squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
So I'm one of those people who is always buying and selling stuff, never being satisfied with anything, always wanting that one lens, camera, whatever that will do some vague super special thing. I don't spend exorbitant amounts of money, but it isn't unusual for me to buy something and sell it again a month later to get something else.
I did the same thing for music gear, starting around 2000. I eventually stopped, having found pretty much the perfect stuff in all categories. I suspect the same will happen eventually with camera gear.
But. In my view, this isn't by any means an unwise, let alone morally suspect tactic. The art I like to make in my free time--music and pictures--requires some form of technology to accomplish, and how I interact with that technology determines, in part, the kind of art I make. The pleasure of trying out a new guitar or microphone, or camera or lens, is intimiately connected to the process I use to make art, which is connected to the end result. The way I hold a camera--how I feel about the device, the quality of my relationship to it--affects the images I capture.
Furthermore, there is inherent value, in my view, to trying out as much stuff as possible (as long as your kids aren't going hungry in the process). Brilliant people have been performing amazing feats of engineering since photography began; to admire and enjoy their work is a compliment to their innovation, and an implicit celebration of photography itself.
It's often said that all that matters is the image. I'd certainly agree that the end product is the final word, and the thing that will remain when the artist is gone. But from the point of view of an artist (and I use that term loosely, to mean anyone who tries to make some art), the process is every bit as important as the product. In part, the process is the art work--the end product is merely the artifact it creates. To appreciate the process, and the tools that go into it, is to appreciate the whole art form.
Thus, gear lust good.
I did the same thing for music gear, starting around 2000. I eventually stopped, having found pretty much the perfect stuff in all categories. I suspect the same will happen eventually with camera gear.
But. In my view, this isn't by any means an unwise, let alone morally suspect tactic. The art I like to make in my free time--music and pictures--requires some form of technology to accomplish, and how I interact with that technology determines, in part, the kind of art I make. The pleasure of trying out a new guitar or microphone, or camera or lens, is intimiately connected to the process I use to make art, which is connected to the end result. The way I hold a camera--how I feel about the device, the quality of my relationship to it--affects the images I capture.
Furthermore, there is inherent value, in my view, to trying out as much stuff as possible (as long as your kids aren't going hungry in the process). Brilliant people have been performing amazing feats of engineering since photography began; to admire and enjoy their work is a compliment to their innovation, and an implicit celebration of photography itself.
It's often said that all that matters is the image. I'd certainly agree that the end product is the final word, and the thing that will remain when the artist is gone. But from the point of view of an artist (and I use that term loosely, to mean anyone who tries to make some art), the process is every bit as important as the product. In part, the process is the art work--the end product is merely the artifact it creates. To appreciate the process, and the tools that go into it, is to appreciate the whole art form.
Thus, gear lust good.
