost all of it was shot with gear that's worse than the stuff you've got now that you're complaining about.

3) Give yourself shooting exercises and personal projects so you can improve your craft, and get to know the gear you've got intimately, Find out where it's good and where it's not – it might turn out that the stuff it's not great at doesn't actually matter. For example, the Canon 35mm f/2 I've got vignettes at the corners and has a really buzzy noise as it focuses. Both of those are Bad Things, but neither of them matter much for me. DuChemin's Craft and Vision publishers offer some good ebooks to give you ideas on projects and tutorials you can follow.

4) Wait until you're in a situation where your current gear is repeatedly letting you down in real world (preferably paid) shoots, before you even think about getting new gear. Then, if you need something for a paying job, rent it first. If the next paying job for which you need it is not for another two months, rent it again. Only buy it if you know it will pay for itself in a year or so

5) You get extra points if you can sell some other gear to make room for the replacement.

If you're an amateur, you can relax these rules a little … but try not to be the doctor or lawyer with $10,000 of Leica's finest, and no idea how to use it all.

Yes it's fun that we immerse ourselves in the gadget porn that's part of photography. But if we're spending more time thinking about gear than about images, we're getting things backwards. So if you see me heading towards dpreview.com anytime soon, kindly shove a camera in my hand and tell me to get outside and shoot.

Here are a few examples of David's work – check out the slideshow & post your comments below as well: Blogshow

A year ago, I announced the 1st Annual Tiffinbox Award. That award went to David DuChemin, a Canadian photographer whose passion for the industry is imbued with his craft and vision.

The 2012 awardee is no stranger to the business of photography. He runs a successful photography studio in New York City. If you look at his work, I am sure you will be struck by how his wedding photography transcends the obvious. Beyond simply documenting an event, the images are heartfelt and genuine.

His understated but confident presence among his peers, inspires those around him or who have come in contact with him. He teaches other photographers through his blog, Ground Glass, and his workshops, which he unapologetically calls, “I Will Make You Suffer.”

The 2nd Annual Tiffinbox Award goes to Spencer Lum.

Spencer exemplifies this award for being more than an expert photographer. He has a deep and authentic concern for the industry and is willing to chart a course that runs counter to popular trends. While that may make him appear like a maverick, the industry is in great need for revolutionaries like Spencer. Photographers – new or experienced – easily mesmerized by poseurs and “rock stars,” will find that Spencer talks the talk and walks the walk. Read his blog posts or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Here are some of his recent blog posts:

Do your clients trust you or are you just clicking a button?

You Are Not A Misery Sponge

The Secret of Success

If Everyone Is A Photographer, What Makes Us So Different?

Power To The People – Put Your Clients First

A Case For True Authenticity in Photography

Here are a few images to give you a taste of his work:

Please join me in congratulating by friend and colleague Spencer Lum. Feel free to post your comments below.

There are several phases of being a photographer. The obvious ones are beginner, amateur, professional and, perhaps at a stretch, “master.” You may disagree with that progression and that's fine. But I suspect you will agree with me when I say that at every level (yes, even if you self-proclaim yourself the Grand Poobah of photography), you are constantly learning.

Yes, that's right. Educating yourself never ever stops. It's what I find most exciting about photography. Every day, I am learning something new about the art and also ultimately about myself.

Several weeks back, I announced the 1st annual Tiffinbox Award winner. That photographer is David DuChemin, an author, blogger, teacher and foremost a visual explorer. I urge you to check out his blog and his books.

David is also the visionary behind Craft & Vision e-books for photographers of all stripes. Each of these books is $5. They are a fast read and are chalk-full of great tidbits of useful information that you don't just save in your head but are forced to go out and try out for yourself. To say that I have fallen in love with these e-books would actually be a bit of an understatement. They are exquisitely designed and of course contain some of the best photography I have seen. I eagerly wait for each new e-book because they are so remarkable.

Today, Craft & Vision is doing something different. They are actually giving away their latest e-book, 11 Ways You Can Improve Your Photography.

So, why is this 69-page e-book free? What's the catch, you wonder? There is none. Think of this book as a sampler. The authors of these chapters are representative of the breadth and depth of the topics you will find on the Craft & Vision website. The writing is lucid and engaging. The images are spectacular. If you are even remotely inclined to educate yourself or even elevate your photography, these e-books are a must. Being e-books, I carry them around on my iPad 2 and flip through them when I want a quick burst of inspiration.

