A camera can mean many things to many people.
For me, my camera is my…
Constant companion, always with me when I want to capture what’s before me in more than just my memory.
Magical tool for helping my eyes see more than they ever did before.
Gateway to creating beautiful art, and one that for me is far more accessible and usable than equivalent tools for drawing, or painting, or sculpture.
Memory maker, or perhaps memory enhancer, providing a back up to the family events I recall seeing with my own eyes, and to aid future reminiscences.
Calming influence, as when I’m out wandering with a camera, I’m nearly always in a peaceful state of mind.
Grown up toy, something I can play with and enjoy and not look to outsiders like the eight year old boy that wants to play with Lego and Star Wars figures in an adult body I actually am.
What’s your camera to you?
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35hunter 
Tools I use to achieve results I want. Just as my other tools allow me to create things like buildings, so do my cameras allow me to create art.
Of course you have to know how to use them: a chainsaw in the hands of novice can do a lot of damage. At least cameras won’t do that!
I’m torn with the idea of a camera as a tool, and only a tool. Yes of course it is, but the more sentimental side of me has more attachment to them, and sees them as comrades or companions in creativity too.
Some tools of other kinds are really good tools that you enjoy using more than similar ones. I even have a favourite hammer.
With cameras, for me, there’s a certain charm in very basic, or even faulty cameras, and the challenge of getting something different from them (or something at all from them!). Whereas with a more functional tool like a screwdriver, you just want something that’s reliable, comfortable and makes it easy to get the job done. With the latter you don’t want to the tools to be a challenge to use in themselves, rather something you use to overcome a different challenge.
It’s something I can use to record the beautiful light that I see.
Also, to take pictures of my family to record the moment…
Not a long description but my ambitions don’t go much farther than this right now…
This pretty much sums up the two ways I use cameras too Chris. In recent months I’ve made way more photographs of family than my usual artistic photos out in nature.
…a means of sharing moments of my life with family, friends, and those I’ve not yet met. I love the conversations that can be generated by a single image. Often it is the, seemingly, simple or overlooked subject that generates some of the deepest reflection and thoughts.
Thanks Mark, definitely agree about simple images, I love minimalist photos that give you space to think and interpret, and just enjoy the space and depth within them. Not really a fan of busy street photography at all, just too much going on, too chaotic.