“Consumerism is at once the engine of America and simultaneously one of the most revealing indicators of our collective shallowness.” – Henry Rollins
Why do a large majority of us need that next new thing? The new phone when ours works fine, the new camera when ours works fine, the new game console when ours works fine…
I’m guilty of it and I’m sure you are too. Sometimes that new shiny ‘thing’ shows up in our inbox and we can’t help but lust after it. Don’t get me wrong, if it is an actual upgrade or improves your life in some meaningful way then it meets the criteria to not be wasteful, however, how ofter does that happen? Did you ever think that owing money to someone because you bought something that you didn’t even ‘need’ is what is causing a good amount of your stress?
This has been a topic on my mind lately because of my complete back flip, half gainer, flying twist, inward somersault BACK into photography that decided was a good idea. I’m remembering every time I snap that shutter, what I missed so much. Photography was truly one of my first great loves, however, I don’t love how expensive the hobby is.
The story of why I left photography for a while is best summed up as ‘I made a hobby a job and ruined it for myself’. Long story short, I needed money for reasons and decided to do a thing I loved for money. Sounds like a great plan until you wake up one day and realize that you are now ‘required’ to do that thing; kind of takes all of the fun out of it. So I gave away or sold all of my gear, I was a Nikon shooter if you were curious, and put it behind me. A handful of years later my life took a huge turn and I found myself in a place where I was encouraged to do things that made me happy, regardless if they made me money, so I started looking at cameras.
One melted debit card later and I’m the proud owner of a brand new camera with a couple of lenses. Now we come to the topic at hand, no matter how good my lenses are I always want ‘one more’. Every time that a new lens releases or I stumble across some other photographer using a new piece of glass (that’s the term us photographers use to sound cooler than we are) I start trying to figure out how to make it mine. What’s already mine works just fine, but I need that next new thing because it does that thing better, it looks better, it smells better, it tastes better, the texture on the zoom ring caresses the ridges in that one little spot on my thumb better, and its the next new thing.
I’m going to try to make a conscious effort in 2025 to look past the next new thing and enjoy the current old thing, the one that doesn’t cost me anything to enjoy.