Photographic GAS
I’d said I didn’t plan to talk about gear, and yet here I am, talking about gear. Well “Gear Acquisition Syndrome”.
Really, I want to talk about the urge to find the perfect camera. Or more precisely cameras. As I briefly mentioned in Holga by Michael Kenna (a review) I acknowledge that there is both no such thing, and it doesn’t matter.
With that massive caveat it is hard to not lust after another camera, a different camera, a “better” camera. And in some cases a “worse” camera (e.g. Holga). I think this could be said to be a general problem with everything in life these days. We seem to acquire possessions and spend to much time doing that, rather than doing something with them. I should link back to my take on minimalism at this juncture for a further exposition on that theme.
To the case in point, I’ve been slowly learning photography for a few years. In that time have acquired around a dozen cameras. Most of which I still own. A good number of which I don’t use (much). Some of that is because they’ve been superseded and I haven’t got around to selling them, some due to lack of time and some for lack of film (either generally, or I just haven’t bought it recently). I keep thinking I should be buying photo books and film rather than cameras. I also keep wanting to try different cameras. Partly that’s the balance of wanting to see what different styles I’ve not tried are like (e.g. TLR) and partly because it’s easy to look at cameras at home, and harder to go and make photographs.
I think a solution on cameras is to implement a one-out-one-in rule. With the emphasis on that ordering of things, and ideally with a net-zero (ish) cost. Secondarily I’ve been considering what I actually use, and what I might use going forward. With those thoughts I’m going to reduce the cameras I have. There’s some I like the idea of, but find hard to use. Mostly this is due to bulk. I’m finding I like small portable cameras better. Which is hard to square with my love of medium format. I think I’ll be looking at options for more portable MF cameras than those I currently have.