If I Only Had a Better Camera

When pursuing an activity, whether it be for enjoyment, employment, or entertainment, have you ever thought “If I just had a better ____¹, then I’d do that activity.”

Odds are pretty good that I’m accurate in saying, “No, you wouldn’t.”

I’ve fallen into that trap with my flute. I enjoy playing flute, but sometimes I don’t practice as often as I wish I did. When I’m in that situation, I sometimes think “If I just had a better flute, then I’d practice more.”

I thought I was alone in this trap until my boyfriend Stephen told me he had the same thought about his photography efforts. “If I just had a better camera, then I’d take more photos,” he would often say to himself.

Have you ever thought that about one of your activities?

Having decent tool(s) for a task is imperative for success, but, assuming that the tool you already own works properly, a better one will not motivate you — or, at least, not for very long. If we don’t use the tools we already have, we aren’t going to consistently do more just because we have better tools.

When we get a new tool, it’s exciting and, like a kid with a new toy, we play with it for a while. But as our new toy loses its novelty, we spend less and less time with it. We can even be led to believe that all we need is another new tool and find ourselves in a vicious cycle of buying increasingly more expensive toys that we don’t use.

The truth is, if you enjoy your task, the tools will matter much less than you think. Several years ago, I bought a ratty flute from a pawn shop so I could reawaken my journey with western flute (after several decades of not playing). That flute was so low quality that when I took it to a repair shop for routine maintenance, they told me not to have it serviced because it wasn’t worth the money!

The flute was functional, though, and I began playing it because it was the only flute I had at the time. I didn’t practice every day, but I did practice routinely, and I found my love for the instrument growing as I rediscovered how to make music with it. My efforts paid off and eventually I joined a wind ensemble, which gave me even more motivation to practice.

When Stephen and I chatted about his photography efforts, he pointed out that the camera on his phone takes higher quality photos than some of the nice cameras he has had in the past. Yes, there were better cameras on the market, but he realized that it wasn’t the lack of quality equipment that kept him from pursuing photography, but something else.

There’s no shame in admitting that you might not be into the activity as much as you like to imagine. In fact, realizing that might be a burden lifted from your shoulders. Maybe you’ve changed and you’re not into that activity anymore. Maybe you’re too busy or too tired to pursue it. Maybe you don’t know why, but you just know that even when you dream of doing that activity, you simply never do.

After I’d pursued flute playing for a while and was pretty sure I was going to stick with it for the long term, I bought a better quality flute. I immediately felt and heard the difference and I enjoyed playing even more. But even that flute had some limitations that I needed to live with.

Stephen realized that he had the right tool for his photography pursuits with him most of the time. He didn’t need a better camera. When he realized that, he began playing with the settings on his camera phone and, consequently, he took some really interesting and professional-looking photos. But having a “new” camera didn’t actually rekindle the love of photography that he once had.

Stephen accepted that his interest in photography had waned. Even so, he realized that he could use the tool that he already owned when he got the urge to pursue more than just snapping a pic. His camera phone was “good enough” and that freed him to have fun rather than fixating on having the highest quality tool for the job.

A photographer friend of mine used to laugh (but only to himself!) when someone would see his fantastic photos and say to him, “Wow, nice camera!” My friend knew that his success was rooted in the time he’d spent honing his craft, not in his equipment. To prove the point, he would sometimes take photos with an outdated camera and even those photos would make people exclaim, “Wow, nice camera!”

Having the best tools for a job will only take us so far. If you find yourself wondering whether you need a better tool for a task, take some time to reflect on whether you truly need to buy something new or whether you just need to spend more time with the tools you already have at your disposal.

“If I only I had…” is a trap that can derail us from doing the work that will make us more proficient in our endeavors. At some point, you might need a better tool and, if so, find a way to acquire it. But, in the meantime, enjoy your activity with whatever tools you have and find joy in the pursuit.

1. Insert the name of your favorite tool for the task here.