Caught In The Web - Who Owns What?

I knew a man once in a gun club who drove an old, expensive motor car. As he derived his income largely from diving into the public charity purse, I was amazed that he would sacrifice so much of this for that old car. His excuse was that the car "owed" him too much money to abandon. In the time that I was acquainted the overage and overstressed nature of the car increased this debt to him alarmingly.

He did not own the car. It owned him. He had mentally lashed his wrists to the steering wheel and no matter how many people told him it was foolish, he did not see this.

Go look into your studio, or your camera bag. Is there something there that " owes " you money? Are you keeping it until it apologises to you and pays up? Put your ear down close to the piece of old equipment and demand your money. What do you hear?

If something is occupying space that could better be used for some other purpose - if something demands constant attention and maintenance but is never returning the price of the maintenance - if something is long passé and you truly are never going to make use of it again...then retention of it is not just pointless, but actually harmful.

Consider my own case - because I am just as great a fool as my erstwhile companion at the gun club. I have a full-house Hasselblad 500-series outfit - two bodies, four lenses, bellows, prisms, accessories and flashes - that used to be the mainstay of my wedding shoots. Times has changed - I shoot Nikon digital now and do more for less expense and in a great deal more comfort. But I still retain the Hasselblad outfit against the day when digital backs for it will come down to $ 45.83 in price. Not that I need it even then, but it " owes" me soooo much. I seem to have got older without getting smarter...

The Linhof monorail system I own is another case in point, though I do think there are a few uses yet for it in my studio. I try the historic photo bit every now and then, and monochrome sheet film is easy to develop. I also suspect that the tilt/shift capability of the system is still a good idea for tabletops.

So what is lurking in your outfit that you should abandon? Sell it, if you can - there are markets and ebay and Gumtree and such if we cannot help you. Be prepared to put something up on a shelf and admit to yourself that it is just a keepsake, but for heaven's sake don't put the entire 1967 Flapoflex system with bellows, stereo slide. and duplicating stand in your camera room where a useful hard drive or scanner could be. Worship not the god of old aluminium and fogged glass.

Uncle Dick