Any Guilty Pleasures?

[Honu-Hugger]

Any guilty pleasures that relate to photography and can be discussed in a family forum?

I grew up influenced by sports car racing, Formula One, sailboat racing and Unlimited Hydroplanes (Dad took me to a Gold Cup race in Detroit around age five, I was hooked and it was an annual event every year after). Never had an interest in drag racing but within the last couple of years I have developed a fascination with the Top Fuel cars; never caught my attention before but now I'm somewhat obsessed with them!!!

Just last weekend Tony Schumacher had a record run of 336.15 mph and a 4.489 second elapsed time -- and this is for a quarter mile (in case some members are not familiar with the sport). This summer I have vowed to attend and photograph at least one of these Top Fuel races -- either Las Vegas, Seattle, or California. All are about the same distance from where I live. Anybody else have any similar guilty pleasures?

 

[FrankS]

None that relate to photography and can be discussed in a family forum.

 

[Stephan]

Nah, and cant get interested in racing either 😛

 

[CleverName]

Guinness pleasures me immensely, but I don't feel guilty about it. 🙂

 

[sf]

guilty pleasures

guilty pleasures

Top fuel racing is not so guilty. I suppose you can call the acquisition of gear a guilty pleasure if it is done with money that you don't have to spend. I have sold things like my computer, bike, other cameras, stereo equipment, etc. to buy cameras. I even considered moving to California to take a job down here, because a family member offered me a car if I needed it. I could take the job and sell my current car. Camera money. Lots of new toys. But I knew that the demons of GAS were polluting my mind. And it is REALLY hard for me to keep the credit cards in the wallet when I see something I want, no matter how illogical the purchase would be.

So photography is a guilty pleasure.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

I have none at present, as guilt prevents me.

But... If I could it would be expensive jazz guitars. I am looking for opportunities to photograph some, hopefully while they are being played. I have had one myself but had to sell it. A Gibson Herb Ellis Model, ES165.

I have a "Jazz Box" but it is a bargain (by comparison) Chinese made Ibanez. Sounds good though. Maybe I should start out shooting it.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Buying Leica gear is a guilty pleasure enough as it is. A pleasure I bought it and have it, guilty I didn't use the money to fly to Paris.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Gabrielma... you'll always have Paris.

As for the question: good food, this forum. And playing with my M3.

 

[rover]

Very good food, I love to cook, and therefore eat,

Red wine,

And I like the races too.

This will be another Memorial Day though that I do not head to Lime Rock to see the major GT and other touring car races. I would love to photograph the races, less for the action and more for the color, activities and people.

Same thing, I have images of vinyards and wineries in my mind. How about a classic Rollieflex in an old fashioned kitchen? Things I can photograph because they are things I enjoy.

 

[Allen Gilman]

Don't have enuff money for guilty pleasures. Salacious pleasures is another story...

 

[Oldprof]

My guilty pleasures are closely-guarded state secrets.

 

[Pherdinand]

Guilty pleasures? Well, there's one but it's not fulfilled yet, that is, it's not a pleasure just a pleasure-wannabe. Or call it a dirty dream. I want to go once to Effenaar that is a large local club with occasional concerts and big parties, and wanna do it when there's a gothic party and wanna persuade several members of the public to pose for me in the backyard of the club which is a very fitting environment. It has one large brick wall of a former building, partially demolished and full of graffiti, with large holes that were once windows.

There are two things that stopped me so far. One, these gatherings are always happening late in the evening and the lighting is really bad there - a few strong lamps producing impossible to capture contrasts. Two, i'm too chicken. I mean, those folks are not the ones you see saturday mid-day in the grocery shop. They are really scary.
But i knew one such guy back in my old days of studentship, and he was a really nice guy, no matter how big and scary looking.
However, I did buy ten rolls of delta3200 in 120-format...with the secret intent to use some of them in this project.

Oh and ther's still that bubblebath to take together with Milla Jovovich, but that's not related to photography 😀

 

[rover]

I just had to Goggle a referance here. I won't tell you which one, but I must say that someone here has very good taste.

