Have I wasted over $10000 ?

[shadowfox]

Colinh, to sober you up!

IT'S A BIG WASTE OF MONEY....

*if* you stop taking pictures with the gears now.

Simple, eh?


PS: The picture with the girl sitting down is very good.

 

[Nikon Bob]

The short brutal answer is yes, only if you spent the money thinking that expensive gear automatically creates better/interesting photos in and of itself. OTH if you spent the money because you enjoy fine gear and you yourself like the results then it wasn't a waste. Take photos for your own enjoyment , getting comments is nice but not necessary unless you are looking for some sort of outside validation. I hope I have not been too blunt but just stop worrying and enjoy your hobby.

Bob

 

[BillBingham2]

ColinH,

When I look at the amount I sunk over the past 30 years, it's huge. I feel very luck to have been able to do it. I've made choices and for me, they are much better. I do not go out to drink with friends, I do not smoke, I drive a car that is safe and gets me there and back with great mileage.

IMHO, I've created some great images. I do not share them here, but I should. My wife does not feel the same way about some of the shots I've done, she's very critical and thinks there is no such thing as a vertical picture. My pictures make me happy. They are something that no manager can decide to cut back, lay off or yell at. They are me and my view of my life and folks around me.

Photography has been a stabolizing thread throughout good times and bad of my life. Be it my Bessa L, my M6, my F2a or my beautiful new S3-2000 I enjoy taking pictures and challenging myself to do better. Kind of what I miss about programming, it was fun to create stuff that was better, faster, more flexible.

Hang in there and go and shoot. Worry not about scanning, shoot for yourself. Get the film scanned where you have it developed if you really want to get something up.

B2 (;->

 

[colinh]

Colinh, to sober you up!

IT'S A BIG WASTE OF MONEY....

*if* you stop taking pictures with the gears now.

Simple, eh?

Yes

PS: The picture with the girl sitting down is very good.

Thanks.

The short brutal answer is yes, only if you spent the money thinking that expensive gear automatically creates better/interesting photos in and of itself.

Not in and of itself, although when I walked out of the shop with the M7 kit, I felt a bit inspired, that the camera needed living up to. I did find myself taking shots I would not have taken otherwise.

Take photos for your own enjoyment , getting comments is nice but not necessary unless you are looking for some sort of outside validation. I hope I have not been too blunt but just stop worrying and enjoy your hobby.

Not too blunt and I haven't really been worrying 🙂 The comments have definitely helped though.


@BB: Ah, programming. No art in it anymore...


colin

 

[x-ray]

The only time you should worry about what someone else thinks about your work is if you're trying to sell it to them. Shoot for your own personal enjoyment and to heck with the others.

 

[Krosya]

Have you wasted over $10000?

Consider that you could have spent that money on women, drugs and alcohol.

Hmmmm.

And whats wrong with that? 😉

 

[icemendicant]

If you enjoy your cameras and the photographs you make, if you can afford the $10,000 without feeling guilty or deceiving those closest to you, then you have not wasted your money.

If in doubt remember that there are many more expensive and destructive hobbies than ours. My next-door neighbour is a stockbroker and buys (and sells) $200K Ferraris for fun. His girlfriend hates it and he normally loses more money on a car than it would take to own every M camera Leica have made and a Nikon SP 2005 on top. Lets not go into parachuting, mountaineering, base-jumping, high-end stereo worship, and cross-stitching....

The most important point is: this is a hobby. If it makes you happy then you are doing it right. If it causes you grief, regret or anxiety then something has gone wrong, and you need to fix it.

colinh - for what it's worth, I think you're doing it right.

Best regards,

Dan

 

[nikon_junkie]

As long as you didn't go in debt to fund the gear, why worry. Enjoy it!

I find I shoot better with a purpose, project, or goal in mind. I cover news and sports for a weekly newspaper. With my deadline always on Monday or Tuesday I'm free to spend all week shooting what and how I want.

I've spent the last year gearing up and spending serious cash to build a wedding business. It's been very taxing. and I could puke if I ever manipulated another digital image.

With some of the startup past me, for the next few months I'm focusing on covering the presidental election and the candidates coming through town. Sports will still be digital, but all presidential politics will be done with my M2 and 50mm DR Cron.

I might even do it all in B+W.

 

[venchka]

For sure & for certain!

For sure & for certain!

...With some of the startup past me, for the next few months I'm focusing on covering the presidental election and the candidates coming through town. Sports will still be digital, but all presidential politics will be done with my M2 and 50mm DR Cron.

I might even do it all in B+W.

Black & white. Definitely black & white.

 

[dtc]

the skin tones to a few of those pictures look a bit off..1/2-1 stop more juice would help it. 😛

don't give up!

 

[colinh]

If you enjoy your cameras and the photographs you make, if you can afford the $10,000 without feeling guilty or deceiving those closest to you, then you have not wasted your money.

As long as you didn't go in debt to fund the gear, why worry. Enjoy it!

Oops.

🙂

colin

 

[mfogiel]

colinh,

Human life is about the humans. If you like to do photography for yourself, your own fun and fulfillment, this is perfectly ok, and in this case what others say about your work might not be important.
If you do photography to interact with other people, well just try to make some decent portraits of your friends and family to start with and make these your gift to them. This will keep you busy and satisfied.
Continue shooting, improving your eye, post your best photos and look at photos posted by others. Do you comment on each new photo posted in the gallery? Do you make lots of contacts on flickr? I don't think so, and so is for the others.

The recognition of attention of fellow shooters usually comes through the process of trying to make better pictures through looking at the pictures of others,

- I think actually this is the best part of it: growing up as a photographer in a circle of virtual friends.

As for the money, I don't think it it can be wasted on good equipment if this equipment is used with passion, If you don't use your gear, sell it or make a gift of it to somebody who will, and all in the universe will be fine.