A New Start: Let's get over our gear buying addictions!

Collecting all you want is fine. My take on this that I found myself spending more time playing with gear than actually shooting.
...and therein lies the crux of it. Well said Lili. :clap2:

I've heard some intriguing theories lately relating to:
1. Avoidance - the gear acquisition process intentionally distracts from the image-making process. More pointedly, acquisition distracts from the person's knowledge that they are unable/unwilling to shoot anything meaningful. Put another way, the evolution in their gear has not helped evolve their images, and
2. Reinforcement - the state of *some* photo communities where talk and photos of gear gets more attention than photography itself - wherein photos of gear (e.g, with strap, half case, viewfinder, soft release, etc.) or made by gear of mundane test objects (e.g., brick wall, 100% crop eyelash) get more attention than meaningful images.

These two facts, working in unison, make for a hopeless situation sustained within a hopeless environment - to the ultimate benefit of gadget makers or purveyors of gadgets. The saddest bit is that some people's overriding need for acceptance finds them shooting what others want rather than what they so essentially need to express. If genuinely focused on the art of expression then they would simply have bought the camera that best satisfies that driving need - i.e., the fundamental need for expression rather than the fundamental need for acceptance. It appears that creative energy is, instead, dissipated in the elaborate web of justifying, or gaining the funds for, the next purchase.

Lucky Serious Compacts isn't a place of negative reinforcement. Now bring on the most magnificent serious compact photo challenge:2thumbs:
 
Collecting all you want is fine. My take on this that I found myself spending more time playing with gear than actually shooting.

How does one "play with gear" WITHOUT shooting? I play with new gear constantly. In the form of shooting. I mean, I might take a couple hours when I first get a nw camera to run through the menus and figure out how I want to set it up. But everything from that point forward consists of shooting and processing and then maybe refining a few settings and then shooting and processing some more..

-Ray
 
How does one "play with gear" WITHOUT shooting? I play with new gear constantly. In the form of shooting. I mean, I might take a couple hours when I first get a nw camera to run through the menus and figure out how I want to set it up. But everything from that point forward consists of shooting and processing and then maybe refining a few settings and then shooting and processing some more..

-Ray
I don't know Ray, I thought Lili was being more conversational than lexiconical - referring more to the intent.

Don't want to split hairs but the intent to measurbate - such as shooting a brick wall to look at distortion or a white wall to look at light fall-off or a face to look at sharpness of eyelashes - is different to the intention to express - such as shooting the convergence of events on the street or aesthetic of a landscape. The form is the same - i.e., open and close shutter - but the intent is a world away.
 
How does one "play with gear" WITHOUT shooting? I play with new gear constantly. In the form of shooting. I mean, I might take a couple hours when I first get a nw camera to run through the menus and figure out how I want to set it up. But everything from that point forward consists of shooting and processing and then maybe refining a few settings and then shooting and processing some more..

-Ray

Taking endless pictures of brick walls or other test subject to evaluate IQ.

:)
 
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