if you want to talk about photography - then do so!

[back alley]

i love all this b.s. chat about this site and the members being all about gear and such, like it's a bad thing.
try taking a photo without a camera, pretty limited eh?

if you are one of the artists out there that want to discuss photography then do so, please.

but whining about camera strap threads, especially when it seems like people actually want to discuss them, is just plain dumb and it would seem obvious you have no idea about who your audience is.

so start a thread about photography, please.

i just don't get the friggin' negativity this place is generating lately.

what the blazes difference does it make to you if people like cameras and gear as much as the actual photos.

anyone here listen to cd's by pressing them up against your ear?
or do you have some gear that plays the music for you?

for the all the complainers, where are your comments in the gallery? i hope they are there as you'll look more legit in your complaints here.
and is your gallery just chock full of images for others to view?

i'm just getting sick & tired of this crap!

joe

 

[schaubild]

Feeling better now?

I don't like to talk about photography, I prefer to talk about real images or even better: let them speak for themselves.
But discussions about gear are something completely different, so nice and objective (?)......

It's like talking about women and cars, one subject is real and the other one you'll never really understand 🙂

 

[VinceC]

I thought the original post of Capa/Camera Straps was kind of fun and tasteful, unlike some of the follow-up threads that spun off from it.

 

[back alley]

i don't feel better, no.

my rant is not directed at any one particular thread.

i'd just like to know what happened to live & let live around here?

i like gear talk.
i like looking in the gallery.

why do i feel like a criminal for enjoying gear talk?

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Joe

Nobody is getting at you or your recent thread which was basically a 'camera strap' thread.

I, for one, am amazed that people would rather discuss straps or bags than photography and so brought it up as an issue.

Everybody has been very even-tempered and contributed well, although your first post in this thread seems unbecoming of a moderator and respected member.

I'm just getting sick & tired of this crap!

Is that language now allowed in here? One guy got banned for something similar last week.

 

[back alley]

the negativity wears thin when you read most every thread.

and i do get weary of the comments...this site is more about gear than that other site...and the ad naseum comments about how we are fondlers and gearheads and not photographers.

i enjoy the banter, that is not what i'm talking about.

perhaps i am having a bad day...

 

[bmattock]

Joe, I agree with you. I have probably hundreds of (low cost, cheap, crappy) cameras, most rangefinders, and they all do basically the same job, even if they work at all. Some have sharper lenses than others, some are better suited for one type of photography than another, but most fall in the broad range of 'that'll do.' So why have them? Why talk about them? I could easily get by on a couple of cameras chosen from the pack that fit just about every photographic need I'd ever have.

But I like to buy them, fix them up (if I can), talk to people who also like to talk about them, fix them up - and yes, I go out and shoot with them.

I consider myself a serious photographer - not great but with a basic ability. I'm also a unrepentant camera fondler and I don't care at all what people think of that. I think that a 1930's or 1940's Zeiss camera is a joy to hold in the hand - like nearly nothing else on earth.

I understand that there are people who like to read and discuss just photography. There are also those who like to read and discuss only kit. Live and let live, I don't care at all if people prefer one and not the other.

What I don't get, what ticks me off, is those people who prefer one or the other who insist on being offended by the mere existance of threads of which they apparently don't approve.

They post "This thread is boring, I'm leaving" - like anyone cares if they find it boring.

They post "Why don't we stop posting about this nonsense that nobody cares about" - when obviously some do find it interesting or it would not be continuing.

They start other threads to complain about the first thread.

And they even engage in the most childish behavior - resurrecting old threads - any old threads and posting any inane comment on them - so that the board software will 'push' the thread they don't care for down off the front page 'new posts' display. They even PM each other and conspire to make posts they mutually dislike go away by this method.

How five-years-old is that?

I don't get it, I'll never get it. I like both threads about cameras and other esoterica surrounding photography and about photographs themselves. But even if I didn't, I'd spend time on the ones I liked, and ignore the ones I didn't.

This is hard how, exactly?

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[ywenz]

Jon, your cappa/strap thread was implicitly elitist by nature. You were basically saying you don't understand why people don't have the same interest as you do.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

perhaps i am having a bad day...

