Using Less Gear Will Actually Improve Your Photography

If you think that getting the next lens, body or strobe will instantly improve your photography, photographer Haoyuan Ren suggests a different point of view (no pun intended).

Ren has been shooting for about seven years and is landing jobs with the big magazines and shooting celebrities (Tilda Swinton, Dean Norris shown above and Taylor Schilling stood in front of his lens). Interestingly, Ren’s advice for photographers is to use less gear.

In an interview with InMyBag Ren’s suggests to throw away as many pieces of gear as you can (or actually not to buy them in the first place). Ren advices that:

These days, we are constantly told by manufacturers through advertisements and reviews that having the next best thing will bring us better pictures. In reality, it’s not always the case…

And has a valid point as to why too much gear is actually bad for you:

Too much gear will slow you down, not just physically, but you’ll have too many technical choices.
The benefit is that less gear gets you thinking creatively, in both problem solving & shooting.
Push you from your comfort zone, get you trying new things, this in turn helps keeps your style fresh.

So it is no surprise that Ren’s baseline kit is not that big, he carries a Nikon D800, 3 lenses (Nikon 85mm f1.8, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4) and a Ricoh GR, along with some small miscellaneous items.