It was a very quick thought that flowed through one day when writing out edition 33 of my newsletter. A fleeting emotion that struck me when I was thinking about what had happened that week. A week where I had mourned not having a camera around, and not been able to do what I enjoyed. It was strange how not having one thing in my possession pulled on my strings that I ever anticipated, and felt somewhat embarrassing to admit to publicly.

In April this year I chose to sell my A7iii camera due to lack of use, and wanting to slim down my possessions to a level that I was happy with. I am a minimalist, but sometimes I forget and tend to have to go through a purge every now and again to calm things down. I felt a huge pang when delivering it to its new owner, but due to seeing no end in sight of the pandemic knew I couldn’t leave it gathering dust much longer. Since then I didn’t think much of it, until two weeks ago.

Our progression out of periodic lockdowns has progressed dramatically over the last couple of months. Now things are opening back up, I have more opportunity to get out and about. Had I known things would go this fast I perhaps would not have chosen to sell so soon, but I digress. This thought of not having a camera, made me feel quite sad. It is silly to get emotional over a possession, but this one in particular signified an important part of my personality and for that I mourned more than a little.

For fear of repeating myself, there is just something about holding and using a camera that means a lot to me. As good as lenses and sensors get in smartphones (and I have used loads of them) they just can’t compete in my eyes. Are there loads of people more talented than me? Sure, but in my head I am a photographer (my editing sucks a bit though) but not having a camera made me not feel like one anymore. Even more so saying it out load.

I am glad to say that my wife got fed up of me talking about it, thinking about it, and of course procrastinating, and bought me an A7c (my reasoning for not buying another A7iii is too long to go into) and I can’t wait to get it. I’m planning on shooting more street things and documenting my increased traveling so this compact FF shooter should be perfect. I also feel like I have a bit of myself back — I am never doing this again.

Want to contribute towards a new lens 😆