What are you shooting?

This is not the post I intended to write. The post I intended to write required of me to take a photo in my soft box of an item. However, after twenty minutes of trying to locate the baseplate to mount my digital camera to my tripod, I gave up looking for it.

A few weeks ago I rooted through all of my drawers item-by-item looking for my 39mm Leitz yellow filter that I wanted to try on some photos. After a long and frustrating search, I never found it. Tonight while looking for my baseplate, it took me all of three minutes to stumble across the filter in one of the drawers that I had twice tore apart earlier while looking for it. I think that I need to quickly lose something else so I can find my baseplate.

During the hunt for my baseplate I also manage to crack my head real hard on my mantle. My original post is lost, but another old thought got knocked loose in the process.

I've come to realize that asking a photographer “What are you shooting?” may be a quick and dirty way to determine what kind of photographer they are.

Think about it for a moment. How many possible ways are there to answer that question?

• I'm shooting a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
• I'm shooting digital
• I'm shooting a Leica M6
• I'm shooting film.
• I'm shooting the Arial Lift Bridge
• I'm shooting Tri-X 400
• I'm shooting for Magnum
• I'm shooting to express my emotions
• I'm shooting my children
• I'm shooting 4x5
• I'm shooting to sell images on iStock

The list of possible answers is endless. Maybe I'll start asking people I pass with cameras that question. Would be fun to see how many answer with a technical spec, and how many respond with what they are actually aiming their camera at, or why they are aiming it at that particular subject.