30cm - So mine is longer than yours!

Here’s one way for a photographer to cut through the noise of the hundreds of photos that everyone sees online every day.

As we are all in the tough game of “attention grabbing”, I think this example is not just good fun, it’s also a good lesson for us.

It did not take too much excellence, gear or anything to produce this funny little photo, yet it was able to grab the attention of my photographer’s mind. Why that?

The photographer chose a subject that I can get really excited about: gear! It might sound similar to “girl” which is another subject that I love, however, every day I am bombarded with photos of “girl” while at the same time a cool photo of “gear” is pretty rare. So the photographer won my (infantile) attention. The photographer presents a nice and warmhearted mix of fancy new gear and pretty dated stuff. The “dong” lens in the middle makes the whole photos just this little bit cheeky which makes it funny.

I found it on this funny Chinese discussion thread and the text below the image says: “I am a camera beast. Excuse me, I forgot my pants.”

I had a good laugh.

But then, I thought for a moment about the deeper meaning. A lot of us amateur photographers compete on the level of gear. “Who got the longest lens? I got 300mm, that’s longer than yours!” But seriously, at least in this game, size does not matter. It’s about making photos that are interesting. Nothing more.

Do you agree? If so, let me know: click the “like” button or the fancy +1.

Thanks a lot and... good light!
-- Michael