I think so too. You are one of the good guys.

 

[wtl]

i'd just like to know what happened to live & let live around here?

Good point. But should this big word of "Live-and-let-live" also include those who like to complain and have their opinions? Do they deserve as much right as your liking gears and talking about it?

Not picking on you but just curious...

 

[ywenz]

No one ever likes a complainer, but it is okay to complain about a complainer if the goal is to crush any future complainers.

 

[Leica-Virgin]

I have never had a problem with an interest in gear exclusive to the practice of photography.
I am 50/50 photographer/collector and I have always justified the collecting part of my hobby as an interest in and appreciation of art and design.
There are whole museums devoted to art and design notably the V and A in London.
You can collect art or furniture or pottery or just about anything else without necessarily being able to paint, build a chair or throw a pot. So what's so special about photography?

 

[bmattock]

No one ever likes a complainer, but it is okay to complain about a complainer...

I don't really care for your complaint about complainers who complain about complainers. I insist you stop making sense. So there.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[wtl]

No one ever likes a complainer, but it is okay to complain about a complainer if the goal is to crush any future complainers.

On the first glance, that seems to sum it up...

But then, what about those popular complaints of ebay, slow site, etc.?

This "live-and-let-live" is confusing...

 

[yossarian]

Gear talk is fun. I enjoy cameras as "things" and like most of them.

Except the Kodak Disc. Sometimes a line must be drawn.

Fred

 

[dcsang]

Part of me wants to go grab some popcorn and a soda, turn the lights down low, and sit back and watch the show..

The other part of me wants to contribute..

I think I'll watch a bit first before getting up and yelling at the screen before I'm told "DOWN IN FRONT !!!" 😉

When in doubt, sit back, take a deep breath, have a drink of whatever refreshes you and realize that, in the be all and end all of things - all of this *points around at cameras, photos, computers, etc.* - is merely material... life's short.... live it while you got it.

Dave

 

[ywenz]

On the first glance, that seems to sum it up...

But then, what about those popular complaints of ebay, slow site, etc.?

That's different from complaining about other members on the site. Jon's post was a complaint about other members' 'gear-before-cappa' photography taste. < - that was annoying.

 

[dll927]

Up above, in Chaubild's remarks about women and cameras, he failed to make clear which one he doesn't understand.

 

[ch1]

Most "interests" have a split b/w "users" and "gearheads" - so it's unsurprising to find it here too.

I enjoy "serious" bicycling. I am a "rider" who values good equipment but sees it as a means to an end - not an end in itself. Conversely, I have a good friend who I first met via cycling who is a gear freak.

He loves having the latest and greatest bike with top of the line components. He is forever fondling his gear and constantly cleaning and adjusting it.

He rarely rides and when he does, as with my wife and I last Sunday, he "bails out" after only a few miles.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like the guy - and I benefit from the fact that he enjoys overhauling our bikes - whereas I find that to be a boring chore.

So to each his own. Some folks here are to me too "gear focused" (pun intended) for my taste. Whereas I see myself as a "user" more so than a "collector". But I will admit I've learned a heck of a lot about RFs from reading some of the "gearhead" threads here.

So keep it up! 😀

 

[markinlondon]

I just like well made things. It's the reason I shoot with a Leica when a Pentax K1000 would do the same job (I have got a Pentax K1000 BTW). It's why I write my notes in a Moleskine notebook and not a 50p one from WH Smith. It's why I prefer to play my guitar through a hand wired Fender guitar amp and not a digital modelling amp. If I could afford one, my bike would be a Rivendell (it's a Surly). These all fall into the category of old-school nice things IMO.

Sometimes it's nice to find others who like similar things and talk about them.

I see no problem with doing that here when the well made things are related to photography. Sometimes the discussions may be quite peripheral to photography, esoteric even.

Because people may have other mutual interests the discussion may drift OT to other fields.

I may disagree with other people. Others may (and probably do) disagree with me.

This is what you get when you are part of a community. Complaining that a thread is not what you want to talk about is pointless. Just let it go, there'll be another along in a minute.

Mark