What can that brand new camera do to your vacation?
Buyers regret seems to kick in sometimes with some purchases. It can be very common when you wrestle with the practicalities of your vacation enjoyment and that new camera
Unless you are a professional photographer or a wannabe pro, it’s likely that all that camera equipment you bought in St Thomas or some other duty free port is proving somewhat redundant. It probably stares back at you accusingly each time you are about to embark on a trip. It states boldly the demand of inclusion in any vacation plans.
Sure, there are those of you who have mastered your SLR equipment and I certainly say “respect” but for me and many others, the camera became a new found anxiety.
Camera Equipment is Loaded With Guilt.
If you’re anything like me, chances are you will be having a silent debate with the video camera and fancy Nikon along with its cousin appendages of telescopic lenses, filters etc.
Should you take it? You’re going to Italy after all – just imagine the fantastic scenery and sea scapes you could capture…..Then again, the deadweight of the take on luggage is already sky high with the electronics..
You finish the debate with a massive sense of guilt and end up hauling a load of stuff you probably will not use once on vacation.
It ends up in the hotel safe for all vacation.
Hey, I know that feeling. I go to the beach – won’t take the equipment – I reason it could get wet or sand will get in. Okay, so the first day I take it anyway. I find that I have to have my lady or me stand security while the other goes for a swim. No hand holding romance in the waves for us. A couple of lonely shots of my loved one looking seriously pissed off solo wave jumping.
Going on a boat ride – won’t take the equipment – it could get wet and, again, who will watch the stuff when we go swimming? Going on public transportation…ooooh…a bit risky taking the stuff… Won’t take it.
Going out for dinner – won’t take the equipment. My lovely girlfriend will give me that look that goes with the fearsome feminine molten lava burning words of “fine” or “really” as I break the moment to reach into my camera bag for a mad grab of camera and set up. Fussing over finding the right lens, the right light, the correct aperture.
If I manage to take three shots in three weeks, it’s a lot – most of them taken from the hotel room patio.
So all that lugging equipment around was for nought. And I get home and now have new guilt – about how I never used the camera. Blah!
Those days are gone…smart phones are becoming…eh, smarter. These days you can quickly find out how to take great photographs like a pro with a smartphone.
40 tips to take great travel photos using your smartphone
Conveniently capture awesome travel photos of your travel experiences and precious memories on your smartphone
It is good to know that I can now accept that I will not be the next Ansel Adams or Robert Capa. That’s ok. I’m good with it.
Now I can sell my equipment to some deserving soul who probably has the same illusions of grandeur I once had of being some super star photographer in the making. I can now simply reach for the smart phone, guilt free, snap away without grandstanding with all that camera assembly and focus and a ton of lost moments.
You know, since I started just snapping away with the smart phone camera, I have more of my own pictures from one vacation than I have collected in all the years of traveling.
And they’re pretty good, even if I say so myself.
The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.
Dorothea Lange
I have to say, as a professional photographer I can totally disagree with you. But, hah…what you say here about those people who have limited knowledge in photography, your assessment is accurate!
Exactly tht happened to me. I bought all my stuff and found I never used it on vacation. I did end up having two lenses stolen from my hotel room. It was too stressful having all that equipment on the road.