Photographers Excuses: What’s the best story you’ve told your spouse to buy new gear?

Kids – the perfect excuse to keep your gear current, right?

Let’s face it, photography is a very expensive “hobby” that many of us spend waaaay more money than we should. As a result, it can be easy become a strain on the family income and sometimes relationships. However our spouses love us (hopefully) and many are willing to listen to “reason”, so I thought it would be fun to share some of the best excuses I’ve heard.

The Best Excuses List

What follows is a list that may grow over time after readers like you share your comments (see end of article). Sometimes excuses have follow on sub excuses, so those appear as sub items.

1. I need a 1D X / D4s so I can take pictures of the baby – you know pros says kids are harder to shoot than pro sports, so see I’ve gotta replace my point and shoot with one of those or we’ll keep getting blurry shots!

2. I’ve gotta get the 70-200 f/2.8 so I don’t get so close to the baby that s/he notices.
   • No, we can’t get the f/4 because then you’d see all the mess in the background and you’d rather it just be blurry in the background right?
   • You wouldn’t want your mom seeing how messy our house is would you?

3. Yeah, those ugly on-camera flash shots are terrible but if I had a 600EX-RT / SB-910 then  I could bounce the light so you won’t even be able to tell that I used a flash!

4. Well you don’t want to have to carry all of this stuff in your purse, right? Well that’s why I need the latest ThinkTankPhoto bag!

5. I don't use excuses, I just buy. My wife has yet to realize that I upgraded my D70 to a D300 and that it's become a D800. Same thing for the lenses. And I'm not hiding anything. It's all in plain sight.
   • Sorry if this is not an excuse but this is my reality

6. We are having our first baby, so my excuse to upgrade was “These pictures will last a lifetime. Don’t you want the best pictures possible to remember this special time?”

7. My excuse to buy some lighting equipment: “We won’t have to go to a studio to get our Christmas card picture!” It’s best if you don’t do the math here!

8. My current camera is 4 years old and was just a “starter camera” to try DSLR.
   • Now that I have a high quality full frame body, I need glass that can keep up with the new sensor.
   • Now that I have high quality glass and body, my tripod can’t hold the weight effectively.

9. Honey, I could invest my bonus our future, but what is a future without a hobby and creative outlet?

10. But everyone else has one!

11. I’m being a patriotic citizen and stimulating the economy while supporting local businesses.

12. My hobby keeps me sane. What is the value of that?
    • Keeps me out of the local Bars ;-)

13. My hobby keeps me sane. What is the value of that?
    • Keeps me out of the local Bars ;-)

14. For most of my equipment I do not need to justify because it is paid for by print sales and photography jobs.  There have been a few things where I needed to resort to begging. The best excuse, however, came from my wife's broker.
    • My wife: My husband wants to buy a lens.
    • Broker: So buy him the lens.
    • My wife: You don't understand, the lens costs over ten thousand dollars!
    • Broker: Well...It's cheaper than a divorce...

15. It’s a tax deduction for the business! If we don’t spend it on gear then we will just have to give it to the government anyway!
    
16. IF I sell my current <insert gear item here> I can use the proceeds to buy <insert the latest new hotness here>. However, many spouses report that the new gear is ordered and the promise to sell the old gear isn’t always honored. :)

Conclusion

We love our spouses and this was all in good fun, but it’s probably not a good idea to let them read this – ha, ha! Thanks to one of my former workshop students, Mike Wiebe, for recommending this article idea!  

Comments FYI

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