2) Cars and Cameras

As I write this month’s newsletter, believe it or not, I’m sitting in the “customer waiting area” of a car repair shop (hey, I can work on the Corner from anywhere). I have a passion for cars; I have a passion for driving; but I hate (with a passion) getting them fixed. Cars are big money pits, but I can’t seem to stay away from them. I’m not a mechanic - in fact, I know very little about car repair… it’s just not my thing. So every time something goes wrong, I have to rely on someone else to get it fixed. This time, it’s a transmission leak in my ‘99 mustang convertible (plus there’s some squeaky sort of sound coming from the left-front brake… can’t figure out what is causing it, but I digress).

Can you imagine if you had to fix your camera as often as you fixed your car? While it’s rare that you have to get your camera fixed, especially compared to your vehicle (though of course, as soon as I write this, I’m sure something will go wrong with one of my cameras… damn irony), there are several things in common with your car and camera. Besides the fact that they both start with the letter “C” (had to point out the obvious first), they both usually cost a good amount of coin upfront. The more you spend upfront, the better model you will have. You can spend thousands of dollars on accessories and add-ons (especially cameras, where lenses can cost a LOT more than the actual camera body).

But the one thing that struck me today as I sit here in the car shop (finally, he gets to the point), is that both your car and your camera need constant “love” and upkeep. A lot of car owners “know” that they need to change their oil, check the pressure of their tires, etc on a regular basis in order to keep their car running at an optimal level. People especially do this when they first get the car. As time goes on, time between oil changes goes from 3,000 miles to 4,000 miles, to 6,000 to… who knows? The same thing happens with a lot of camera owners. When they first get the camera, they baby it: making sure the lens cap is always on when not using it, keeping the camera bag all organized so none of the lenses can touch each other, dusting your memory cars (really, people do that?), cleaning your sensor every other day. But, just like cars, the novelty starts to wear off, and laziness kicks in… eventually, you lose the lens cap, your bag becomes more of a lens graveyard than a camera bag (you just use the 35mm-70mm lens most of the time anyways, right?), you stop dusting your lenses and memory cards (you didn’t need to do the cards in the first place), and your “pride and joy” becomes just another toy that only comes out to play a couple of times a month, if that. The rest of the time, it sits on the floor in your bedroom or office, collecting dust. Now, this doesn’t happen to all photographers, nor does it happen to all motorists. But for many, this is the case. Is this you? When was your last oil change? When did you last get that dust off your lenses? What about cleaning those smudge marks off the grip of the camera body (eww… at least clean that off…)? If you have a chance this month, take a couple of hours, and make your camera your passion again. Show it a little love, and maybe your photography will become a passion again.