Was just buying film, and I found our conversation funny..

The only camera I have which is always commented on is my Mamiya 7, which will draw glances (I like to think envious ones!) everywhere and comments too.

The other camera I have which gets comments is the Contax G2.

The conversations normally go along the lines of, "I used to have one of those, great cameras, loved it. I've got a Canon 'super-duper-wuper auto everything what dya call it', now - but it's nice to see someone still using film though."

rjstep3
 
rivercityrocker said:
. . . I've published more than 2 dozen books and I've have countless photos published in major magazines. I absolutely love what I do, but it's very hard to carve a niche in this market and keep a foothold. And even if I am successful, I'm certainly not getting rich.

It's a great life if you like being a starving artist.
Click to expand...
Seconded. There's a lot of it about.

Cheers,

R.
 
kennylovrin said:
age is an interesting aspect, usually when i get snarky comments it actually from men that are obviously 20+ years older than i am. i am not super young (32) but I make enough to buy myself a leica (but it doesn't mean i don't feel the expense in my account balance), and i suspect sometimes older men have a problem with that.. even my dad who has been a mechanic all his life has a problem accepting that his son makes more than him by "sitting at a computer all day". 😉
Click to expand...

My dad had a similar reaction when he asked what I was making on my first good job I got after the Navy. Only he couldn't understand how I could make more digging ditches than he did as a tool maker.

PF
 
kennylovrin said:
Yeah well I find I defend my purchase all the time, but that is part of my personality I think, I just want to explain why I do/get something so that others won't think I'm nuts. It's not a good thing and I'm trying to stop, but I do it..

I did tell my girlfriend last fall "One day I will own a Leica because I want to". When I did have the money I needed I just couldn't justify the purchase, because I didn't really need the camera, I just wanted it, but I had the money and I wasn't going to use them for anything else really. And my girlfriend and one of my best friends said to me "it's y our money, do what the hell you want with them" when I started saying things like "but people are going to think I'm a moron if I pay that much for a camera".

The fact is, that since I got the M9 which I really wanted, nothing else has really interested me, so in that sense it hasn't been more expensive than the handfull of other digital cameras that was passing through my home before I got the Leica.

Then again, I have also worked hard to afford it, just not in the photography business..

But yeah, I do feel I need to justify it all the time for people, and it is annoying.

EDIT:
I forgot to add the thing I was actually going to write: Great photos in that article, the one with the boxers is really great!
Click to expand...

@ kennylovrin,

I do not mean this as a swipe at you, but I have to say that I hear alot of photographers talk about "justifying" their camera purchases and I just don't understand that line of thinking.
If it's your money - in the end, you have to answer to no one other than yourself about how you spend it. No one has to "justify" the cost of their camera to any other person.

JMHO, but if the first question that pops out of a person's mouth like a jack in the box is "How much did THAT cost??" - it's a strong indicator that you are dealing with an idiot.

I also don't understand people who take a look at a person's camera and ask something like "How much did that thing cost you?" I wonder how they'd like it if the photographer were to respond with, "Tell you what, ma'am - you tell me how much those fake silicone tits cost you and I'll tell you how much my camera cost - deal?" Or "That's ironic, sir - I was just about to ask you how much that half-assed road kill toupe you are wearing cost you."

Where do people get the idea that it's okay to ask other people questions that are clearly none of their damn business??

In today's world, there is a high percentage of people who ask idiotic questions - because they are idiots. Just because someone is idiotic enough to ask inapproperiate questions or make inapproperiate comments does not mean that we have to get involved in their stupidity.

Just say NO. Don't deal with them. Walk away. I have a policy: I don't do idiots. Life is a lot less stressful and a lot more simple since I adopted that policy. 😉
 
noisycheese said:
. . . No one has to "justify" the cost of their camera to any other person. . . .
Click to expand...
Try telling that to a tax inspector.

Also, unless you are so simple and impulsive that you just do whatever you feel like, when you feel like it, and don't bother to think about it until later, you have to justify things to yourself, balancing acquisitiveness and instant gratification against income and other ways to spend the money.

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Try telling that to a tax inspector.

Also, unless you are so simple and impulsive that you just do whatever you feel like, when you feel like it, and don't bother to think about it until later, you have to justify things to yourself, balancing acquisitiveness and instant gratification against income and other ways to spend the money.

