I think that Benjamin Kanarek is a good fashion photographer and he was probably the most currently recognized Pentax shooter in the world. Not that it matters., in my opinion.
How many people go around deciding to buy a certain brand/model because a famous fashion photographer uses it? probably only a few.
But as sure as I am he is a good photographer, now I start thinking he is a huge cheapskate. I don`t made tons of cash selling pictures and still I buy all my gear out of my own pocket (and my wife's purse). Neither I have an expectation if one day I become famous, that certain company has to sponsor me. Doesn't mean I wouldn't appreciate it if it ever happens. But personally I wouldn't go around begging for sponsorship for my basic tools if those tools are important for my work.
Also I simply don`t get the fact he is buying and shooting with cheap stuff when i assume easily he can afford the best of the best in terms of equipment. Specially i don't understand it when he makes a living and a name based on the results of his work, which for me, at the level he works, the equipment matters. i know I will hear the old saying that bad photographer can take really bad pictures with very good equipment and good photographers can make good pictures with bad equipment. But to mention an example, I would prefer that the guy who is going to do a surgery in my eyes, better has the best equipment in the world to do his job.
The only reason I could understand the fact he was using cheap stuff for his work is for philosophical reasons. I understand that Ken Rockwell does it (read his article re: 'camera doesn't matter'), but not BK, after reading his long rants in the Nikon forum.
But on the other side we don't know the whole story behind doors of what happened between him and Pentax, as it doesn't make sense for me either of Pentax not sponsoring him or making him an ambassador of the brand. Could it be also the case Pentax is so cheap to invest in marketing and PR?
Then I see all this as a result of the confrontation of a cheapskate photographer with a cheapskate company that even can`t bother to produce a FF camera.
My other hypothesis is that Benjamin Kanarek is not cheap but probably a very practical person, but probably he doesn't have a very good accounting adviser. He can buy a lot of expensive gear and write off the depreciation from the income he makes, which will reduce his taxes. then, he can absorb easily all the financial commitment that comes with buying better gear.
Or my believe now is that finally he listened to my continuous nagging that shooting full frame is the way to go, specially when a good FF cost only marginally more than a Pentax k5II with one of those expensive and (according to BK) prone to fail Pentax lenses.
Way to go Benjamin, I am glad somebody is listening to me
What i really like are his words in the Nikon forum about the results he is getting with the D600: "The images on the D600 were absolutely mind boggling. The 85mm f1.8 lens has to be the sharpest lens I have ever used in my 25+ years as a Fashion Photographer". This is all what you are missing for no listening to me.....I went though the same awe when I dropped the aps-c.
Sleepy Pentaxians of the world, BK quitting is telling you time to wake up!
