How Peter McKinnon Accidentally Fixed My Creative Burnout
How a Coffee Cup, Cinematic B-Roll, and One Quote Wrecked My Gear-Obsessed Ego
A few years ago, when I was just starting my filmmaking journey, drowning in YouTube tutorials, worshipping LUTs like gospel, and building camera rigs I couldn’t afford, I stumbled across a Peter McKinnon video.
There he was….
Backlit by golden-hour magic, sipping from a coffee mug that probably had hand-etched wolves on it, delivering filmmaking wisdom in that smooth, maple-syrup-and-sawdust voice.
He looked like Canadian cinema Gandalf on a mountain, dropping spells about storytelling, shutter speed, and gear minimalism.
And then he said the words that triggered my entire creative nervous system:
(paraphrased) “Stop chasing the next camera. Use what you’ve got.” I felt personally attacked. There I was, sitting in my living room with a Frankensteined rig, justifying another camera body I didn’t need, and this dude, who basically lives in a cinematic Pinterest board, is telling me to stop buying gear?
I didn’t want to hear it! Part of me thought, “Cool advice from the guy who makes coffee look like a Christopher Nolan teaser.”
It felt a little like your rich uncle telling you “money doesn’t matter”… from the deck of his yacht. But if I’m honest, I wasn’t mad at Peter. I was mad because he was right.
The Truth About Camera Gear Addiction
He wasn’t flexing. He was challenging.
Not “don’t ever upgrade” but “don’t wait to create.”
That hit hard. Because the truth was, I wasn’t collecting gear to make better content, I was collecting them to stall. Deep down, I was afraid that if I actually started creating and it didn’t turn out “cinematic”… then maybe it wasn’t the gear, maybe it was me.
The Creative Reality Check I Didn’t Know I Needed
Peter wasn’t just talking about cameras. He was calling me out on my excuses. He talked about showing up. Doing the work. Using what you have, and pushing the limits of your creativity, not just your wallet. And yeah, it took time… but it started to click.
I didn’t stop buying gear altogether (let’s be real, I’m still a filmmaker and an FPV pilot, “more batteries” is practically a personality trait), but I stopped waiting for perfection. I started filming with what I had. Telling stories even when I felt under-equipped. And funny enough… the work got better.Not because the tools improved. But because I did.
What Peter McKinnon Taught Me About Filmmaking (and Myself)
I still admire the guy. His b-roll? Fire. His storytelling? Inspiring. His ability to make a walk through the woods feel like the opening scene of a war epic? Unmatched. Peter is not just a YouTuber or a gear reviewer, he’s a filmmaker who’s lived through the same creative highs and lows the rest of us feel. And yeah, maybe I even caved and picked up a set of his signature ND filters. #POLARPROINTHEWILD Let’s just say… they’ve kept me out of a third camera purchase for now. Subtle win. But more than gear or visuals or presets, what I took from Peter McKinnon was a wake-up call: Stop overthinking. Stop hoarding. And just start pressing record.
Final Thoughts
So yeah, Pete, if you ever see this. Thanks for the creative gut punch. Thanks for the wisdom disguised as a coffee cup. And thanks for making me question my entire content creator identity over one YouTube video!
Caleb Gregg
Cinematographer. Gear addict in partial remission.
Still telling stories. Still pressing record.
Still dreaming about a RED.