Video: Your camera is already better than the ones legendary photographers used

It's easy to get caught up in all the gear and think that a shiny new camera or lens will make a big difference to your photography.

However as Ted Forbes of The Art of Photography  discusses in this great new 10 minute video, it's also worth remembering that none of the legends of photography, like Ansel Adams or Henri Cartier-Bresson, had anywhere near the equipment we use today. Yet they were all still able to produce work that has stood the test of time.

“Every famous photograph was made with a camera less advanced than the one you are using now,” Forbes says. “This is a quote I read a few months ago that’s stuck with me for quite some time. Ansel Adams didn’t have gear as advanced as what we have now. Neither did Henri Cartier-Bresson or W Eugene Smith or Saul Leiter."

“Photographers tend to put equipment on a pedestal. We blame our shortcomings as photographers on the gear that we have. Sony, Nikon and Canon all market to us in that way – you need the latest and the greatest because your photography depends on it!”

It's a point we wholeheardtedly agree with, and although lots of the modern additions in our cameras like stabilisation and advanced AF systems do make the job easier, the most important thing in your image-making will always be the ability to tell a story. As Forbes' notes, nobody cares what you shot your images with, except, well, other gear nerds.

“Photographer nerds might do that, but most people don’t. They don’t care what it was shot on — they care about the image and what that says in the end.”

You can see more of Forbes' enlightening videos at youtube.com/user/theartofphotography.