I started to get into this on someone else's post about "Which one lens..." , but I really do think this might be a relevant question - and that I know has been addressed in the past - BUT:

LFF user 'mdm' made mention in that thread about having only the bare minimum of equipment to make a photograph; that the real joy in photography lies, not in the collection of cameras, lenses and kit you have, but in releasing the shutter and seeing your print, still wet under the light for the first time (I'm paraphrasing here)...

I personally, fundamentally, agree with this notion, but I also love my cameras and no matter how much I try to keep my gear acquisitions in check, there seems to always be something else I need. There was a time when I was perfectly satisfied with nothing more than (literally) a Nikon FE2 with a 50/1.4 and just enough darkroom stuff to make a print. I was making the best photos, at that time, then I ever had before and that's after downscaling a HUGE Nikon F100 setup with MANY lenses and other paraphernalia. I didn't think I'd ever need to buy anything else except materials, ever.

Then one day a great deal on a Hasselblad fell in my lap. And I had to get more stuff to support the larger format. And I soon felt like I'd 'grown' as a photographer. Eventually I decided I needed to move up to large format 4x5 to make the photographs I wanted to make. And more stuff was needed, improvements to the darkroom, lenses, meters, etc..

Now I'm shooting 8x10 and just acquired a UV source to start alt process printing. More stuff! I've spent more on cameras and gear in this last year than I think I have in the previous 5 years combined. I have a LOT of gear and I STILL have a long laundry list of stuff I 'need'!

And I don't consider myself a Gearhead. With all these moves up in format and darkroom improvements and just, general buying of more STUFF, I still believe (and tell myself...and my spouse) that it's all only because I'm growing as a photographer and not at all because I might just have the worst, ongoing bout of GAS in the history of my photography career!

Maybe I need a reality check? Maybe I do just want new cameras and new lenses and more stuff, just for the love of GEAR! I freely admit, I do love my cameras and my lenses and my Gitzo tripod. The equipment is for sure part of the appeal of photography for me. But I will still say it's the WORK that keeps me in it. It really is the look of a perfect print, still wet under the light for the first time in the darkroom. I HAVE to make photographs to stay sane, I feel like sometimes. I HAVE to point a camera at something that moves me and make a picture of it. Even of no one else ever sees that picture.

What about you? How much do you really think you need that shiny new Gold Dot Dagor to fulfill your vision?