I bought something

Well, I did it! It took three months, but I finally made a superfluous purchase since the COVID-19 lockdown began in March. With so much economic uncertainty in the air, I was in absolute savings mode from the very beginning, hoping that I wouldn’t need that money, but it would be a lifesaver if I do. Other than the standard amount of bills that never seems to go away (hello, Porsche), I spent as little money as possible on extraneous things. I did make a point to support my local restaurants by ordering out more frequently than I ever had before.

But enough virtue signaling; with some money burning a hole in my savings account, the itchy shopping fingers are always on active duty. I would be lying if I said I didn’t peruse the Internet for things to buy, from yet another set of headphones, all the way to a whole entire car (a used 2016 Mazda Miata Sport, please). Lucky for me I didn’t pull a trigger on any of it, until yesterday afternoon when a creator I’ve been following for the longest time offered a set of prints for sale on his storefront. As a self-proclaimed artist myself, it’s a mission of mine to support fellow artists that I like.

Joey Lee’s brand - The Chronicles - of automotive storytelling is something I’ve kept tabs on for over a decade now. He combines together the three things I like most: cars, writing, and photography. I really admire his endeavor of striking out and finding his own freelancing niche; as someone who has to answer to corporate overlords, it’s a sort of example of what my life can look like if I ever had the balls to do the same. But then I would surely have to sell the GT3, which as of right now is not something I can remotely entertain; I am still madly in love with that car.

Anyways, Joey threw up a set of prints up for sale, and a particular one that caught my eye is of a Honda Civic hatchback doing a night blast on the freeways of Osaka. Not a day goes by that I’m not nostalgic about my trip to Japan from last summer, so having the print up on the wall will be a nice reminder and inspiration. The problem then becomes, are frame places even open during these times?

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Let me borrow some of that.

Quality is worth paying for

I’m in the camp of hobbyist photographers who seldom do actual prints. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that the initial investment to procure the necessary equipment is relatively enormous. Why spend thousands on proper photo printer and paper when I can put that towards a new lens instead? Therefore the scant few times I needed to print something out, I outsource to the typical online printing platform (I use Mpix).

Tangent: now that Apple have shuttered their printing service, I’ll need to find another place to print my annual photo Calendars.

I recently went on a family trip, and we took a rather lovely group photo together. Figured it’d be wonderful to hang in the living room, I went on Mpix to order a framed 8x10 print. Even without going too crazy on the options (standard mat board and glass, cheapest frame material), the total price for the single photograph came to around $50, not including shipping. For some reason, I was surprised at how expensive this is.

Me, a photographer, can’t appreciate that a custom framed print ought to cost more than, say, 10 dollars. For shame; I should to be banished from ever selling prints of my own.

Perhaps the low prices of online retailers like Amazon have indoctrinated me to expect things to not cost a lot of money. It has certainly done so to the price of shipping, as in there shouldn’t be any. Adding to my frustration with the price of the print was that I had to pay another 13 dollars to have it delivered. I’ve been so acclimatized to not paying for shipping - and items arriving within two business days guaranteed - that honestly I had second thoughts about completing the purchase, on principle.

As I’ve written before: free shipping is not free, because there is no free lunch.

So I did end up buying the framed photo, because items of quality and craftsmanship are worth paying for. As an artist myself, that is the kind of sentiment I hope everybody carries with them. A race to the price bottom hurts everyone: ask musicians for their thoughts on streaming services. We must fight against the desensitization of online shopping and easy price comparisons, because more often than not, we indeed get what we pay for.

Now this is my kind of tranquil living.