Losing Steam with Cameras

[B-9]

Strange.

I seem to be losing steam when it comes to interest in cameras.

I have sold most of them and have not yet replaced them with any.

Just cannot seem to get as interested as I once was.

I am still making photos... but I am not really enjoying the tool.

Maybe I need to find something new or quirky to pursue (camera)

What gear gets you motivated?

Edit: Better maybe to say “What gear gets your excited?”

 

[Deleted member 65559]

B-9 "What gear gets you motivated?" Places, travel, & events motivate my urge to take photographs. Gear, not so much.

 

[Godfrey]

B-9 "What gear gets you motivated?" Places, travel, & events motivate my urge to take photographs. Gear, not so much.

Similar here. I do have some cameras that are quirky and fun to see what I can get out of them, but I'm more driven by the desire to make photos of the world and the things/people in it than I am by cameras.

It's more that the photography drives me to be interested in various cameras than that the cameras drive me to be interested to make photographs. 🙂

G

 

[charjohncarter]

I'm with Godfrey, the picture is what I want to see, not a new camera. I did buy a new camera last year or maybe two years ago. It was digital even though it is way above my needs I still only use for some volunteer work.

When I take pictures for myself I pick up one that has film in it and go outside. I usually have 4 or 5 cameras with film in them at a time.

 

[Ambro51]

Get A Stereo Realist!!!!

 

[B-9]

Get a Stereo Realist! Haha you get it!

 

[aizan]

Don’t question it! Just accept it and enjoy the new state of existence.

 

[shimokita]

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."

― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Cameras and lenses do not motivates me, but subject are.
I have following motivations:
Family, Gear: Canon AF DSLR, it would be nice to get RP for it, instead of heavy 5D MKII. I also use 500D and E-PL1.
Walking with dog, jogging. Waiting for parks, trails to be reopen. Gear: Olympus E-PL1 and small film cameras. Would be nice add OM-D 5 MKIII for it and update P&S.
Local events: Leica M-E, M4-2.
Street photography: Same Leicas and Nikon SLRs, E-PL1.

Before C happened I liked to switch film and digital, use different cameras for street.
I don't have even 35mm for my film Nikons and don't miss it at all. Two 28, one 24 and 20, 19 mm. One of my last, if not latest before C happened street walk was with M-E and 20mm Nikon F mount lens. It was fun. I would like to test more compact 19mm F mount lens on M-E, but again, it is not gear, yet street, people I would like to get closer to.

 

[vagab0nd]

I inherited my grandfather's Rolleicord. Whenever I need inspiration, I bring that out and put a roll or two through it. The combination of the craftsmanship of the Rollei and the personal history of the camera usually works to re-focus me.

 

[Tom R]

Motivation comes from you.

In over forty years of making pictures, gear only motivated me when it needed fixing .... then I found the motivation to get a better paying job and still find time to make pictures.

 

[JeffS7444]

"When you don't know what camera to buy, buy a Kiev-90"

 

[james.liam]

Locked at home with no clear end to this Wuhan plague doesn't promote hopefulness.

Read books, study the images of masters. Perhaps they will become your muse.

 

[Ambro51]

My Avatar over there < is Harold Lloyd. One day, out with friends who were taking pictures, one hung a Stereo Realist on him and said “Just do what we do!”. His Astonishment and Rapture shooting stereo took hold. He took an astonishing 300,000 stereo slides! ••••• Point here being shooting 3D instead of 2D gives you added levels of expression and enjoyment. It IS the perfect side trip and a really good way to do something “new”. A Stereo Realist today costs about $50-$75 and are almost always working fine. Mounts and Viewers are easily sourced.

 

[Bill Clark]

What gear gets you motivated?

Really, not any.

It’s what’s in front of the camera that motivates me.

My family, our children and their families motivate me.

 

[farlymac]

At first the only thing that could kill my motivation was budgetary constrictions. Now going out to take photos could be the very thing that kills me! I try to keep it in mind to take a camera with me when I need to make a grocery run, just in case I can make a diversionary return trip, but that seemed like a bad idea after a while.


Anyway, I used try to find an excuse such as 120 Day, or International Commie Camera Day, or Worldwide Pinhole Day, or Toy Camera Day to hop in the vehicle and search for subject matter. Failing those, maybe it would just be time to exercise a particular camera I hadn't used in a while. Or maybe it was just so darn pretty out. Or foggy. Or flat.


There are a lot of things that motivate me, and the biggest is to try to do better each time I grab a camera.


PF

 

[jpressman]

I have bought cameras in the past to jumpstart my motivation, I'm sure others have done this too. After all, this is somewhat of a gear related forum, no? Right now, things being what they are in terms of being out and about, I'm having trouble staying in touch with my photo-mojo, so I look around and think of a gear change. Full frame? Fuji instant? Back to film? Print more out of the archives? I just don't know, I understand your quandary.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Devin,
Maybe try what I have been doing; buy a typewriter, of unknown provenance, in as-is or "working but needs cleaning" condition, and then fix it. Then write with it. Then maybe write letters to people and mail them. I still have yet to drop a letter in the mail, but I have a bunch of typewriters I'm fixing, and I'm doing a lot of garbage writing, instead of finishing my thesis.
Phil Forrest

 

[Greg Maslak]

Devin,
Maybe try what I have been doing; buy a typewriter, of unknown provenance, in as-is or "working but needs cleaning" condition, and then fix it. Then write with it. Then maybe write letters to people and mail them. I still have yet to drop a letter in the mail, but I have a bunch of typewriters I'm fixing, and I'm doing a lot of garbage writing, instead of finishing my thesis.
Phil Forrest

This is an inspired idea. I will hold on to it for a time when I can scrounge out an old typewriter. In the meantime, my son and I have embarked on a camera obscura project. The plan is to turn a “room with a view” into a projection of the backyard trees. If that works, we have a workshop that looks out toward a mountain view. Hopefully, we can make a magical upside down world.

If smaller suits better, try a pinhole or a simple cardboard view box like the ones folks used to view the solar eclipse. You don’t even need film or photographic paper With the view box, just your memory.

 

[zuiko85]

Same here. Shot a lot of film in the past but now?
Get more a kick out of building and seeing what lens can cover what format.
About 3 months ago was gifted a Kodak Tourist with a clean and working 100mm f8.8 Triplet in a 3 speed shutter. Popped off the lens and mounted it on a homemade 4X5 box camera just to see how much the lens will cover. Turns out the image circle is 140mm so I’ve reduced the frame to 95 X 100mm and have Been shooting Ilford MG4 RC in it. Lots of very simple and cheap fun.