This article is written by Josh White, originally posted here. The views posted here are his and his alone and may or may not be shared by the website as a whole ;)

Disclaimer: Sarcasm doesn’t always transfer into written word. 

Well, “tomorrow” turned into a week. Thank you for those who worried that I may have relapsed. Not the case! Once an addict, always an addict is what I guess they say. Well, I have honestly been “sober” for quite a while and just now have decided to write down my thoughts. I feel like this, at least in my brain, makes what I’m doing and going through more legitimate.

The real reason for my taking so long to post step 2 was that I recently took a trip to the small town in Korea where I had lived for the first four years of being here. An interesting experience. While of course I’m not Korean, that small town feels more like a hometown than anything else to me anymore.

During the trip, I had a lot of time to think about what I would write here. Step 2 (of overcoming GAS) is probably the hardest for me. I’ve entitled it, “The Pact”, because this step is a self contract to limit the equipment I’ll use for the immediate future.

Basically, the pact I made with myself is as follows:

I, for the foreseeable future will use just two cameras. One film, and one digital. One lens on each. I didn’t limit this to a year, not because I don’t think I can last a year, but, because I want it to last longer than that. I don’t “need” anything else and therefore have no reason to buy anything else.

Okay, so, the two cameras. First, the main camera I have used and will continue to use is a Leica M5 in black. I should start by saying I received this camera from a friend after having to sell a bunch of cameras to pay some bills while back in Canada. I’m sure some people reading this will go out and buy one. I recently wrote about the camera on instagram and the immediate response from some people was something like “it is the one camera I really want.” I thought this to be funny, considering it is the same thought I had about every camera I ever bought. I have this camera because a friend happened to give it to me. IT has been my friend ever since and will continue to be. Any camera is good enough and any camera is one we can use and love. In fact, the longer you own one the more you will love it as is the case with this one. And don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t mocking the person for saying they wanted to buy one, just commenting on the fact I would have one time felt the same way.

Anyway..

I say unabashedly that I love film. It is stupid, I know. Sometimes I say film has a “look” and everyone laughs. I get it, it is like a hipster saying tight jeans and big glasses give them a “look.” Honestly though, I’m sure that in 30 years when I look back at my photos it will be the film ones I remember and still have. I don’t have any explanation for this. Maybe the negatives will be the only thing I would have kept.

…

The lens? Well, I use the 35mm Voigtlander 1.4 SC. Yep, nothing fancy and most people say this lens sucks. I don’t particularly care a whole lot as they are generally the type of people that comment on the photos I took with the Sony 9 year old digital point and shoot and ask me what type of film I used ;)

For me, the lens was cheap, and just about wide enough. Works for me.

I know, I know… Why TWO cameras. People are going to say this is an excuse for me to not commit to one. Well, I believe it is a necessity. Let me explain.

I don’t always have film. I don’t always want to buy film. I don’t always want to pay to process film if I can’t do it.

Yes, not very “artist-y” of me. Well, it is what it is. I sometimes want to shoot but don’t have the time, money, or willpower to do so on film.

Thus, enter the digital camera. Honestly, I chose the Fujifilm Xpro1 for a couple of pretty boring reasons.

First, I had it already so it wasn’t a matter of acquiring one which would be counter productive as I have rid myself of everything else. Second, in practice, it is the most affordable way to get a digital camera to work similarly to the M5 for those times when I’m not shooting film. Part of the reason I came to the conclusion that this process was necessary was that I was disappointed looking at my photos as I felt like they lacked cohesion. While the photos from both will never be exactly the same, because I can use the same lens (albeit as a 50mm lens) on the Fuji, it maintains similar characteristics and sort of a similar look. A big deal for me.

Third and finally, my girlfriend loves the Xpro1. This is kind of a big deal, ha. Probably could have just skipped to this part.

Too much choice is never a good thing. Paralysis by analysis as they say. I remember being on a trip to Japan and having four cameras with me (M9P, M8, GR1V, Leica X1) and a bunch of lenses and honestly having a hard time deciding what to take out in the morning. I would always end up taking two or three cameras “just in case” all the while telling myself I might need one of them for a certain kind of photograph. Stupid as fuck. The trip became about photography, not about being on a trip. I am not a professional photographer, I should enjoy myself on a trip for the sake of enjoying myself. Enjoy the company I’m with and the places I see. Even in everyday life this should be the case.

Not to mention, I can’t tell you how many photos I missed trying to figure out which camera to use and how many times I pissed off the people I was with trying to decide which camera was best. It isn’t worth it. Not to mention the amount of travel I could do with the proceeds of selling off all of those cameras and lenses. Money is always better spent on experience. In 50 years, I can guarantee the fact that I won’t look back at the cameras I owned, but, the experiences I had.

And hopefully I’ve taken some okay photos of those experiences.

Why else take photos in the first place.

So, thus ends step 2. A pact with myself to keep a couple of cameras and be happy with them. Something that is necessary and needs to be done. If I don’t stick to it, you’ll all know and hopefully call me out. You know how addicts like to justify “needs” ha.

Also, I want to thank everyone for the amazing comments both here and at Eric’s blog (if you didn’t know, I have written for my friend Eric Kim‘s blog for years and often post in both places). I appreciate them so much, and always like hearing from people about this stuff. Talking about photography is one of the best ways to get over GAS, haha. Step 3, should come soon and will cover the giving away of cameras instead of selling them as a way to “purge” yourself and atone for having lived a GAS filled life. Stay tuned ;)

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