Will today's column sell you something? Will it drag your carcass into the shop and your credit card out onto the counter? Probably not...at least not for the majority of the clients that Camera Electronic deals with. Oh, there may be someone who, like my aunt Minnie, needs to see in every shop in town every single day. We would welcome such a person with open arms, provided that they bought something every single day. The welcome could even stretch to the point where they only bought something every week...but it'd have to be something good...
That looks meaner on the page than it did in the mind, so maybe I'd better try a different tack. Unless you are Nubar Gulbenkian you probably can't afford to buy a new camera every day. Or a new lens, strobe system, or leather camera bag. And Nubar didn't get to be rich by buying cameras - or using them, for that matter.
No, you are going to have to approach the whole business of retail photographic happiness by a different path. You are going to have to buy what you need, when you can afford it, and then you are going to have to enjoy using it. Even if the idea of being satisfied makes you uneasy, you are going to have to steel yourself to it.
I don't say it will be easy. You'll have to be deadly honest with yourself about what you really want to take pictures of, and why. You'll need to define what success is in your own terms early on so that you'll know if you have achieved it. You'll have to be prepared to cut your coat according to your cloth, and if you find that your financial fabric is going to be patchy, be prepared to live the bohemian life.
But don't sew that garment with thin stuff. Don't buy the cheapest photo gear just so that you can have more of it. More of equipment that does less or ceases to do anything at all is no bargain at all. Buy seldom, if that is your circumstance...but buy well.
A well-known personality in Camera Electronic used to tell people to aim for only three brands; Leica, Hasselblad, and Linhof. Time has changed the market somewhat and the impetus of economics has put prices ever upwards, but the philosophy is still sound.