 

[Pherdinand]

Don't tell us that you had to google Guinness, Rover! 😀

 

[wierdcollector]

My first SLR was bought to further my guilty pleasure of photographing Drag racing, (Yes, Top Fuel) but spread to include anything with an engine. I've since attended the Oskosh EAA shows, Drag races in Spokane Washington, Brainerd Minnesota (many drunken weekends woo hoo), Gulfport Mississippi, North Dakota, World of Outlaws sprint car races in Minnesota, Knoxville Iowa, Wisconsin, winter motorcycle racing on ice, ice racing, etc. Anything that makes noise, goes fast, or has the potential for disasterous results seems to attract me like a magnet. Unlike most, I never attend concerts, don't take photos at festivals/carnivals, or street photography. Either because I'm too shy to stick a camera in someone's direction or because I prefer landscapes, animals,history related, auto or still life shots, not really sure.

 

[mtokue]

I just had to Goggle a referance here. I won't tell you which one, but I must say that someone here has very good taste.

Milla Jovovich?????

Gibson Herb Ellis ES165????

M3????

or

(guilty pleasures) Tony Schumacher??? 😀

 

[rover]

No to Tony Schumacher, M3, and Gibson Herb Ellis ES165.

 

[kiev4a]

When I was in my teens and early twenties I loved Formula 1 racing. Jimmy Clark was my hero. I devoured every issue of Road & Track magazine and the articles of Henry N. Manney (SP?). While in the military I was stationed at Fort Ord, California and had the chance to attend a Canadian-American Challenge Cup race and Laguna Seca. It was the first year Jim Hall was running the Chaparrals with their adjustible spoilers. They just ran off and left everybody. I was standing near a corner with my Cannon IV SB (normal lens) and John Surtees, former F-1 World Champ slide off the course in his Lola, plowed through so straw bales and came to a halt about 25 yards from me. He got out of the car, pulled off his helment and walked toward me on his way back to the pits. As he passed he asked if I had got a picture. I was still frozen in absolute awe. I mumbled "no". Surtees said something like "too bad somebody didn't get some bloody good out of it!" I do have a few slides somewhere of that race, however -- 1966, I think.

 

[dmr]

Any guilty pleasures that relate to photography and can be discussed in a family forum?

Interesting thread for sure. 🙂

No, I'm not into racing. A goth party might have interested me back in another life, and I know some people here know that I used to be into RHPS back in my 20's which does and did have a crossover into the goth scene. Don't worry, they don't bite, they just look like they do. 🙂

But anyway, one guilty pleasure I do imbibe in is Las Vegas. I'm a very low-stakes gamer, mostly machines, and I'm smart enough to know that I need to see it as entertainment and not as a means of getting rich. My dad and my aunt got me hooked on Las Vegas when I was in my 20's, and I've taken countless trips back ever since, always admiring the scene there. I could go on and on with this. 🙂

Some who know the avatars I use know that I frequent various Las Vegas discussion forums, and I'm active with a group which gets together IRL in Las Vegas each year.

As for photography, I didn't take too much in Las Vegas until about 10 years ago, but since then I've OD'd. I particularly like the night sights. I would like to take more in the casinos but I admit I'm a bit shy of doing it and I want to be considerate of those in there who might not want to be photographed. (Yes, I have a whole list of which casinos allow what.)

I also like the surrounding area. I've never been the "outdoorsy" type, but I love the desert and mountain scenery and I've taken countless shots of nearby places like Valley Of Fire, Death Valley, and Zion National Park.

At the urging of some friends, I started putting some of the photos I've taken in Las Vegas over the years on line. Here are some links to some of those I've posted. Some are scanned from prints, some were lab scanned when processing. I even included a few "bad" ones where somebody had an interest.

http://www.letis.com/dmr/pics/vegas1.html
http://www.letis.com/dmr/pics/vegas/vegas2/
http://www.letis.com/dmr/pics/vegas/vegas3/
http://www.letis.com/dmr/pics/vegas/vegas4/

The last 2 pages above have quite a few rangefinder shots, since I've taken it along on the last 2 trips.

 

[Marc Jutras]

A goth party might have interested me back in another life, and I know some people here know that I used to be into RHPS back in my 20's which does and did have a crossover into the goth scene. Don't worry, they don't bite, they just look like they do. 🙂

Well, they might bite, but only in a lovely way. 😀 Lately, as you've probably seen i my gallery, I've been shooting mostly in the goth scene.

I've got an upcoming event which will definitely fall in the pleasure category but there won't be guilt at all. Unfortunately, since that stage presentation involves latex, leather and lace, I won't show it here but I'll provide a link for those who might appreciate it. The following projects might end up in a donjon or a cemetary. I've got a wonderful summer ahead of me.