Sommelier or Snob

A Matter of Taste?
It may well be that my viewpoint is best expressed first by way of analogy.
I had dinner with a friend recently; the wine list included bottles ranging from $40 to $400. My friend asked if I had ever had such expensive wines as those on the last page of the list. I replied that I had, and though I love fine wines, especially full-bodied reds, my palette simply was not educated enough to differentiate the more exotic vintages.

Bird House #1 – Punta Arenas, Chile. February, 2015
I commented that at the retail store I rarely bought anything above $20, because I found more than enough wines in the $15-$20 range to satisfy my everyday tastes.
This then lead to a conversation about cameras and lenses – which is the point of this tale. My friend, who is a quite casual photographer, asked me if the multi-thousand dollar cameras and lenses that I own are worth that expense, or are they, like expensive wines, a matter of – in his word – snobbery?
After some thought, and a si...