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Does photography have to be expensive?

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Photography is generally viewed as an expensive hobby, the primary expense being the cost of the equipment. For professional photographers, both full- and part-time, this is an even more important concern, because their gear has to represent the state-of-the-art for the photos to have a chance for being competitive in the very crowded market. The initial expense of entering into photography is there reason that there exists the whole industry that supports (or is supported by, depending on your point of view) by both pro and amateur photographers. The high cost of the hobby is also one of the main reasons why amateurs want to explore photography as a business.

It can be argued, however, that if photography is considered as an art, then using it as a vehicle for self-expression should not be limited by the technology involved (and, consequently, by the cost of hardware). Many authors share the view that an artist can create an image using either a brush or a blade of grass. In the context of photography, perhaps, the analogy would be to use a pinhole camera instead of a DSLR.

I think that, unfortunately, this argument only applies to pure art, with no applied aspect (commercial or scientific, for example.) In order to be competitive either in business of photography or in its scientific application, using state-of-the-art technology is a must. Even from a purely artistic perspective, if, hypothetically, the cost is not an issue, why wouldn’t we consider pushing the limits of high-speed motion, low-light conditions, harsh environment, microscopic scale, etc. that the technology allows us to explore? In reality, cost is always an issue. I have to deal with financial constraints both when setting up budgets for new research projects in our lab (we do use high-speed photography in our fluid mechanics research) and when choosing what gear to use for my photo shoots.

Not all types of photography are equally expensive, but action and sports photography, which is what I do most often these days, certainly is. Incidentally, here is a nearly ideal (and very expensive) combination of Canon cameras and lenses that my friend and associate has been using for soccer matches:

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