I bet you are curious to know what those 11 ways are right? So here they are, in the order they appear in the free e-book (yeah, download it now):

1) Make Your Images More Dynamic by Piet Van Den Eynde
2) Tame Your Digital Exposures by David DuChemin
3) The Power Of The Print by Martin Bailey
4) Learn To Direct The Eye by Michael Frye
5) Understand The Stages by Alexandre Buisse
6) Create Projects And Collaborate by Andrew S. Gibson
7) Refine Your Composition by Nicole S. Young
8) The Power Of The Moment by Eli Reinholdtsen
9) Forget Lens Stereotypes by Piet Van Den Eynde
10) Slow Down And Learn To See by Stuart Sipahigil
11) Make Stronger Portraits by David DuChemin

Buy one or two, or better yet, buy them all (and save 20%). With the Christmas season around the corner, I don't think there is a better set of gifts than these e-books for the budding or experienced photographer in your life. I know I would appreciate it, if I was presented this incredible opportunity to learn from the very best in the industry.

Disclosure Of Material Connection

For the last 6 months, there has been a low rumble in my brain to present an annual award to a photographer or photography teacher who universally inspires us all to be better photographers, perhaps even be better human beings. In my mind, it had to be a person who goes well beyond the ordinary – shares her/his knowledge openly, invites dialogue and challenges us to elevate our craft and vision.

You probably already know some them. You've attended their workshops, hung out with them at parties and chatted with them one-on-one about your photography work and or business. You've come away after each encounter feeling energized and enthused about your calling – photography. They have rekindled that fire in your belly and you know that today and tomorrow are going to be great days because of the time you spent with him or her yesterday. Ever feel that way? It's time to celebrate them.

2011 Awardee

The list of friends, and they have become just that over the years, is long. Choosing one among all of them for this first Tiffinbox Award was no easy task.

The photographer whose name I kept seeing again and again – thanks to his awesome Twitter presence, his phenomenal feat of writing 4 truly amazing books in 3 years, his workshops, his thought provoking blog posts and his positive spirit as he faced life-threatening challenges – is David DuChemin.

So, David, congratulations. On behalf of all the photographers who have been inspired by your spirit, your hard work as a photographer, teacher and mentor, I am honored to present you the 1st Annual Tiffinbox Award. You'll receive a real Tiffinbox in the mail, filled with goodies you can munch on as you embark on your next trip with Jessie.

Craft & Vision

“Gear is good. Vision is better,” is his mantra. This simple, yet profound philosophy to photography and business has been my guide for the last few years. Perhaps it has been for you as well. So, instead of buying more gear, David suggests expanding the way you photograph your subjects. To that end, David began publishing beautifully designed and written e-books for photographers. At $5 each, these won't break your bank. Want to know more, check out Craft & Vision. [affiliate]

The Giveaways

If you have been influenced or inspired by David's blog posts, Tweets or even the e-books he produces, let me/us know in the comments section below. Be as descriptive and specific as possible. How has he helped you? What steps did you take with your photography after reading one of his e-books or blog posts? Which particular blog posts spurred you into action? Feel free to show us “before & after” images via links to a post on your site.

If I receive a 100 comments under this blog post between today and August 31, I'll select 4 of the best comments to each win one of 4 of David's awesome books (yes, shipped anywhere in the world) on September 1. So, hurry!

UPDATE: I've reconsidered the 100 comment requirement and I am pulling it. The deadline will be the same. You want to win 1 of 4 David's books, then comment away. I'll read through each of them and pick 4 winners. Deal?

Here are the four books I will be giving away:

Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography
Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images

By the way, the annual Tiffinbox Award will always be presented on August 23. I'll let you figure out why. Also start thinking of whom you will nominate for next year's award.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED: This morning I chose the following to win 1 of 4 David's books – @kristaphoto @LaraWhite @nine9beans and @BelindaOlsen. Congratulations! Please contact me with your mailing address by September 7. All but one book will be shipped in September. David's latest is in process of going to print. If you already own one or more of his books, please let me know which one(s) so that I don't send you something you already have.