HAMBURGER EYES

Photos by Ray Potes

Cameras are tools. They are an important part of the craft for sure, but asking someone what their favorite hammer is or needle nose pliers is not really a good first question. If you just ate something delicious, you wouldn’t ask the chef which frying pan did they use. Maybe you would but I think it would come later in the conversation. “Excuse me, did you use a spatula or tongs on this?”

This post is sparked by the last post about people asking me which camera to buy. What is happening is that I have assumed everyone reading Hamburger Eyes is already obsessed with photography which is not true, some are just getting started. I think my new mission in life is to keep you obsessed if you are already, or get you obsessed if you are not.

Part of the obsession is chasing a certain quality or fidelity or feeling, chasing that secret sauce. So you experiment with different cameras and lenses. It’s fun and it is part of how you “develop” technique and skill and vision. I am not trying to say it’s not ok to ask, I am saying it’s not ok to not experiment for yourself.

Don’t worry, in a future post I will list cameras I have used, am using, and hoping to use in the future. These photos here are screenshots of my IG page (@rays_reports). These photos are a mix of old and new, shot with Samsung Galaxy 7, 8, 10e, Olympus TG6, Lumix GX85, Nikon A1000, Nikon D750, Nikon F100, Yashica T4, Fuji Natura Black, and maybe more that I can’t think of. I am still experimenting.

The point is it doesn’t matter, just get to shooting. Too expensive is not a good excuse, there are good finds at swap meets and thrift stores. And we have published photos from disposable cameras, broken cameras, plastic cameras, etc

Photo by Ray Potes

I have been selfish. I do these Q+A thingies on the Hamburger Eyes IG stories and I get a ton of questions about photography and publishing. Sometimes I can be informative, but most of the time I hold back. For one, there is only so much space to write. For two, I have always viewed myself as a student. I am still learning. Hella much. Who am I to teach anything when I don’t have any formal education or legit “profession”?

I think I came off annoyed in the last one. Like, how can I answer what camera or what paper type is the best when I am still experimenting and figuring it out. So I made some vague and smug answers. I apologize for my bad attitude.

There exists a weird old school old man vibe of not sharing. I imagine chefs are like this. They don’t want your photos to look like their photos. They do not want to share their secret recipes of cameras, lenses, films, film developers, and papers. I worked in many labs and I adopted this practice too. While the black tape all over my cameras logos is stealthy, it is mostly for a fear of sharks. (Biters. Copycats.) I once heard that old Hawaiian tribes had their own secret tunings for ukulele. How far would they go to protect these tunings? Could these tunings be used as a form of identification?

I got over this sentiment a long time ago because I work with so many photographers and love to talk shop, but it is still there for some. And publishers too. They will never tell you where they are printing their books and it can be very rude in some circles to even ask. So out of respect for tradition, it is sometimes hard for me to answer these questions.

Still, I got more DMs with more questions even after the sesh was over. And according to my analytics, everyone is younger than me. Way younger. So I can shed some light on some topics for sure and provide some understanding for them to make up their own recipes. I know when I meet other photographers, especially older ones or more professional ones, I ask a minimum of 1 million questions. Gold digging for any kind of knowledge or wisdom nuggets I can get, if not technique then philosophy or even just gear nuggets.

It’s not fair to hoard all the nuggets. I will do better. I have freestyled some writings on here before, on again off again, but now a much clearer path has presented itself. I will start sharing everything I know about photography and publishing, including the tools I use and why I use them. I will be your nugget man.

Put in the comments any questions you have and I will answer them in the form of a blog post.

(Also, peep some other writings.)