Aging And Photography

R

ruben

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Hi Folks,

Just in case I went mistaken with the language, let me clarify I mean to invite your opinions about what happens, or may happen, with your photography as you go older and older.

Half an hour ago I was watching TV, a certain documentary about last years battles in the West Bank, and I throwed several curses to myself for not being able to be there and photograph, as I did some 15 years ago.

After some moments I made sense of my present situation, and everything went back to place. By no means my health allows me to run at will, by no means I can sell a minimum amount of pics enough for a salary even if I could run, i.e. disattend my present job. And if you want it harsh and comic, (just kindly don't abuse my openess) I am not sure I can live far from a bathroom.

If you want it smoother, already my eyes and glasses keep me upset, my overall steadyness is not improving, etc, etc.

For some of us, perhaps most, I don't know, when we cross the fifties life seems to become a prison, whose walls slowly moove inwards.

After giving it some thought, I think we can divide the issue into two aspects. First the general approach, then the concrete how to.

As for the general approach, in very general terms I smell I am very wrong.

If I re-read what I have written so far, it seems I mix between aging and passivity while there is no necessary absolute correlation. Aging should or could bring more wisdom, and with more wisdom
a man could accept what he cannot change, but also take more advantage of what he can take and didn't see before.

Because in my opinion life is never a one direction road, but very much like a byke. It needs the reflexes of a man at his twenties, but also the reasoning of a man at his fifties.

As for the concrete side, I have not the slightest idea about how aged photographers among us, or in general, perform their craft.

I think that if you read between the lines you can perceive some fear. Fear is to be clearly identifyied and then fought. So I have exorcised mine out and put it on your table to deal. Of course, this thread is not about me but about us.

Since in the Western culture aging is falsely identifyied with shame, my PM box is open for any member unwilling to publicly participate in this thread.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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Ruben, I have read this four times now, and I am honestly not sure that I understand what you are trying to say, and what responses you are seeking. Please can you be more clear, less obtuse?

Regards,

Bill
 
BillP said:
Ruben, I have read this four times now, and I am honestly not sure that I understand what you are trying to say, and what responses you are seeking. Please can you be more clear, less obtuse?

Regards,

Bill
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Hi Bill,

You may be quite right, since I am asking about things I am not clear about at all.

Perhaps I could brief it all by asking how to regard and deal with the limitations of aging, which I am starting to feel in the beloved area of photography.

Hope this helps,
Ruben
 
Interesting subject Ruben ... when I was thirty six I would quite happily have put my camera in someone's face for a good street pic ... but at fifty six I'm not comfortable doing it!

On the physical side I am luckily in much the same shape as I was at that age but the eyes are the critical part ... and they have lost a lot. I struggle in poor light and older rangefinders with vague contrast seldom make it out of my cupboard! :p
 
Dear Ruben,

Yes, age limits our options.

So does fear (especially fear of age) -- but fear can be overcome, and age can't.

There's an old saying among fencers: old age and cunning [or 'old age and treachery'] can overcome youth and enthusiasm.

As you get older, you can't do quite the same things (including running as far, staying as far from a bathroom) but you may be able to achieve the same things in different ways.

For example, on Monday , insh'Allah, my wife and I hope to leave on a motorcycle tour on the bike we have had for 25 years. The way we ride now, the places we stay; they will be different from how they were 25 years ago. But it's still motorcycle touring. And we're still together.

Likewise, if we have the money, and can get visas, and all the other practicalities, we intend to be in Dharamsala for the 50th anniversary of Lhasa Uprising day.

I'll take different pictures from what I took on the 25th anniversary, but with any luck, old age and cunning will make up for my lack of youth and raw enthusiasm (I use the word 'raw' with some feeling).

Cheers,

R.
 
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ruben said:
Hi Folks,

Just in case I went mistaken with the language, let me clarify I mean to invite your opinions about what happens, or may happen, with your photography as you go older and older.
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Well, let's see. I'm 54. I suppose I could still hump a steel monorail, a bag and a tripod up the side of a mountain if I really wanted to -- but I don't really want to anymore. As for being away from a bathroom, I don't shoot urban stuff, so it isn't a problem -- the world is my toilet. I think the problem is that I'm becoming cynical more than anything else. I am less willing to hump stuff up these mountains on the off-chance that I'll see something worth shooting.
 
