I have asked myself this question time and time again, ever since I've taken the fast track to photography, by accumulating my gear in ~6 mths (I've bought and sold a EF-S 17-85, and now own 10-22, 24-70L, 70-200 F4 with my 20D plus a bunch of assorted accessories.). I've now spent about US$5000, and despite the high cost, I've gotten a lot of nice shots, shots i'd never have gotten if i'd stuck to my crappy prosumer Oly C-5060WZ.
Over in US, I'm a photojournalist with an independent publication at my university. I also have access to the campus' studio to do model shoots in. There's also a nice gang of kakis my age to shoot with, not to mention the endless photographic opportunities that US offers. I still have 1 more year, this time at the west coast. Think Yosemite, think Monterey Bay, think Grand Canyon, Tetons, Yellowstone, etc etc.
This summer when I came back for the school holidays, I felt less incentivized to shoot. Maybe it's the fear of getting weird stares back home. Maybe it's the fear of being chased away when you try to do street/city photography. Somehow, people are just less tolerant of hobby photographers. If it's a professional, they'd look at you different. So disappointing. Just as disappointing as when an MRT pulls into the station, and you see people trying to get into the train at the SAME time as people are trying to get off.
And then you think about how much time you have once you start work. Day in day out, 9-6ish, go home tired with only one thing on your mind, to sleep. Weekends are for recuperating, etc. So what of that big pile of expensive photography equipment sitting in the corner?
Option 1) Sell all away, switch to p&s for keepsake photography, and rebuy all of them when you've made enough money and have more time to play with it again
Option 2) Keep the gear, and shoot now and then when you can. Make the time to go shoot.
What will I do? Ask me again in 1 year's time