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

I wrote that same reply last night, but deleted it on accident.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Try telling that to a tax inspector. Also, unless you are so simple and impulsive that you just do whatever you feel like, when you feel like it, and don't bother to think about it until later, you have to justify things to yourself, balancing acquisitiveness and instant gratification against income and other ways to spend the money. Cheers, R.
Click to expand...

I think this is a good way of expressing it. To me, it becomes a combination, and I think in a sense everything needs to be justified somehow, for lack of a better description.

I imagine this sounds utterly ridiculous to a lot of people, but for me it is very natural to ask the question "is it reasonable for me as a hobbyist to buy a Leica when there are people homeless in the street?". It's a really hard internal conflict for me to be honest. I think I don't consider it reasonable, but I did it anyway, which I guess means I opted for "ignoring my values". Sometimes that happens, sometimes it don't. Like I said, this time I opted for buying the thing, but I also believe somewhere in my heart that it is behavior like that that turns our world to ****.

I think it really ties together with my view of the world and my personal values. And also in big part the deeply rooted "jantelagen" in Swedish society. 🙂
 
kennylovrin said:
I think this is a good way of expressing it. To me, it becomes a combination, and I think in a sense everything needs to be justified somehow, for lack of a better description.

I imagine this sounds utterly ridiculous to a lot of people, but for me it is very natural to ask the question "is it reasonable for me as a hobbyist to buy a Leica when there are people homeless in the street?". It's a really hard internal conflict for me to be honest. I think I don't consider it reasonable, but I did it anyway, which I guess means I opted for "ignoring my values". Sometimes that happens, sometimes it don't. Like I said, this time I opted for buying the thing, but I also believe somewhere in my heart that it is behavior like that that turns our world to ****.

I think it really ties together with my view of the world and my personal values. And also in big part the deeply rooted "jantelagen" in Swedish society. 🙂
Click to expand...
First highlight: yes, exactly. To behave otherwise is irresponsible, childish and selfish.

Second highlight: well, obviously we can live in caves and eat raw food, so there must be a balance. I fear that far too many people don't even bother to think about what it might be.

Cheers,

R.
 
pgk said:
Actually (in the UK at least) a tax inspector cannot tell you how to run a business and what tools you should use, as far as I am aware........
Click to expand...
No, but he can dispute your expenses. And, if you're claiming a camera -- any camera -- against taxes, you'd better be able to show that you're using it in your business.

Cheers,

R.
 
I think JSU hit the nail on the head: a Leica is not a Rolex. Expenses for individual items are all relative.

I don't think that the OP's concern about an expensive camera predicting the ruin of the state is valid. If I pay my taxes and feed and clothe and educate my children I should be allowed to own a Rolex if I want to. I know a frugal man who collects Rolexes. It is his one hobby.

But the utility of a Leica is beyond merely owning the best or having others noticing it is what it is.

Some people inherit a little money, others have investment dividends to fund recreational activities and others forego certain available recreation to fund others. I have a step brother in law who early in his marriage with small children and a large mortgage was allowed by his wife to regularly disappear overseas surfing for ten days. Others join golf clubs and pay hefty annual fees, buy new putters and are always losing balls. Photography for me keeps me healthy in body and sane of mind and satisfies my creative desire. It has led me here and to a group of marvellous fellow photogrpahers in my city with whom I meet once a month. Showing my pictures there and here is a great and humbling education.

I also have a more expensive car than I need which will depreciate more than the most sensible, smaller Japanese car. My Citroen C5 is not as expensive as a BMW and I did not pay $15000-20000 more for the top of the range model. It was my first new car, and one of my justifications was the safety features. Two years later in my first one of these, in 2011, the whole family was in a highway accident. The curtain airbags certainly saved two lives and the undeformable cabin saved a third. We all walked away. I do not justify my expenses to anyone. A Leica, in the big scheme of things, is a trivial expense which is completely justified if it is put to good use. I have more than one. And I immediately bought a second C5 Citroen.
 
Lets face it , people are generally odd.Always comparing the 'mana' of ownership. Though I have never had a comment about using a Leica, probably because I do not own one, i get many comments about using 'old' technology, something along the lines of " why do you still use a film camera" to which I usually reply
" why do you buy Apple products when you know the conditions they are manufactured under"
That always ends the conversation, which is always the goal.
 
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