A Different $15,000 Question.....not gear

Actually the answer I gave in the other thread would have been more suitable here.
I would buy a new Triumph Bonneville, sling my M240 and a couple of lenses in a backpack and go on heaps of roadtrips to parts of Australia I have yet to see.
Bliss.
 
Actually the answer I gave in the other thread would have been more suitable here.
I would buy a new Triumph Bonneville, sling my M240 and a couple of lenses in a backpack and go on heaps of roadtrips to parts of Australia I have yet to see.
Bliss.

Buy a cheaper used bike and do it. Post the pics here!
 
Last edited:
I thought hard on the question and the answer is the same as in Benjamin’s thread: the money wouldn’t do much good.

Maybe it’s old age and the letting go that so often comes with it. I’m just trying to make a good photograph now and tnen. One beautiful or otherwise compelling. Hard to see how $15k will increase my odds.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about photography, it’s that good pictures come out of nowhere and anywhere. Just as likely in your own big or little hometown as across the globe, or with this camera or that.

Now, I’ve always wanted a Miata. Can I put the money toward that?

John
 
Last edited:
I thought hard on the question and the answer is the same as in Benjamin’s thread: the money wouldn’t do much good.

Maybe it’s old age and the letting go that so often comes with it. I’m just trying to make a good photograph now and tnen. One beautiful or otherwise compelling. Hard to see how $15k will increase my odds.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about photography, it’s that good pictures come out of nowhere and anywhere. Just as likely in your own big or little hometown as across the globe, or with this camera or that.

Now, I’ve always wanted a Miata. Can I put the money toward that?

John
Make sure you get the first version (in Europe it is called Mazda MX5 NA). A classic with timeless design and indestructible engine (but like almost all japanese cars, with rust problems).
 
Make sure you get the first version (in Europe it is called Mazda MX5 NA). A classic with timeless design and indestructible engine (but like almost all japanese cars, with rust problems).

I live in Oregon in an area with ~100" of rain a year. I have a 2001 Honda Insight and a 2009 Honda Fit. No rust. It is coastal so there is some salt air. But for your point we get little to no snow which means no salt on the roads. I have driven Hondas since '76 in CT, CA and OR. Never a rust problem. But that's just me. I could be the lucky guy in the mob.
 
Interestingly I received just such a gift of this exact amount a couple years ago.

It was a gift from my brother from our aunt's inheritance.
I guess she liked him best, but being a nice guy he gave $15000 to each of our siblings.
At the time $15,000 was the limit that IRS allowed for non-taxable gifts.

I paid some bills, used it for my usual annual fall vacation and put the rest in savings.

Chris
 
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about photography, it’s that good pictures come out of nowhere and anywhere. Just as likely in your own big or little hometown as across the globe, or with this camera or that.
Yes!... completely. I prefer to photograph close to home and relax far away from home.
Now, I’ve always wanted a Miata. Can I put the money toward that?

John
Yes, of course.
 
Probably go on a few workshops in cities I don’t know, with a little saved to put into some printed books.
Printing is a good idea - with that kind of money, I'd do what @Godfrey does, print photo books with my best work and submit them to Australian libraries, helping preserve the work that I've placed so much effort into. Knowing that my work will be available to people for potentially decades to come would encourage me to tighten up my photography, learn new skills, and curate the collection to its absolute best.
 
Printing is a good idea - with that kind of money, I'd do what @Godfrey does, print photo books with my best work and submit them to Australian libraries, helping preserve the work that I've placed so much effort into. Knowing that my work will be available to people for potentially decades to come would encourage me to tighten up my photography, learn new skills, and curate the collection to its absolute best.
I haven't done it in a while, but for here in the US I occasionally assemble a book, copyright it, and submit it with a copy to the Library of Congress in the process. It doesn't cost much to do so, certainly less than US$100 other than the cost of having a print-on-demand (like Blurb) print me a nice copy to put on my bookshelf. :)

G
 
I haven't done it in a while, but for here in the US I occasionally assemble a book, copyright it, and submit it with a copy to the Library of Congress in the process. It doesn't cost much to do so, certainly less than US$100 other than the cost of having a print-on-demand (like Blurb) print me a nice copy to put on my bookshelf. :)

G

A good way to achieve immortality, in a small sense.

In fact I've been thinking along much the same lines, in AUS, for my own work.

The process is similar to yours but the end results go to the National Library of Australia, where they will be preserved until hell (or at least Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra) freezes over. Also the books get recorded and put on the library's amazingly vast catalogue, so a book can be called up and browsed by anyone who goes into the library, altho' in some cases when I've visited that institution, the books I asked to see were so obscure that the library staff needed several days to find them.
 
I'd spent 45 dollars on a copy of Larry Towell's Mennonites and 14,955 dollars on new Leicas.
Don't you mean:

"I'd spent 45 dollars on a copy of Larry Towell's Mennonites and 14,955 dollars on a new Leica branded lens cap or Leica branded camera strap"?
 
Back
Top Bottom