Rueben:

Twenty-five or so years ago I used to do some rock climbing with a friend about 10 years older that I was. He used say, "I can still do this on Saturday like I used to, but now I hurt until Thursday rather than Monday." Now I resemble that remark. I also watch where I put my feet more carefully, but with tri-focals even that is tricky at times. Keep up the good fight.
 
A 73 year-pld man climbed mount Everest this year and I know a 91 year-old who's like a guru to me and he skates, plays tennis, paints and his mind is sharp and his memory fully intact.

At the same time I see men in their 50s who seem to have already given up and my grandfather by the time he was 60, he had become sentimental and he worried about dying - which he did before he should have.

So, in the end of the day its all about will power, and how one thinks... For example I know that when I reach my 50s I will shoot mainly landscape and take portraits.
 
Well, Ruben I understand. I wish I had taken more images, but more, I wish I had the diligence that I have now to try to take better photos. Now I mess around with an image until I can't decide anything. But I like that because I have learned patience, and tried in my sloppy way to get better and better. For the people that don't understand Ruben, watch 'Zorba the Greek.'
 
I guess it was about 7 or 8 years ago now that I had a bout with prostrate cancer. My urologist, oncologist, and I won with the aid of focused radiation and iodine seeds. About 1 year ago, I learned that there is often a consequence of that and I went through a very hard time getting over that. In my case, if I thought I needed to go, I had best be on my way, not thinking I would go when convenient. That was for #1 or #2. If fact, needing to do one meant the other needed to be taken care of as well. I don't mean to be indelicate, but just to let everyone know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Being in those straights can be more than uncomfortable, as it can be very embarassing.

A little over a year after that, (the original treatment) I underwent triple bypass surgery. Actually, going through a house fire about 20 years ago hurt my desire to engage in photography more that the health problems. I haven't given it up, but it isn't the focus it once was. Even that has been changing lately. I am now 66 years old. God willing I will see another grandchinld and a great grandchild enter this world in August.

Cheer up Ruben! Make what you can of it. Besides whatever friends and family you have where you live, you have friends here at RFF who look forward to your threads and posts.

As to photography, if you can't walk as far, take whatever transportation is available. If you can't hold a camera as steady, use a tripod. If you can't carry as heavy a kit, make you kit smaller.

Good points you bring up Ruben. I hope my comments don't sound trite. We do go through trials, but however we get through them, we come out at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully able to do something we still enjoy.
 
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Roger Hicks said:
Dear Ruben,

So does fear (especially fear of age) -- but fear can be overcome, and age can't.

R.
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This is good.

I'm a "Boomer" the moniker given to people usually now in their '60s. In the 60s and 70s We boomers had issues with people over 30, didn't we? In the 1960s we laughed at people who are our age now.

I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be over 60, now I do.

There are physical issues now, I'm not as agile, I don't have the nice physical form of a man in his 20s, girls don't look at me the same, my reflexes are slower etc. etc.
There are mental issues too, I think, but here is where I'm doing better. I'm wiser, much, much wiser.

Not smarter....wiser.

I realize now that aging is part of the deal, if you live long enough, if you weren't killed by the stupidity (OK, lack of wisdom) of your youth, here you are. Our human's innate creativity will see you through the rest of your life if you let it. Let it!
 
oftheherd, I had a deal like that, bad, but the only thing that has changed is I can't play my Gibson S-1 (Ron Wood) anymore. Not physically play, I can't pick it up anymore, now I play my old noname classical guitar.
 
Christ, we're a sorry bunch! But...read on...

My MS has been in and out of remission for the past few years, leaving my vision colour deficient, no feeling in my trigger finger, occasional spasms that make me drop my camera, or collapse in front of pretty subjects, wet myself, and it's all pretty depressing....

So...here's my grandfather, taken last week (4x5, tri-x)

rlc-1.jpg


He's 94, has battled cancer twice, will loose to the third round soon and he knows it, lost his hearing, lost both wives, his only daughter, and all his brothers and sisters.

So what's he doing? In the last 6 months he's raised over $10,000 for a new-born that needed a liver transplant, helped a middle-aged woman start up a home-based business, weekly transporting a gentleman with ALS to the hospital, organized a drug rehab for another unfortunate soul, organized a social event for a recent widow, travelled one last time by train to Banff, and probably a whole bunch of other things I don't know about yet.

