Hipster vs. analog hobby photographer

I'm over 40 now. Can you imagine how cool it would be if someone called me a hipster?

Tom,

I'm 55 and don't look or act my age. I have a pony tail; I no longer wear an ear ring, but I pierced my own ear way back in 1973 when I was fifteen years old. I wear tight jeans, and wear expensive luxury brand glasses. I'm not at the point yet where my youthful trendiness looks stupid or inappropriate.

I went to art school in the seventies and that's where I learned film photography. Call me an old hipster but back then I was an art major just because I liked the crazy women in the art department.

Today I feel like a hipster because I just bought a Leica Monochrom, but deep down inside I'm still just an old analog photographer. Interesting the reversal and position of the OP.

Cal
 
Anyone who is under 40 is a hipster, that's what the term has been derived to.
:)

until the next term comes around.
 
Wow, hot topic! I must admit I question those that refute analog photography's contribution to artistic advances altogether. But then again, I question everyone who think they "are right, and no one else is".

The reason I was "insulted", I think, was because of the "hipster"'s lack of interest in the artistic process (based on my stereotype). (I wasn't really insulted, just taken aback ;) ).
 
I don't know about 'hipster' but 'cool' has always had me confused.

When I was young, it was cool to be hot.

With increasing years, to be hot, one had to be cool.

In old age, one becomes lukewarm about cool and wishes to God one had it within oneself to be hot again.

The only time you're unambiguously cool, of course, is when you're dead, and then you hope that your sins don't get you sent to a place that's infernally hot....
 
Portlandia is brilliant.

Was in cheese shop in Williamsburg a few weeks ago and all the cheeses had these big, dense index cards full of long winded descriptions written by marginally employed english majors sticking out of them and I couldn't help thinking that it was a living Portlandia skit...
 
Of course, the difference between you and a hipster is that you were shooting film and using older cameras *before* it was cool.

No wait-- that makes you a hipster.
 
Well you do have a beard or at least your avatar does...

Good you mentioned it as I have avatars off and wanted to advise him to get a beard. If that isn't helping you probably are a hipster :D
 
Where is the line? The reason I ask, is because my girlfriend said, "well, you are a little hipster". And I was like, "whaaat?? I feel insulted!".

...

When has one crossed the hipster line?

Don't be insulted. Read beteen the lines. Her comment has nothing to do with your camera gear. She really wants you to start wearing more trendy clothing and shoes.
 
"Having owned a couple of watering holes, I can tell you the vast majority of men have no idea how they look.

Ask a 17 year old to guess your age to judge your age estimate."

Fred,

A few years ago I took a sewing menswear class at FIT where I learned how to make a men's dress shirt. I had just discovered Paul Smith and bought a new suit for a wedding, (not my own, I live in sin) and my professor asked me to wear my new suit to the last class.

You have to know that I was likely the oldest person in the class and likely older than the professor, but one very young girl who was very pretty with smokey eyes said, "You look like an Asian version of James Bond." LOL.

A while back I was a performance artist so I am very aware of how I act, look and the way I am perceived. Perhaps I look late thirties or perhaps 40 because I still have an athletic build. To a 17 year old, I'm at the point that I'm not only old enough to be your father, but almost old enough to be their grandfather.

Cal
 
Or less trendy (perhaps the skin-tight pants are showing too much).

Don't be insulted. Read beteen the lines. Her comment has nothing to do with your camera gear. She really wants you to start wearing more trendy clothing and shoes.
 
How about being called a Luddite? I used that word the other day and got a "huh? What?" response. Punk rockers were into old, vintage stuff, but were definitely anti-style. Were they hipsters, or punks? Harley riders all seem to wear beautifully tailored leather vests, eagle and flag motifs, and matching bandannas. Are they biker hipsters?

It's just the term of the day, that's all. But there are a lot of people in all genres that dress the "part" but know very little about the subject.

So there's your answer. A hipster cannot tell you how a Barnack is different from a Vitessa, or Tri-X from Ilford. But they look the part. If you know about photography, you're a photographer, not a hipster.
 
"Having owned a couple of watering holes, I can tell you the vast majority of men have no idea how they look.

Ask a 17 year old to guess your age to judge your age estimate."

The difference is Cal is a 55 year old man who looks like he's in his late 30s... for real, no exaggeration. Everyone is always shocked at his age...doesn't matter if they are 17 or 60.
 
The difference is Cal is a 55 year old man who looks like he's in his late 30s... for real, no exaggeration. Everyone is always shocked at his age...doesn't matter if they are 17 or 60.

By some people's definition (under 40) I could pass for a hipster.

Cal
 
I'm a fat, baggy eyed, pot gut, grumpy old mam.....who still uses film.

Don't think anyone would mistake me for a 'hipster'.
 
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