N.A.S.**

** Nikon Acquisition Syndrome

I finally pulled the trigger

JPennant: yeah, most electronic and camera stores in the ny/nj area are jewish
JPennant: once the sabbath is over, it'll be on its way
mcclint: hehehe cool

And the madness of NAS** starts. Similiar to MAS (Mac Acquisition Syndrome), LAS (the Leica one is particularly nasty as snobbery kicks in, driving prices to unbelievanble levels), this is going to be a lifelong process of pain to the wallet.

For me, it actually started working at a camera supply store while in college. I had a Nikon FM2 with a motor drive, but because i was on a student budget - i was using a cheap vivitar and sigma lens. One day I borrowed a rental 600mm Nikkor lens from the store to play with.

Oh. My. God.

Even the crappy pictures had such clarity and color, that they were all magazine worthy, just from the quality of the Nikkor optics.

To this day I remember taking a picture of the sun rising over a Lake Michigan horizon, with a tiny planet mars also rising, both orbs reflecting off the flat, still water side by side. That's still the most stunning picture ive ever taken, hands down. I really wish I still had those slides.

My dream died when I delivered a 450mm f2.8 Nikkor lens to the Chicago Bears team photographer. The list price: $2,400. And that's in 1985 dollars.
Thats why I gave up photography in the first place.

The costs drove me away from photography, and it was only the relative economy of having a digital camera that brought me back in.

But i studiously avoided getting an SLR, remembering what it costs when you get really serious about photography.

Now, Im serious. Just taking it slowly but surely.

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Joe's Daily Virgo Forecast

Quickie: Today you'll get a great chance to move beyond some old (bad) habits. Take it!

Overview: It's time to go beyond borders. That curiosity you've always had about distant lands, foreign customs and languages? It's time to explore them to the fullest. These avenues may just be life changing.

There was a line in that TV show "The Unit" where the lead character starts off the interrogation of an opponent with the words, "You are not a True Believer."

That has stuck with me since then, as i wonder when im gonna kick off the Next Phase.

The travel, the photography, the business. Leave the job and go.

Is it fear, is it inertia, is it laziness? Or is it that im not being a True Believer?

Or will it happen anyway?