I used to go through life thinking I was the only one afflicted with the tendency to go shopping for stupid stuff when work slowed down and I had enough cash in my pockets. The wiser ones amongst you would probably take the opposite tack. You know, you'd look ahead and think "where's that next job going to come from? Batten the hatches! Circle the wagons! Break out the ramen! Lock down those resources!" My first thoughts? "Oh goodie! downtime. What's missing from my collection of gear that might be fun to shop for? And maybe useful on some project?" Followed by, "Ready-Set-Go!"
It turns out the I am hardly an anomaly amongst the professional photographers I know. Well, to be fair, the lines are pretty well drawn between the two types we've described in previous posts: Those who try to get through an entire career with the first system they invested in oh so many years ago, and those who live for today and rarely have met a lens, camera body or accessory that they didn't think they absolutely needed. At least in the moment.
While I am not a hopeless case; I do have my lurking retirement taken care of, I found myself yesterday filling in the odds and ends that I MIGHT need to/want to use on a couple of upcoming projects. Projects of the type I have done many times before with any number of combinations of gear I already have in hand. In stock. Already nicely depreciated. Already broken in. But in the back of my mind is always the thought that there might be some new way to do the work better. Or at least in a more interesting way. And that would be interesting to me. Maybe this habit of mine is why one of my best friends drives an exciting sports car while I'm puttering around in a small, highly affordable SUV... albeit a reliable one!
But, I've had coffee with two different photographers this week who do the kind of work I do. And guess what? They have soft spot for almost reckless gear acquisition that mirrors mine pretty closely. Not always big and expensive German cameras but they little hesitation at picking up a new and curiously compelling flash trigger or a special filter. Sometimes a shift lens they coveted in the part of their career when money was tight and there were lots of more practical and immediate things to spend it on. Food and mortgages, for example.
They seemed to have no more hesitation about roaring forward with new purchases even though each of them is in the process of slowly disentangling themselves from day to day client work and casually strolling toward closing their businesses. Businesses which are almost impossible to sell to anyone else.
One friend is in the midst of tricking out a complete Fuji medium format system, part of which he's owned since the day the new 100 megapixel camera became available but which he still hasn't quite gotten around to using yet. He's currently in Paris with his....iPhone 15 Pro. The other friend just took possession of his new, Leica M11P and a couple of choice lenses. Why? Because he was bored with his current equipment. Will he use the M11P for work? Probably not. He's an architectural photographer and mostly works with big MF cameras and shift lenses...
My case in point would be the tool I used to make these photographs. A 90mm Voigtlander APO lens on a Leica M body. Purchased just after the purchase of the 75mm lens for the same system. A system which I find less optimal for longer lenses than other camera systems I own. But...why not?
I talked about some of these new toys to another photographer friend who is on the opposite end of our buying spectrum. He's the guy nursing a 1998 Ford Explorer toward retirement. I'm not sure but I think he's still doing most of his commercial work with a Nikon D3X and a couple of the Nikon zoom lenses. He rolls his eyes whenever I say the word, "Leica" and sometimes breaks into a little speech about being "a responsible adult." I'm not sure either end of the spectrum makes more sense but I thought I'd mention this here because I seem to mention everything else here.
I was inspired to write this because of a flurry of small purchases I made yesterday. I'm not sure I'd use it for my event projects (upcoming) but I thought it would be cool to have a Leica dedicated flash trigger so I ordered a Godox model made expressly for the current and recent Leica cameras. It's the first dedicated flash trigger that works directly with the many, many different models of Godox flashes which I already own and like. And while I was on the retailer's website it dawned on me that I might also want a Nikon off camera cord which, I am told, matches the pin configuration of the Leica flash stuff. All done, I thought.
But I made the mistake of navigating to one of my favorite Leica dealers' websites and was so happy to find the Leica branded EVF accessory that works for the Leica M cameras I've recently picked up. It was used and in good shape so, of course it triggered the, "Might need in the future!" response and it too is coming across the country via one of the big delivery services. I hope it arrives quicker than last week's impulse purchase that came via the same transporter.
Today's good news (non-photographic) was a fun and happy visit to my dermatologist. We did the full body inspection --- looking for lurking cancers of all kinds. Well, as they relate to my epidermis. He proclaimed that I won't be dying of skin cancer in the near future and made a future appointment for me six months from now. I was so delighted to not be on the edge of death that I rushed to my computer to try to better understand what I might desperately need in the near future from one of the alluring adult candy stores out there specializing in photography gear.
While I like the look of these images (one above and more below) I could have substituted the 90mm Sigma Contemporary lens and the SL2 camera and gotten images at least as good. But where would the fun be in that? Maybe that knowledge lays hidden in something penned by Roland Barthes... but I doubt it. He was not known as much of a camera aficionado. Not at all.
Note to anyone who might need advice navigating life and products: If it breaks twice just replace it.
