I've been working on eBay stuff, identifying, describing, photographing. I didn't get anything listed while working on the latest, a camera that I used for many years, but one that I haven't touched since the mid-1980s. I seem to have a camera collection and I could keep this to display, but this is one of those de facto collections, it just sort of arrived via family estates. There are a number of much older family cameras, then there is the 30-year-old Canon A-1 that I would default to if I need to use film.

If I keep the older cameras but don't keep my camera, what does this say to my kids? Mine is the "familiarity breeds contempt" camera and I'm selling myself short? After all, I'm the only one in this set of people who actually made money with photography, a lot of it using this camera. This is where de-cluttering makes me examine "what constitutes a collection?" and what am I willing to do with it? Do I want to add more cameras? No. These would be interesting on a shelf in the living room, but none of them is usable, that I know of, except for this old camera of mine. People collect them. Since I've decided I don't plan to extend this set, I think I'll send it on it's way.

I post this mulling because I'm sure some of the rest of you have had that same internal conversation. Because it's old, because it's family, because it has value to someone, somewhere, does that mean you need to keep it? This is where Don Aslett is so helpful in his de-cluttering philosophy. He doesn't advocate getting rid of everything, but he has some good insights into why people keep way too much.

SRS