What I'm catching on to is to keep doing what I want to do until I bloody well drop dead.
 
ruben said:
Half an hour ago I was watching TV, a certain documentary about last years battles in the West Bank, and I throwed several curses to myself for not being able to be there and photograph, as I did some 15 years ago.

As for the concrete side, I have not the slightest idea about how aged photographers among us, or in general, perform their craft.

Since in the Western culture aging is falsely identifyied with shame, my PM box is open for any member unwilling to publicly participate in this thread.

Cheers,
Ruben
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Hello Ruben,
I've read many of your posts, and I know fear is not your demon. I'm 52 myself, and so I appreciate your musings on age. I'm not sure I'm as fearless as you, however. In any case, I know 30 year olds who are old, and 60 year olds who are not. It's all about attitude. Technique trumps strength most of the time, just as Roger said. Keep up your street shooting. Be smart when soldiers challenge you about it, but not too smart. Get some combat pics if you can. Be reasonably careful about it. But not afraid.
 
Ruben I know exactly what you are speaking about. There was a time 30 years I could run the streets of Manahttan all night with a co-pilot looking for the one news worthy shot. Damn what fun. Nikon F and F2 hanging off me. Now it seems photography as we lived and breathed it is CTD...circling the drain. I will continue to take the time and love to fondle the wonderufl images still to be shot.
 
Ruben: We are the same age. We are also, I think, from the same ethnic tradition. Which means we have a tendency to kvetch about our problems and limitations. Which is OK, unless it keeps us from fully living life.

I would suggest that you concentrate on what you can do rather than on what you can not. Some things we can't do anything about. And some things we have to deal with, but we can push against the barriers, and try to make ourselves able to do more.

You may have to take different kinds of pictures than you did when you were 25. Or the same kind of pictures, but of different subjects. You may need to use a different camera--I know of some people who gave up manual cameras and went to autofocus at a certain age. I also found that cameras with diopter adjustments in the viewfinder (or the Megaperls magnifier for Leica, some other RFs and Nikon SLRs) can bring the world into focus again.

See the eye doctor at least once a year. Our eyes change a lot in our 50s. Some people who think they can't see well any more simply need new glasses more often than before. I have to get new lenses about every 9 months right now.

Also, sometimes a change of diet or lifestyle can help a lot. If you smoke, stop (or at least reduce it as much as you can). If you don't get regular exercise, start taking walks every day and gradually increase the length. Walking with your camera helps both the exercise and the photography.

You might check with a doctor to see if you are lactose intolerant, and if so, avoid milk products or use a Lactase enzyme when you eat them. (this is a common problem among our tribe). Raw onions or garlic might not work for you any more. Less coffee and more water sometimes helps.

You may not be able to be a 25-year old photojournalist, but you can still be a happy amateur photographer. Maybe you should create a project for yourself. Something like, "I'm going to post a picture on RFF every week." Or "I'm going to document daily life in my neighborhood." Whatever interests you.

Hope this is helpful
--Peter
 
Oh well, this topic is far more interesting than average gear related battle (if it doesn't cover something specific I need to solve right now to use camera).

I'm approaching 40 and this week have visited two different doctors and will see one of them on Saturday again. Well, I'm not going to fall into "hurts that and there". Just to position myself as being somewhere in between.

I want to tell that moments when I feel "something changed not to better side" are great in matter, they make me to mobilize and appreciate anything I can do. When everything is fine, unfortunately, days pass by and I take them like granted. It's not so. I yet have to learn true value of days.

If life would ask me today what I would like to have, I'd want to keep clarity of mind in my old years.

And you, Ruben, are brave in context of bringing up what matters to you ("speak about it, don't hide" approach). Also I appreciate widening areas about what people with cameras could talk - I think it matters a lot.
 
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Chris101 said:
I heard a TV commercial yesterday with a great line. It must've been aimed at boomers: "Never trust anyone over 90."

I think it was for medicine.
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Chris: A couple of years ago, I saw a TV ad for an optical company--I think they make progressive lenses for glasses. It showed a bunch of aging "boomers" holding a demonstration in front of what looked like a courthouse, with columns. They were holding signs. One sign said "Free the Presbyopic Six."

Another said "I can't read this sign, either."

Too close to home for comfort! :D :eek:

--Peter
 
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