Never mind photography...

[wray]

Today I will enjoy spending the afternoon with my 3 year old grandson. We'll probably go to the park, feed the ducks in the lake and then set off to get an ice cream for him, an expresso for me while sitting outside watching the world go by and enjoy each other's company! Nothing better than this for me!

 

[nikon_sam]

Not trying to change the direction of this thread but there are a few smells out there that make me fell good or bring comfort...
Popcorn
Freshly cut grass
Someone barbecueing
Rain on the way
Orange blossoms
Pine trees in the mountains
The scent of your favorite perfume as it walks by
Freshly baked bread
Film in your camera
The exhaust of a finely-tuned classic car (my daughter will agree with this one)
Leather
Squeezing a spearmint leaf between your finger and then smelling them...

There are others but I'll stop here...

 

[andrewteee]

Hills and mountains

Hills and mountains

Nothing is better to me than a hike in the mountains or a snowshoe trek followed by a warm cabin filled with lasagna and a bottle of red wine, sweetie or friends at my side. Or a day in Pt. Reyes. Camera or not.

 

[Larky]

Frisbee. I really love Frisbee. Watching a film with my girl of an evening whilst eating a Chicken Stew with chunky big home made croutons. 🙂 Hmmm.

 

[brainwood]

As roger started this with bikes:

A sunny dry winding B road, no trafffic and my hand on the throttle of my Honda Fireblade . One bum cheek off the seat and the world rushing beneath your knee.
Alternatively stopping for a pint on the vintage motorcycle club's Banbury run on a pre 1930 machine after 35 enjoyable miles riding with 500 other like minded and oil soaked people. To be topped only by a clean run up sunrising hill.
Chris

 

[Michael P.]

Standing at sunset on the deck that I built and wondering how I ever got a house with a view of the Pacific Ocean.
Lying in bed at night and listening to the sound of the surf down the hill.
The sight and sound of the wind through the pines around the house.
My wife showing me her latest craft creation.
The cats curling up next to me for company.

 

[dave lackey]

On the first warm day of early Spring, driving with my bride in the MG for hours through urban traffic and arriving at altitude on the Blue Ridge Parkway; dropping the convertible top, securing the tonneau cover; snicking the gearshift into first gear as the exhaust barks and enjoying the panoramic view while the wind rushes through our hair.

Simply heaven, that pure, natural feeling of "nakedness".

 

[Tom A]

Arriving at a new destination - no preconceptions of what to expect.

Start of a long road trip - both in times of miles to go and time to spend.

Finding a book you don't want to end.

Watch the sea roll in and knowing that it doesn't give a hoot about politics or other human endeavours - and will keep rolling long after we are all gone.

Waking up in the morning and realizing that it is a new day - with new possibilites (and at my age - with no major aches and pain).

Finishing a project you have procrastinated over for a long time.

Wasting time with insignificant tasks - just for the hell of it.

 

[dave lackey]

...what else makes you feel good? Let's exclude the obvious, but how about this: a beautiful, warm spring day, one of the finest motorcycles ever made (1978 BMW R100RS) and a pretty girl on the back?

Earlier today (Thursday) I took my 18-year-old 'adopted daughter' to Thouars to catch the train home to stay with her father for a long weekend and see her boyfriend. The envy of others was palpable: spring day, classic bike, beautiful girl (even if they did guess she was a daughter, or thought, 'dirty old man'). She has seen the envy too, and laughed (with me) at it.

I didn't even bother to take a camera. Yes, I could construct a shot that summarized it, but that would be a question of casting/props/movie still production, not the sort of photography I normally do.

Other offers on things you can't photograph? Again, barring the obvious, which could rapidly descend into pornography. Life is for living: we can't (and maybe shouldn't) shoot too much of it.

Tashi delek,

R.

Aw, mannnnn.....Roger, you have planted a seed that wants to take root and grow! A 1982 BMW R100RT 😱

http://www.bluemooncycle.com/bikes_classic.htm


Grrrr.....

 

[-doomed-]

I find that third gear bearing down on 80 mph nearing 7,000 rpm(the sound of the engine sucking in air and the exhaust nearing the same harmonic tone is fantastic) in a car i basically tore apart and rebuilt a week before going full bore on school work makes me happy. Theres a feeling that driving something youve personally been involved in the process of "building" and pushing it to its limits that really makes me happy. I can't explain it , but since you ride a motorcycle im sure you can understand. I have yet to make my entrance into motorcycles as I havent overcome the fear of being run over ( my last three cars got rear ended by morons not paying attention and one was hit head on totalling the car) I have a bike lined up if i ever do get over it. I have every intent of cutting it up and rebuilding it as well.
Mechanical things and the ability to rebuild and enjoy them is what makes me tick i guess.

 

[Harry S.]

- Games of pool (billiards) with mates at a nice pub

- Long sunny afternoons spent with friends around a BBQ relaxing and laughing

- Thrashing a fast car on a deserted windy mountain road in the early hours of the morning. Hearing the exhaust reverberate off the walls with the windows down. Especially when its a turbo.

-Driving in car and a great song comes on the radio and singing along

-Long hot showers in the morning when youre sick.

Things I like 🙂

 

[al1966]

Putting the key in the door of a flat after youve been homeless, a divine relief
Living with a beautiful person, (not so much in the superficial sense)
A dog
Fine food (I like French the most)
Finding new and interesting music
Writing short passages
Pain and fatigue free days or hours
Good books
Good coffee
Cigarettes
Blue and White cups
The feeling of a summer shower on a hot day
Bedford river bank
Love

 

[Monstah]

I have to re-iterate what others have said. This is a wonderful, uplifting thread.

