At nineteen, after saving my money from working summers at my uncle's restaurant, I bought my first Nikon, the Nikon FE2 with a 50mm f/1.8 AI-S and, much later a 135mm telephoto lens. That camera traveled the world with me. It went to Rome, Asia and Africa, sometimes under the harshest conditions, and was at my side when Ronald Reagan spoke in Berlin. At some point, I used it to shoot my cousin’s wedding. When it became clear that my photos turned out better than those of the hired professional photographer, I had a glorious business idea. I bought myself a used Metz "potato-masher" flash and began photographing weddings to help pay my way through college and engineering school. With that oversized L-frame flash, just slightly smaller than an industrial fire extinguisher, my setup certainly looked professional.  I was lucky enough to not have anything go wrong with my camera or lenses. Today, I would not recommend what I did. For an important once-in-a-lifetime event like a wedding, a photographer must bring two cameras minimum. What are you going to do if one fails? Tell the bride there are no wedding pictures? Eventually, I got smart, bought back-up gear, and have been photographing weddings ever since.

During college, I learned large-format work with a Linhof Technica (among other things), from Marianne, a staff photographer at a major museum who also photographed for art magazines and museum publications. In the early 2000s, I met Helmut Newton in Los Angeles, one of the most influential photographers, known for his provocative groundbreaking black-and-white fashion photography. At first, I had no idea who he was, but his German accent caught my attention, so I introduced myself. We had several enjoyable conversations, mostly about Berlin but also about photography. I once asked him about expensive Leica cameras, and he replied, “Leica, shmeica. If you know how to take photos, you don’t need a Leica. If you don't, a Leica won’t help you either.” He then added that some of his most famous shots for Vogue Magazine were made with a Nikon FM2 and a basic 35mm lens, the cheaper, mechanical version of my old Nikon FE2. He had a point. Expensive equipment can never compensate for a lack of skills.

Newton preferred fixed focal length (prime) lenses lenses and mechanical cameras, putting a lot of work and detail in every shot, sometimes using medium format cameras (Hasselblad 500, Rolleiflex TLR) for studio work. His Nikon FM2 was a fully mechanical 35mm film camera with a simple LED (- o +) exposure display. The battery powered only the light meter, but if it died, every shutter speed from 1 second to 1/4000 second remained fully functional. The slightly more expensive Nikon FE2, the camera I owned in my twenties, featured an electronically controlled shutter but required batteries for normal operation. Without power, it was limited to a single mechanical backup speed of 1/250 second and bulb mode. My FE2 also offered aperture-priority. One needle indicated the camera's recommended shutter speed, while a second needle, linked to the shutter-speed dial, allowed the photographer to match the recommended setting manually. With Newton's FM2, the photographer had to set both aperture and shutter speed based on the meter reading in the viewfinder. Both cameras became legendary, despite lacking features that are considered standard today, such as autofocus, matrix metering, and program modes.

Many of the great photographers of the past, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Giles Norman, Robert Frank, Alfred Eisenstaedt, and to some degree Ansel Adams, preferred simple cameras equipped with 35mm or 50mm prime lenses. Few relied on zooms, ultra wide angle, or long tele lenses. Newton shared a similar view, arguing that using a 35mm, a 50mm or a 40mm lens was ideal for most photographic work. It is worth noting that many of the most celebrated photographs in history were created with relatively simple cameras and prime lenses, because a fixed focal length and the lack of options forces you to be creative and innovative.  While modern cameras have flawless resolution and AI features, "epicness" comes from storytelling, not megapixels. The most iconic photos were made when cameras were scarce, film was expensive, and taking a picture required deep skill. The photographic titans of the past captured history’s raw, defining moments—a factor time and nostalgia have only amplified. The gap between technical perfection and cultural impact shows why old images often feel more powerful. Without endless digital storage, photographers had to wait patiently for the decisive moment. they had to manipulate physical variables (f-stops, shutter speeds, and developing chemicals) intentionally, which yielded deep artistic character rarely found in modern, automated snapshots. The rise of zoom lenses, digital DSLR, mirrorless cameras, iPhones (which are great), and, more recently, AI-assisted photography has certainly increased convenience and technical capability, but it has not necessarily resulted in better photographs, perhaps aside from wildlife and sports, where frames per second and subject tracking count. And for weddings. Because today, it is difficult to produce the desired photo count and the expected portfolio for a fast-paced 100-attendees event with, let's say, a manual medium format camera. Quality-wise, however, no modern, professional 45 megapixel full frame camera comes even close to a 100-year old 8x10 or 11x14 large format camera.