If you’re into cameras, sooner or later you’re going to come down with a nasty case of GAS. Now, don’t laugh too hard at that acronym. GAS may sound funny, but it’s deadly serious to the budding photographer. Gear Acquisition Syndrome is real, and it’s endemic. You may start out loving shooting, but pretty soon, you’re spending more time making wish lists than behind a camera.
So what can a camera nerd do about GAS? First, I think it’s important to understand what it is and where it comes from.
What is Gear Acquisition Syndrome, and How Do You Get It?
As the name suggests, Gear Acquisition Syndrome is an acute disorder wherein a person gets obsessed with stuff rather than their actual hobby. This doesn’t exist only in the camera world, GAS is common in everything from music to cooking. Rather than learning new techniques, practicing your core skills, or networking with other people in your niche, a sufferer of GAS spends all their time looking at new gear to buy.
I’ll put it plainly. Gear Acquisition Syndrome is simply the insidious way unfettered consumerism worms its way into a space that you enjoy. If you let it, GAS will completely take over your hobby until what was once a fun stress reliever is now nothing more than a money sink.
So where does GAS come from? It tends to come from honest curiosity and exploring what other people are doing in your hobby. Picture this: you’re struggling with some setting on your camera, so you Google what to do about it. One link follows another, and pretty soon you’re in the YouTube rabbit hole where some sponsored influencer is demonstrating how the solution to your problem is only one small purchase away.
Rather than learning new skills, you begin to look at how products could solve your problems. Before you know it, you’ve got a whole closet worth of expensive camera accessories, but you’ve only shot a handful of times in the last month.
So how do you conquer GAS?
Embrace Limitations
One of the best ways to get past Gear Acquisition Syndrome is to challenge yourself to use only what you have. Some of the greatest art has been created when the artist embraced the limitations they were under rather than fighting them.
A famous example of this is the Dr. Seuss classic, Green Eggs and Ham. Seuss was already severely limited in his vocabulary due to the nature of his audience as a children’s author. To make this even more difficult, he challenged himself to write a book that would only use 50 different words. The results of this challenge became one of the best selling children’s books of all time. If you’re curious about this story, here’s a great write-up with more detail.
Follow this example. Rather than not creating because you don’t have this or that specific tool or accessory, see how you can make it work with what you have on hand. Get out there and make mistakes. It’s the best way to really learn.
You might just surprise yourself with what you create.
Know What a Real Need Is
Now that we know the dangers of GAS, there will be times when you do actually need to buy things. If your memory card or battery dies, you’re not going to be shooting anything until you replace it.
The trick is differentiating actual needs from persistent wants.
At the end of the day, you need to figure out if your hobby is photography/videography or just collecting camera stuff. There’s nothing wrong with collecting as a hobby, so long as you understand that you are a collector rather than a practitioner.
You’ll probably want to set some monetary limits for yourself too.
If you want to defeat GAS, cultivate your skills and portfolio. When you legitimately need something, buy it and don’t beat yourself up about it. Just make sure you’re learning rather than shopping, and you’ll be just fine.
We can get through this trying time together.