G.A.S. - Gear acquisition syndrome

It's just not about equipment. And creativity itself won't do much without any equipment. But the equipment you really need it's simply the one that you are going to use to present your work. Gear acqusition syndrome is not just a photohraphy thing - it's everywhere. We do live in materialistic and competitive society.

If you do have G.A.S. you will probably know about it. But at first you won't think of it as of a big deal. You might even believe it's going to help somehow to your work. But the truth is a bit different, and you will know it is. You're just going to deny it for some time.

1. You tend to look at brands, models, and prices more than detailed specifications. You worry about getting that D800E beacuse D90 you have is not enough for you anymore. You first need to realize what you need your camera for. Paying a large amount of money for something you actually do need is different then doing the same for something that you think you need. Remember the old saying "commercials are there to make you believe you can't live without that thing you yesterday didn't even know existed."

2. You are thrilled when unboxing that fancy new "D/E/PRO/700/60/1000/X SOMETHING" and your heart beats pretty fast from all the excitement. You start exploring your gear right away, but what you don't do, even you do know you should, is reading the manual. You do get to a point of reading it during first few weeks, but you just can't concentrate on the details as your eyes keep turning away from the manual and towards that new camera. You decide you will find out all by yoursefl and immediately take a camera to start shooting.

3. It's like being madly in love, even it doesn't last that long. At first you are thrilled and you think about all the things you could do, places you could go, and as weeks pass by, you are more concetrated on paying the bills, going to work, and eating cereal in the morning than on your camera. When excitement is lost, you feel tired, as if you work on something really hard expect you really haven't - YOU ONLY THOUGHT about doing all that stuff, and you thought about it continuously and went emotional about the whole idea, but when the moment of dreaming comes to a doorstep of moment of doing, you are too tired. It's like that "commitment and responsibility" stage in relationships. If you are not prepared for it, you loose someone you loved, only in this case you loose your photography.

4. After the crisis, you start looking at some pictures you took, and you look at all the gear you have. It makes you a bit proud, but you feel painful emptiness in your chest. You miss seing the great pictures you could have taken. At this stage there are two things left to do: 

a) You could try to find something to make you happy in buying some more stuff.

b) You could rediscovered that dust-covered manual or decide right away to start taking pictures and imrpoving your work.

And really, it's up to you.You can beat the Gear Acquisition Syndrome.

Author

AOK Photography