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<\/a><\/p>\nBut the opposite happened \u2013 both camera and lens turned out to be exceedingly useful, and they allowed me to create lots of pictures I would never have made otherwise. Before, I had like three bees in flight in 20 years of photography. Now, I took five by noon. It was a serious, tangible improvement. Also, I could take pictures of landscape details that were out of reach before, also producing new things that used to be beyond my technical capabilities. So, what else do I want to do that\u2019s presently beyond my equipment?<\/p>\n
I realised that we go for walks in the evening and we don\u2019t bring cameras along because we don\u2019t have low light capability, or we try and fail with smartphones. So, I got lenses that are great for what we wanted to do, and again, we ended up with loads of photos that would have never been taken before, simply because we lacked the means.<\/p>\n
So, now, in hindsight, it\u2019s easy to say that I need a certain lens. I can show the results that would have never existed without it. I can justify a camera in similar ways. But where does one draw the line from this, because it\u2019s easy to justify anything by saying it might be useful. A second car might be useful. A second house might be useful. Sure. But you need to see the downsides. A second car is a serious financial drain. It also introduces additional maintenance overhead, and wastes both money, time and energy. But what if my car suddenly breaks down and I am left stranded? Well, that\u2019s a legitimate concern, but let\u2019s see how it can be addressed. For instance, you can have an emergency fund deep enough to buy a cheap used car in an emergency. It can also be designed to fit all kinds of other emergencies, because having potential energy in form of money is better than betting on what kind of a dark horse might appear and break your plans. So, have an emergency fund, and have most of it in form of gold coins, because inflation is a thing, and also because fiat currency going to shit is a thing, and that\u2019s one of the possible legitimate emergencies \u2013 currency collapse and\/or hyperinflation.<\/p>\n So, that\u2019s one way of doing it \u2013 have money reserves you can use to solve unpredictable failures and disasters. However, when it\u2019s about things that actually help you do work and be creative, that method is useless, and you need to not just be ready to purchase equipment in case of need; you need to have equipment ready in case you want to use it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a balance between treating yourself and your work with neglect and contempt, and wasting money on stupid toys you got tricked into buying by watching ads that pretend to be reviews. There needs to be a reasonable balance, but where that exact line sits is a matter that needs to be decided by allowing yourself to occasionally fail and go overboard.<\/p>\n Made with the lens I thought I didn’t need.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s easy for me to justify buying gear in hindsight: I just look at the things I did with it and it\u2019s obvious why buying it was a good idea. Conversely, if it just sits there and I don\u2019t use … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>