Zen and the art of choosing the right kit

one of the best books about photography, by Bill Jay and David Hurn the duo discuss photographers' attitudes to talking about cameras and kit. They observe that people new to photography often obsess about their equipment, then, as they evolve creatively they dismiss and deny its importance, but yet the very ‘best' photographers, those at the top of their game spend a lot of time talking about their cameras again. They relate this evolution to the Zen saying that goes along the lines of ‘on the first encounter a rock is just a rock; on further examination, a rock is not a rock; and with full understanding, a rock is a rock again. I'm really fond of their anecdote and feel it is relevant to my experiences in the world of photography. I guess I've spent much of my photographic life in the middle stage. With my art-school background, I've dismissed the relevance of kit, and have been more preoccupied with my ‘big' ideas, cool concepts and generally being an ‘arty-farty pants. When I interviewed some of the world's greatest photographers for consumer photography magazines and was compelled to ask them what kit they used, I was embarrassed to ask and often they too were reluctant to answer. It was as if it was beneath us. Mere trivialities