For me, I love being with my wife and 2 year old daughter. Nothing gives me more joy or pleasure.

Looking out of my window of a morning over our 10 acres is something that always makes me smile regardless of the weather. Much as I wouldn’t swap the countryside of the UK on a bright summers day for anywhere, I’d never have been able to have the space I have here in Australia.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

My Favorite Things:
• A box of kittens.
• Rollercoasters.
• Inline skating along Ipanema and Copacabana beaches, or in Central Park.
• Waking up in Rio.
• Opening the box from KEH.
• Watching an old movie, alone: Charade, To Catch a Thief, The Philadelphia Story, Bringing Up Baby, Bell Book and Candle....
• A Syracuse basketball game.
• Any Formula 1 race, but especially Spa, Monaco, or Australia.
• A new suit, just back from the tailor.
• "Freshly laundered bedding" — good one, JJ. I'm stealing this.
• AMC Theaters in San Diego.
• Rounds 9 and 10: Buster Douglas vs Mike Tyson.
• Godiva Milk Chocolate Pecan Caramel Bouchées.
• Häagen-Dasz Cherry Vanilla ice cream at midnight.
• Ham and scrambled eggs at Coffee Shop or Waffle House.
• First Class international air travel.
• A Panerai.
• The Apple store.
• A beautiful, sun-kissed woman in a black bikini.
• Thursday night sitcoms.
• Hotel rooms.
• My cousin's blueberry pancakes.
• Red Sox spanking the Yankees.

 

[dave lackey]

Getting a paycheck.

 

[blackwave]

72 degrees on a spring day in Kansas City, walking across the great lawn at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art with my son strapped snugly to my chest.. hours to kill.

Ahhh...

 

[kshapero]

Putting in 20 miles or so on some backs roads on my bike, coming home and swimming, then sitting on the porch with a bourbon on ice and watch the sun go down, preferably with a camera.

 

[rumbliegeos]

Just found this thread, and many of the pleasures mentioned so far resonate with me. One more is to view a really well-crafted documentary film or television program. Visiting a greenhouse full of blooming flowers during the depths of a Maine winter is another.

 

[Jack Ketch]

I like to wake up in a 500 thread count set of sheets on my oaken-hewed bed, with a fine Cohiba cigar still smoldering in my mouth, along with my fine silk pajamas soaked with a vintage cognac, with hints of mulberry and seaweed, which I will wring out and swallow immediately, spilling just a little on my expensive Mac Powerbook.

In my bed will be a splendid 18 year old chanteuse, who will perform various ministrations on me until I am satiated.

At this point, as I feel consciousness intruding on my previous state of bliss, I will ingest 6 freshly prescribed Vicodin ES tablets, along with a wonderful mint tea highly sweetened with 12 lumps of "Parrot" brand Turbinado sugar.

Slowly, I will arise, and turn on my excellent 56" Pansonic plasma TV connected to a Blu Ray DVD player loaded with an amusing 1930's Hal Roach production, preferably a "Little Rascals" episode featuring a young "Spanky", or perhaps "The Piano Movers" with Laurel and Hardy.

As I watch the humorous performance, the opioids and the brandy will slowly kick in, I strap on my 1965 Rolex "James Bond" Submariner, and that's when I stumble to the shed and mount my lovingly restored 1944 Reichswehr BMW motorcycle with a fully operable all-original Bren gun mounted in the sidecar, at which point I will take to the highway at 90 mph.

A sturdy, loyal little native bearer will accompany me, manning the Bren gun, and carrying a large Corinthian leather rucksack filled with a small brick of Afghan opium, a flask containing cask strength 1956 vintage Laphroaig whisky, and 3,000 rounds of hollow-point ammunition.

Laughing gaily, with the ocean lapping the shore on my left, and the sun smiling down on a perfect day, I will veer my motorcycle at various slower motorists, shouting "Out of the way, peons!", as my sassy bearer sprays those too obstreperous to yield with a merry hail of live ammunition.

At this point I will ingest several panes of fine, 1960's Owlsley acid, and roar into a 5 star Napa restaurant for some wonderful Kobe beef, goat vindaloo and a jeroboem of Chateau Yquem.

Satiated, we shall forsake photography, yet manage to record our perfect day with a Red video camera, in high def, which when sober we will realize contains footage salable to "Girls Gone Wild".

It has been a fine day, with fine accouterments, suitable for a person of impeccable and highly refined tastes, such as ourself.

We give thanks for being in this world. Feh, on that Leica M8. To the garbage pail with it.

 

[JohnTF]

Took me a few days,

A great Margeaux, you know, the one where everyone stops talking at the same time and smiles, a silencer, shared with friends.

Getting the MG Roadster in to overdrive, and remembering to shut it off before putting it in reverse.

A true teachable moment in front of students you have made interested in something they never thought much about before.

Spending even the smallest amount of time with my most excellent friend Melinda, who is giving up two years to the Peace Corps in El Chico in Mexico developing eco tourism. On about the 30th anniversary of our friendship, I had the chef open a 79 Chateau d'Yquem, which made me instant friends with everyone there. Amazing how good people's eyes are. ;-)

Being above ground.

Regards, J