A change of gear.
Or rather, a change of mindset. Almost 20 years of shooting Nikon. Then I sold it all and bought a Leica. Here's the story.
I was originally inspired many years ago by my father, who regularly used both his photo and film camera to document all sorts of life events. He even had a makeshift darkroom, but I never learned that part of the trade. I still have the camera he gave me to use, and boxes full of his photo's, film and slides. Sadly I don't have any of my early pictures any more, although I suspect they wouldn't be up to public display anyway.
Years later, I had a Nikon D50 in the house but never regularly used it. My wife actually picked it up and wanted to learn more, so I gave her a Nikon D90 for her birthday. She decided she needed to do a course to learn more, and of course as a good husband I joined her. Bought myself a Nikon D3100 to celebrate the decision.
From the start I was hooked. The D3100 didn't last long and after only two months was replaced by a D7000. Finished the course (thanks Peter!), and started my own journey with my camera. Together with my wife we started visiting zoo's, both for the love of animals and photography. Over the years we visited quite a few zoo's, not just in The Netherlands but across Europe.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome kicked in fairly soon. Only a year and a half after getting the D7000 I swapped it for a D800 with a battery pack. I loved that camera, it stayed with me for over 10 years until somewhere in 2024. Expanded and upgraded the lenses, but the camera stayed. In the end, I did get a D4S next to it for sports (and for fun!)
Around that time mirrorless and the Nikon Z series where taking over the world. I was eagerly eyeing a Z9, but the price was prohibitive. So I got a used Z5 instead, to start with and get used to the mirrorless way. But the dream of the Z9 never went away. So finally, I got it.
It was a dream. And then, a curse. Let me explain that.
The Z9 was a joy to shoot, it was fast, solid, great photo's. A beast. But after the initial joy and elation wore off, something niggled at me. I soon realised I wasn't taking photographs anymore, I was operating the camera. It wasn't about light and composition anymore, it was about getting the camera settings right to get the "ultimate" shot. It felt more and more like playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 15 while driving an F1 car. Whatever I tried, that feeling didn't go away. It threw me off and I started losing interest in photography a bit.
At the time I was looking to get more into street photography. Tried it with the Z9 which obviously didn't work really well, so I was looking into getting a Z5-II or a Zf on the side. I did look beyond Nikon (which I had never done before), checked Sony, Fujifilm, Hasselblad and noticed Leica. While in a store I took a few shots with a Leica SL2-S and for some reason was drawn to it. So i bought that instead of a second Nikon.
It was a revelation. Not the number of buttons, not the number of camera settings, not the high number of FPS. It was the lack of them. It was all about composition, light and subject again. I slowed down and started taking photographs again, instead of shooting images. I quickly noticed I preferred the Leica and left the Z9 on the shelf most of the time. The Leica completely changed my mindset.
So soon after that I decided to cut the umbellical cord. In other words, I traded in all my Nikon gear and the SL2-S for a lightly used SL3-S and a bunch of lenses. Thank you Nikon for a wonderful 20 years, but no regrets.
GAS is a funny thing. I specifically choose the SL3-S so I could still use long autofocus lenses for the zoo visits, but for daily use I mostly use M lenses on it. So of course I also bought an M240-P to get into the M line of camera's. Shooting that camera now only makes me want to upgrade it to an M11-P. But as life goes, the wife started hinting about other investments (like boring house improvements). So the upgrades and more lenses will have to wait a bit, although my journey into Leica is far from finished.
I now happily shoot my Leica's whenever I can. I even have one of them in my bag at all times going to work, just in case. One unexpected observation since I started with Leica is that my number of keepers has increased. Especially when walking the streets for an hour or two I come home with 40-50 photo's and end up keeping about 8-10 of them. I strongly suspect it has nothing to do with the camera as such, but mostly with the change in mindset. But it's a bonus nonetheless.
I'm loving photography again. The switch from Nikon to Leica, for me, was a catalyst. It wasn't about the brand, it was about how it made me feel and think. Sometimes it is about the journey, and not just getting there. Could be I'm just in my 3rd mid-life crisis but it worked. It completely changed my mindset. Maybe a change, big or small, will help you too.
Happy shooting.