Since Photography is in part an expression of art, the fluidity that accompanies expressions or art comes alongside it. There are always multiple ways to achieve a singular result (there’s always the in-camera route and the fix-it-post route). What this does is it opens avenues for young photographers who cannot afford the most expensive equipment to still create unique photographs; if your camera doesn’t permit double exposure, do it in Photoshop, if you use an entry level camera and have only predetermined white balance settings, you can always adjust to suit your taste in Lightroom, if you can’t afford a flash capable of high speed sync, get an ND filter and shoot away, etc. For every problem that expensive gear solves, there’s a cheaper way to achieve almost similar result but as we all know, almost isn’t good enough.
There are times when gear is just what you need. Your entry level camera can only take you so far and offer so much before you need to quit the act and get something better. You need a good TTL enabled trigger and flash if you’re going to shoot second curtain sync, you definitely need a fast lens if you’re going to shoot in low light situations… the situation list is endless when it comes to scenarios where gear matter.
If I were to rephrase, I’d say “As a beginner, Gear doesn’t matter as much”. You’re just starting to learn the ropes, figure out what works and how it works. More than half the fun is finding out alternative ways to achieve results. This ensures that when you eventually get the gear and heaven forbid but you get into a sticky situation where something refuses to work as it should (and trust me, that day always comes), you have a back up route that gets you to the destination you were hoping for.
Gear sometimes doesn’t matter but having the right one sure does make the job a lot easier.
