The End of Gear!

Stock image used with permission.

We are contemplating a move soon however that is not the point of this post. The point is what I discovered when I began planning how to move my photography gear. I have too much gear. I love each of my cameras and use them at least once a year. There is something special about dusting off a camera, loading it with film and taking it out.

I was recently lent a Contax G2, a camera I have lusted over for some time. I loaded it with Ilford Delta 100 and took it out. Over the 24 exposures, the camera failed to speak to me. It was too automatic and I seem to have reached my saturation point of learning how yet another camera works.

This got me thinking about where I spend my money and where should it be spent. I have begun printing my images again after a long hiatus instigated by a faulty printer. I have begun putting some darkroom prints into albums and I have been enjoying it greatly.

I believe one person, with a single camera and a single lens can do more with photography than I have over the last few months with all my lenses and gear. When I go shoot I always end up taking three, four or even five cameras. My negatives are scanned and are seeing less darkroom time. My photos are sitting on the web and I am not doing enough to analyze and improve.

The solution, I will stop buying camera gear and spend my budget on consumables such as film, paper, albums and frames. I will make it a point to gift a darkroom prints to friends and to share my images in different ways. I will objectively look at my images and work at improving. To do this I will start some personal photography assignment.

With my move, my darkroom equipment will be unavailable as will my development equipment. I will turn to digital in the gap to continue shooting and will use the opportunity to really work at improving my photography. 

Sounds like a midlife crisis...or maybe a midyear resolution update....