Obsolete

There are many items in our creative journey that make our lives easier. Today technology and advancements in photography make our old gear obsolete very quickly. But we still cling to these obsolete artefacts. As photographers, we hold tightly to the things of the past, not because they don't work anymore but in hopes, we will use them. Forever sitting on a shelf collecting dust waiting for someday, a day that will never come.

We are not prepared to recycle or sell off a lens, camera body or old laptop, because it once was the very thing that helped us see and capture the world. Your office might be filled with old gear, that you no longer use, lenses collecting dust and possibly growing science experiments inside them.

I myself used to have old cameras here and there. Recently I sold the cameras I held dear to me. I used to think that having different cameras made me more of a photographer, made me appear more professional and justified the camera I chose to use. Your identity isn’t the cameras you collect. It took me a long time to realise this, and so I parted with my old gear.

On a long enough timeline, everything you use and own will become obsolete. We hold onto things, thinking they will gather value. Like an old comic book or baseball card. Just because something is a thousand years old doesn't mean the demand for it goes up. Just because an item has personal value doesn't make it more valuable to someone else.

Knowing this, we need to be responsible, we need to understand that we must move on. If you want to remember something take a photograph of it, capture the moment and be free of its physical burden. We are more fascinated by the newer version, not the older model that's collecting dust on our shelf.

Be willing to let go of the past for a brighter future. A future free of dust and clutter. A future open to new and wonderful possibilities. Embrace the new, the now, before you yourself turn to dust.