GAS and your significant others reaction, and purging.
Just curious if anyone else has their spouse, partner that calls you out on your camera and gear addiction. Since aviation is so short staffed, and has been for the last decade since I've graduated college. I can work copious amounts of overtime if I desire, so I like to hoard gear with the extra income as a result.
My girlfriend scolds me for acquiring a new lense or film camera, to the point I jokingly sneak them into my display cabinet into the living room to see if she notices. It's hit the threshold of, well when did you buy that? And do you really need it? Overall she supports my hobby even though I own too much gear. She just likes giving me a hard time teasing me.
I'm due for purging some gear soon. I want to downsize my collection, I think I just enjoy the challenge of working with new gear and learning it, specifically the ergonomics and how it feels and operates in my hands. It's like being a novice to the hobby at times.
I'm curious to hear from my fellow shutter bugs, what your thoughts and experiences are on gear collections, and if your SOs have a similar response to it.
Quote from SpruceBruce on November 6, 2021, 5:30 amJust curious if anyone else has their spouse, partner that calls you out on your camera and gear addiction. Since aviation is so short staffed, and has been for the last decade since I've graduated college. I can work copious amounts of overtime if I desire, so I like to hoard gear with the extra income as a result.
My girlfriend scolds me for acquiring a new lense or film camera, to the point I jokingly sneak them into my display cabinet into the living room to see if she notices. It's hit the threshold of, well when did you buy that? And do you really need it? Overall she supports my hobby even though I own too much gear. She just likes giving me a hard time teasing me.
I'm due for purging some gear soon. I want to downsize my collection, I think I just enjoy the challenge of working with new gear and learning it, specifically the ergonomics and how it feels and operates in my hands. It's like being a novice to the hobby at times.
I'm curious to hear from my fellow shutter bugs, what your thoughts and experiences are on gear collections, and if your SOs have a similar response to it.
I recently downsized a lot of my film stuff, and it's been really liberating. My girlfriend doesn't give me too much grief about it, because she knows I like to bargain hunt, and generally sell an item for as much as I got it for, if not more. The issue is that sometimes it takes some time haha. There were a lot of cameras, especially film stuff, I ended up not using it nearly as much as I thought I would. Even though it was fantastic gear, it ended up getting sold.
To the question of "do you really need that?" I think the answer is always no? We'd all still be alive if we didn't have cameras? The issue of "need" always implicates subtext of "need for what?" To participate in a hobby? To record everyday life scenes? To take pictures of wildlife? If someone is asking me if I need something I don't literally need, then maybe they're actually asking about is whether an item imparts as much value as it is worth economically. Since this isn't something which can be objectively quantified, the only way this question can be answered is whether or not it's worth it for you. If it's worth it for you, then the question is whether or not you need the item to get that shooting experience or other value. If yes, then yes. You need it.
The fiancé hasn’t really said much about my gear. I’ve bought 4 new lenses and a new camera this month and overall she still seems supportive of my hobby. Same can be said my biking and so on, we have a mutual understanding… I think. I’ll keep you guys up -to-date after I buy the next camera body. 😂
Yes. Lol. This has been fun to read. I'm glad everyone's SO is both supported, and maybe also keeps you in check haha.
For us it's more about clutter and the principle of not spending money excessively. Other than my hobbies we are pretty minimal in other areas like clothing, household goods, tech, our lifestyle, etc. I make plenty of money but we drive a 2007 basic car, for example. Hardly ever eat out. Always buy used when we can. Not saying that's the only way to go, but just who we are and how we were raised. So, sometimes my wife does question whether I should be spending money on ANOTHER camera, especially since it doesn't fit how we live otherwise.
Like Justin, she knows I am buying bargains. She sees my excel sheet of buying/selling and current inventory, so she knows I am overall making a profit on my camera adventures, even if for some particular buys I break even or lose some money. So that helps.
When we got married we put together a really thorough budget and have stuck to it over the years (making modifications as things change, of course). And as part of that we individually only get a certain amount of discretionary money each month that we can spend or save up. I won't tell you how much, but you'd laugh. It's not very much. And she never spends any of it (and I always find a way to spend it, lol). When we put a significant down payment on our house, most of the money was hers saved up from teenage jobs that she had invested over many years for that very purpose. Yeah, I know. She's amazing (and very disciplined).
Anyway, so if I want to spend more than that measly monthly sum (that I agreed upon) on hobbies, I have to make it some other way. Hence why I shop bargains and got really good at reselling on eBay. I know it sounds weird, but I like it that way. Keeps me in check. And it's fun. I grew up poor, and don't really want to feel comfortable being "rich" (middle class I guess, lol). Especially with having kids and being the main money maker, I don't think I should be spending my main paycheck excessively on my hobbies. I think it'd be different if we both worked, and if we didn't have kids.
The only thing that's left is clutter, and for that she has designated a shelf and if I can't fit it I have to sell something. This is actually a good thing because I don't like the idea of something sitting unused forever. I'd rather sell it and buy it back if I ever feel like I need it again.
Finally, like others, she is just supportive of my hobbies and finding a little joy and stress relief in them. She also does like the pictures of our kids. That's probably the main thing that let's me keep going lol.
