okay, so we’ve gone over how this whole photography thing is expensive, right? and i believe…or at least am really TRYING to believe in starting where you are, using what you have and not going in to (too much) debt to achieve your goals . . . but sometimes to pursue your dreams and do or book the kind of work and jobs you want to do, you have to learn and acquire new equipment. or sometimes you want or need to try something new in order to get out of a creative rut.

but buying a new lens or piece of equipment isn’t always a possibility and that’s where borrowlenses.com comes in…

i recently rented a 24-70 from borrowlenses.com (that i’ve since purchased from my local camera store since i was so enamored with the lens and since it really is a must-have lens for portraiture) and my experience renting the lens with borrowlenses was fantastic! placing the order was easy, the price (including insurance) was reasonable and the lens arrived at my home quickly and was very safely and securely packaged. the packaging included instructions and a shipping label for returning the lens when my time was up and return shipping was included in the price of the rental — all i had to do was package the lens in the same safe and secure way that it was sent to me, attach the return shipping and drop it at my local fed ex store.  i even chose to extend my rental an extra week after i got hired to second shoot a wedding and, as a result, needed to keep the lens just a little bit longer. that whole process was super-easy as well and took just a phone call!

one of the other nice things about the rental process was that because i purchased the optional insurance, i was able to take the lens with me on a trip and into various shooting situations and not worry too much about the fact that i was using someone else’s property. although i was extremely careful with the equipment and treated it as if it was my own, it was nice to know i was covered should something have happened.

although it’s called borrowLENSES, you can rent all sorts of equipment from this on-line warehouse — camera bodies, flash kits and other lighting equipment, monitor calibration software, video equipment … all sorts of fun stuff.

i highly recommend renting from borrowlenses.com if you can’t or don’t yet want to shell out the money for new equipment or you want to try something out first to make sure it’s right for you before you purchase it.  i’m not sure what my next rental will be, but when i do need something and i’m not ready or able to buy it, the first place i’ll go is borrowlenses.com.

(*if you haven’t already figured it out, i am an affiliate of borrowlenses.com and will receive a small commission should you click on one of the links above and complete a rental form borrowlenses.com . . .we’ve agreed this photography thing is expensive, right?!)