Gear
Acquisition
Syndrome
Most comonly suffered by the male of the homo sapiens sapiens species, although the females have their own version (shop therapy, shoe acquisition syndrome etc). Oh, and before my female readers get their knickers in a knot.. SATIRE ALERT!
GAS normally relates to technological items of a complicated and convoluted sort, something that takes us males ages to understand and make work properly, and once we've mastered how they work.. we turn to the next item on our G.A.S. list.. GAS items normally include cars, cameras and lenses, complicated pocket-knives, watches (normally of the expensive swiss kind) and, strangely, bags. Something in common with our female folk.
Now GAS can range from the relatively harmless to divorce level material, insofar as it interferes with one's ability to connect with one's better half (again generic gender stereotype, as how could one half be better than the other?!). However it does allow man's desire for infidelity to find a relatively innocuous release, especially when viewed by our spouses. Think for a moment which your wife or partner would prefer.. you going out with the latest model blond bombshell... or swapping the merc for a bmw?!
GAS also allows for the male mind's desire for total and complete control of something rather complicated. Seeing as we are unable to manage to control our spouses in any discernable way, or indeed to understand them, we concentrate our attentions on an inanimate object that must follow the immutable laws of physics as well as the less clearly defined rules of logic.. depending on who's logic was used to create the item in question. This has brought the western male mind into contact with ZEN thinking that is the basis of Japanese design, as well as the art of the needless complication as exemplified by Swiss watch manufacturers.
And how has GAS affected me? Well I suffer from multiple manifestations of GAS driven in part by the fall of film camera prices, the almost instant availability via platforms like EBAY and the ability to dispose of some of my income indiscriminately. My kids are still young so planning for university fees hasn't quite hit me yet. Or that's what I'll tell then when they come asking for money and I peer above my mountain of used cameras and lenses...
GAS can get out of control, and in this day and age of the internet where access is but a click away you can lose a lot of time window-shopping and selecting bid or buy. Back in the day you'd have to search out your favourite camera store, the monthly nic-nack market, or wait for the weekly autotrader mag to see what vintage model soft-tops there were.. or whatever forum there was for your GAS item of desire... But today the acceleration of GAS is given by the almost always on internet shopping possibilities, as well as being able to go to far-flung corners of the world to find stuff. I mean I got a bit of camera stuff from LATVIA the other day.. posted to Australia.. and now on it's way to Mozambique. The power of online shopping, fast shipping and willing mules has made my GAS explode exponentially. But now my wife is starting to wonder if I am wed to her, or to a camera store.
My GAS takes other forms as well.. sadly of the even more expensive kind.. Watches. Although here there is a practical aspect limiting my purchasing, and that is that I have only 2 arms on which to wear my watches. And because they are all mecchanical, it takes a lot of time every day to keep them all ticking along. One could make the same argument about my cameras, i.e. only having two eyes, but I find that putting 2 cameras to my face slightly (note I said only slightly) ridiculous, and in fact the different cameas I have serve different purposes and indeed take different film formats which changes their characters completely. At least that's what I tell myself. My wife can't tell the difference between a photo taken with one camera or another...or with my smartphone for that matter. And.. neither can most photographers.
With lenses the equation changes substantially. There I can go wild. I'm told the average photographer owns 2.2 lenses. The poor bugger with the .2 of a lens must be really be pissed off! However the reality is that most people buy an SLR with one consumer zoom lens and live happily ever after. Then there are the GAS guys (invariably guys!) who have to absolutely cover every focal length from here to infinity and struggle with bags of 8 or 9 lenses. I make sure the average stays up!
And where will this take us, this GAS? Well, have you ever heard of an estate sale?! Rarely does one's offspring take as much care or interest in the things that we took so long and worked so hard to amass. In fact they probably have an aversion to those things, seeing them as useless baubles, or things that took their parent's time away from them.. And so many end up on the auctioneer's block. Or worse Cash Crusaders. Guess where I'm headed next?!
