Go to your car. Start it up. Drive somewhere. Do your business, and drive back home again. Park it and go into the house.
Note: This is not intended to encourage folly. Keep 1.5 metres away from the bumpers of concrete trucks at all times and wipe the dip-stick with hand sanitiser, even if he protests. And no driving past Rottnest without a permit.
But consider what you do when you set off on a normal journey - you get into your regular car, do the normal things with the controls, and for part of the journey out and back are on very familiar ground. You do not get into the car and then decide what sort of petrol you need in the tank, what size of tyres to mount, what pressure to inflate them. You may consult a GPS monitor for some of the journey, but not when you're near home.
If you are sensible you do not spend the journey envying or triumphing over other drivers in other cars - based upon whether your vehicle is the newest of the new. You may have indulged in a cryptic number plate or a set of wide rims but this was way back at the start of the life of the car - not something you whack on and off each time you roll out.
Now go to the hall closet, camera cupboard, or photographic walk-in wardrobe...wherever you keep your camera gear. See if you can go a journey with a camera, do a job, and come back home again with the same simplicity you use while driving. If you are anything like the writer and his mates, you can't...or won't.
You may be confronted by several camera bodies of a single make...or worse - several camera bodies of different makes. You are likely to be looking at several lenses - some of them may be prime single focal length jobs and some may be zooms. Some of the zooms may share focal length ranges. There will be a number of maximum apertures to be seen, and you'll inevitably find yourself dealing with an internal debate as to which should be taken for what purpose. The choices can be wide and the anxiety real. Frequently you'll pack more than you'll use.
As you set out you may also be reeling through a whole range of scenarios to come - briefing and re-briefing yourself as to what to do and how to do it. Lucky the photographer who doesn't have second thoughts a mile from home. Luckier still the shooter who has the camera body set for the job without second-guessing the settings - this is more likely the older the shooter is and then more experience they have in any particular field. Still, it takes only one internet article to set even the steadiest of photographers button-pushing through the menu looking for the golden El Dorado of resolution or focus speed.
There are several ways to ease the situation - some are operational, some are philosophical, and some ( Thank Goodness... ) involve you coming down to
Camera Electronic and spending money. We cannot promise that you will achieve Nirvana with a credit card, but there will be smiles all around if you try. On Wednesday we start out slow, but steady.
