Gear Acquisition Syndrome
Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or GAS, because in this era you can’t have a single instance of a multi-word title without it being immediately broken down into its initials, the only way to legitimize a day of bad breath is to call it DOBB… but yes, GAS is a real thing usually applied to the habits of musicians but also quite frequently applied to photographers. Is it a real emotional disorder that can be diagnosed and treated? Of course not, don’t be stupid. American culture is one that is pathologically-obsessed with money and the stuff that it buys, it’s baked into our culture and our entire economy depends upon it. GAS is the American way! America runs on GAS!
That said, what is it? In simplest terms, it is often described as a feeling that you can’t get to that next level in your craft unless you get that next lens, that next flash, that bag, etc. You suck, and you’re getting worse, and the only way to stop sucking is to go get that 70-300mm f/3.5 lens.
What about me? Yeah, I know my pictures are super average and no 20,000-dollar lens is gonna solve that. I just love the things. All the things. Cameras, I love them. As a kid I was fascinated by the collection my dad kept in a file cabinet drawer. We had an old Argus brick I would use as a toy and I would pretend to develop pictures in his basement darkroom if he wasn’t within spanking distance. My first experience with a real camera was when he let me bring his Minolta SRT on a class trip, and while it’s true he never got around to developing the pictures I shot, it didn’t end my fascination.
I’m a grown-up now and can buy my own camera gear, and apparently I want all of it. I don’t need it, I occasionally don’t even have space for it, and while I’m fairly content with my toy box contents it’s only a matter of time ’til I want another thing. I could read a blog review, or I could just see someone using one in a movie, my brain will go “Well hello, pretty! – I must have you!”
One might suspect I was the sort who would get a new thing, obsess over it, and forget all about my older things, but no. I look at all the things on my thing shelves, and I labor over which one I want to use. I’m going on vacation in a couple weeks and have decided I am only bringing one camera, I’ve known for weeks, and I still can’t decide which one!
(Post-vacation edit – I brought three cameras)
I don’t think I know any photog with just one camera, or just one bag. Ours is a very stuff-oriented hobby, and we live in a stuff-oriented society, we all equally have a lot of stuff. We love our stuff. A lot of it is expensive stuff. I have spent thousands on my stuff, and it makes me happy. It sparks joy when I pick up a Nikon or an Olympus from the shelf and hold it in my hands. I’ll find reasons to leave the house JUST so I can play with my favorite stuff. I’m not even the slightest bit ashamed.
People spend a whole mess of money and time on dumber stuff than this. Way dumber! People are more content to stay indoors and play video games, or spend hours binge-watching terrible shows, than to venture out into a new place where they can play with their favorite toys. People love to collect things but so much of it is positively useless. We all have that one friend who spent thousands on his collection of 80’s Star Wars toys that he keeps displayed in a lit-up glass retail display case. My collection documents life. My collection will one day prove you weren’t always bald, it will remind me how good that trip to the ocean was, or how much fun my daughter had feeding goats, or how shiny I could get my motorcycle when I detailed it.
Some people say that stuff doesn’t matter, that your own actual memories are more important. Those people do love the sound of their own voice, right? They also don’t yet realize that these posturings will change as they get older and start losing many of these memories, as will the people whose moments you also recorded with that same camera.
I digress, this isn’t an article about the value of owning a camera, it’s about the value of owning ALL the cameras. Okay, so maybe I don’t need them all. There are plenty in my collection that I could sell or give away, and I will, over time… once I can get past the idea that I’m curating my own personal museum of photography.
I’m the worst person to talk you out of your gear acquisition syndrome.
