How a photographer defeated his GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) – Part 1 (The Beginning)

Hello, my name is A. Peixoto and I have been an enthusiastic amateur photographer for a few years. This is my own story of overcoming the impulse (and false belief) that the better your cameras and gear are, the more improved your photography will be.

Coming from an IT background and have been fascinated with computers (and the challenge to learn them) since I was 14, photography began to interest me. I am not trying to date myself here but when I first used a camera, images were stored in films. As a teenager with little money, the plastic camera with a 12-exposure roll became my new passion. Even that early, there was a desire to acquire a better camera and an enlarger (to print images larger than the 35mm size of the frame itself) but a middle-school student had no financial means so the learning had to be done with the fixed focal length plastic camera with 1 control only – the shutter button. I learned how to develop black & white in an unused bedroom in the house. By the way, did I mention how difficult is to cover a window completely so no light comes in? I guess teenagers have WAY more energy to spend weeks doing this.

My “passion: lasted less than 2 years - which I think is relatively long for a teenagers hobby. For a few decades after, photography was forgotten and lost in my young mind.

The passion for computers and the advent of digital cameras made photography a much more rewarding hobby. No more waiting 2 weeks to get the film roll developed! However, the very high cost of the gear was still an issue.

30 years passed by and my now 12-year old son asks us to buy a guitar. Past memories rushed in (no pun intended but RUSH was the best rock band ever) and I immediately thought: there goes another 1-2 year teenage passion that will lead nowhere…

Well, after some deep philosophical conversation with my wife, Eric got his guitar, learned how to play it well and formed a band. At this point, you might ask, “How is this related to the GAS on the title of this post? Well, my friends fear no more… In a few pathetic attempts to photograph and make a video of my son’s band, I came to 3 sad conclusions:

-- Taking pictures in the dark environment was pretty difficult. There goes dozens of dark pictures showing 3 human figures that looked like they were doing something with some instruments. And that is because I was there. Just judging by the video, you had to use your hidden ESP powers to figure out what was going on.

-- Mr. Blurry was the 4th band member. For whatever reason, the camera could only capture what seemed to be phantoms in the dark. Great for a horror movie but not so great for a musical performance.

-- I just realized camcorders and SD cameras have a horrendous audio quality. I was not sure what was worst: the musicians moving in the dark like amateur horror movie actors auditioning for a role in a small town theater or the absolutely pathetic sound quality…

That was the moment when a “brilliant” idea came to mind: I MUST BUY a better camera to solve this issue!

And the journey began with the help of Mr. eBay. Oh boy… Stay tuned for more on part 2. It is late now and I need to work early tomorrow. Keep calm and take pictures!