A few years back I had an interesting conversation with a new photographer who was eager to jump head first into photography.
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She sent me an email asking a few things, but mainly wanting to know what lens I used.
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I always am super open about my gear and so I told her, the 135mm 2.0 (still my go-to lens to this day)
RELATED ARTICLE: WHY THE 135mm SHOULD BE ON YOUR WISHLIST
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Well a month went by before I heard from her again. She said:
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​“Yeah, so I bought the 135, but I returned it. I think something might have been defective with it because my pictures did not turn out like yours.â€
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I had a short, eerie moment of deja -vu. I don’t tell many people this but I also returned my 135mm when I first bought it…and for a similar reason.
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Like her, I thought that if I bought this pricier lens, my pictures would start looking the way so many popular photographers’ photos looked.
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Spoiler alert: they didn’t.
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It wasn’t the lens though. It was me.
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I didn’t have the patience to practice with it enough. I was so certain that this purchase would instantly be the magic ingredient to get my pictures looking magical.
Eventually I came to my senses and started figuring things out and bought it again.
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You may have figured this out already too.
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It’s not your lens or your gear that creates magical photos that pop off the screen. The magic comes from YOU.
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Sure, better gear might help you see some improvements in your work…but not if you don’t know how to use it, or don’t allow yourself the time to practice with it.
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So take the time to learn and practice. Give yourself a break if your photo doesn’t come out the way you hoped the first time (….or second… or twelfth). You’ll get there.
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Besides the 135, here are a couple other of my favorite lenses you might want to take a peek at!