They always feel like an aimless meandering, but there is a sense of direction in these observations.

noticing it over a decade ago

The first time I noticed it, I was traveling in Thailand in 2013. I, too, was one of them, but a junior and aspiring version.

I had bought my first ever DLSR camera a couple of months before the trip, and had enthusiastically watched countless hours of photography tutorials.

This doesn’t mean that I was ready to take good photos. This means that I was ready to notice other people’s photography equipment.

A group of older Japanese tourists was congregated on a terrace setting up their photo equipment. Tripods, big full-frame cameras, zoom lenses that screamed thousands of dollars. They wanted to take pictures at sunset.

They had traveled from wherever they came to that specific spot to take a photo (‘the photo’) at the golden hour. One more of a million photos taken at the same spot.

What a hobby, I thought.

noticing again in 2025

Then again, this year, after leisurely exploring the world of personal blogs, I noticed that many of these websites had a section dedicated to photos. A special section, as if the photos were special.

To my untrained (but not totally novice) eye, the photos looked, in the best of cases, unremarkable, and in the cases where the photographer dubbed himself a ‘street photographer’, the photos looked like shit.

There are some common elements:

1. the person is a bit of a technology nerd
2. the person is obsessed with the digital tools they use to manage their website
3. the person likes to have full control of their website (i.e., he doesn’t use one of the popular CMS like Wordpress)
4. the person spends money regularly in photography equipment and thinks that better gear makes better photos
5. the person is over 50 years old

The last point is of a weaker correlation, as there are plenty of exceptions, but old age normally helps with item 4, as more money is needed to satisfy the need to buy a Leica.

a juxtaposition of two stances toward technology and neomania

Obsession with gear is probably one of the easiest weaknesses to exploit if you’re a marketer. If you’re watching an interview with a great writer, and they ask him what his favorite type of pen is, you should immediately close the video… or worse “what is your favorite programming language?”

In any case, for those of a more classical consitution, last night I read a very good post from Simone Silvestroni. He uses technology to produce real, professional work. To say it again: produce real, professional work.

Here are the best parts:

”…I’d suggest to those people that a first step could be to STOP purchasing Apple’s devices every year or so.”

and,

“…what I do with my old computer is not “simple office work” or something along those lines. I recorded, produced, mixed and mastered dozens of music albums, authored eight music videos for my debut album, and did everything else — blog, website design and development, bureaucracy, email, video streaming, reading, everything. The fact that a month ago I switched to a 2013 MacBook Pro — even older! — running an operating system that was released in October of that same year, and I’m still able to do the same things as above, even better in some cases, should say something.”

And this morning, I saw this in Om Malik’s blog talking about Apple’s launch of the iPhone 17:

“Still, I am excited about the day. I love my iPhone and upgrade to a new model every year—usually because it has a better battery and a better camera. Apparently, the new iPhone 17 Pro Max will have a new camera bar design that replaces the camera bump and will have a bigger battery. Sign me up!”

By the way, Om checks several of the common elements mentioned above.

back to trail

With technology and neomania, we’re brushing into more forested territory so, to stay on trail, let’s go back to photo-taking.

It is a fun pastime. There’s plenty of gear to compare, there’s the actual taking of the photo, and there’s post processing. The thing is, for some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, the use of the rule of thirds and application of a black-and-white filter to their photos do not make them look like Josef Koudelka’s.

Let’s learn to play the guitar instead, a territory where lack of skill or progress is easily identified.