Beware the Gear Paralysis
Hello. My name is Jeremy. And I own too much camera gear.
There’s a saying that is often used in all sorts of gear circles that goes something like “The appropriate number of widgets to own is “N+1”, where “N” represents the current # of widgets that you own.” It’s an infinite equation that justifies any need to add one more widget to your stable. Just replace “widgets” with cars, bicycles, or cameras and you get the idea.
I didn’t think I had a problem until 2 weeks ago.
What started all of this was our local garage doing a botched repair on my Nissan Pathfinder which resulted in the loss of ABS, Traction Control, and All-Wheel-Drive. This in turn caused me to have to take it to a new shop, which needed 6 days to fix the previous ham-fisted repair work. I then found myself without a car with my Saturday photography plans fast approaching.
I learned that Renee was planning on attending a sketching session at the Dayton Society of Artists on Saturday that ran from 9:30am until noon, so my plan began to come into focus. I was going to hitch a ride with her to DSA in the St. Anne’s district in Dayton, then do a big walking loop around the downtown area to photograph whatever interested me. Sounds easy-peasy, right?
The plan was to leave the house at 8:30am to be down there early at 9:00am. I woke up at 5:00am Saturday perform my ritual of having coffee, watching photography videos, and making breakfast. At 7:00am I finished all of that and decided to quickly pack a bag for the walk.
That’s when the trouble began.
I started laying gear out on the dining room table, and before I knew it, it looked like a well-stocked selling table at a photography swap meet. There’s no way all of that could fit in a small backpack. Or two. Or three.
But wait, I need this camera for this, and I need that camera for that. And what if this happened, or that happened, or I needed a long exposure? I need short and long lenses. And what if the sun comes out, or goes away? I know, I can fit this system in this pack, and then carry the other pack for that system, while pulling a wagon with the rest.
This went on and on until Renee gave me the look at 8:15. The “get your shit together Gina” look.
With this newly-found inspiration I decided that I would just bring my Mamiya 645 Pro TL with my custom 135 “Wide” back to shoot panoramas, and just one lens. A few rolls of film. And oh, look, there’s just enough room left in the pack for one of my cheap Kodak Duaflex cameras if I wanted to shoot in square format.
For the entire half-hour drive there I was second-guessing my choices. This is why I need a truck. To haul all of my camera gear to the places I go so I don’t have to decide. Choosing between cameras is as difficult and gut-wrenching as the decision the main character had to make in the movie “Sophie’s Choice”.
When we finally arrived there after an agonizing ½ hour of self-doubt and questioning every life decision I’ve ever made, I exited the vehicle and loaded a roll of Reformed Film Lab 400D into the Mamiya. Then gave Renee a kiss and embarked on my 3-hour tour.
NOTE: CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE THEM IN THEIR FULL PANORAMIC FORMAT.
Once underway, the mental anguish of gear paralysis slowly melted away. I started to get into the groove of walking and looking for interesting compositions that worked in 2.2 to 1 format. The more I looked, the more I saw.
At one point it began to look like it might rain, and the gear panic hit me again. Why oh why didn’t I bring an umbrella?!
Thankfully the rain held off and I didn’t get soaked. I shot through the roll of color film at about the 1 hour mark into the walk and loaded a roll of Kodak XX B&W movie film and kept shooting. Now I added the extra challenge of composing in black and white. This is getting good!
Many of the images I’ve posted here may suggest that Dayton is full of mostly derelict buildings and structures, and that’s not necessarily true. But there are quite a few of them. No more than any manufacturing city that has experienced plant closures and a change in social-economic circumstances. But there is a lot of re-vitalization going on in downtown Dayton at the moment. I just happened to have not taken any images of that on the walk. I guess run-down buildings make for more interesting images.
I finished the B&W roll at about the 2.5 hour mark, realizing I had about ½ hour to make it back to the St. Anne’s district to meet Renee. That was unlikely based on how far away I was, but I decided to give it a go. I put the Mamiya away and threw a roll of HP5+ in the Duaflex and started snapping pics on my way back. The fact that the camera lacked any real control or options made it a fast way to grab images on my hurried walk.
I didn’t quite make it back to DSA before I received a text from Renee asking me where I was. Conveniently I was near one of my favorite restaurants so I asked her to meet me there for lunch. And it was a well deserved lunch after walking 6 miles on a productive photography walk.
All in all it was a great day, once I got over my gear paralysis.
Maybe its time to sell some gear. Or not.
We’ll see.
Until next time,
Jeremy
