What do you wish you'd realized earlier?

What do you wish you'd realized earlier?

Maybe that getting married at a young age is a big mistake. But then if I hadn’t made mistakes earlier in life I wouldn’t have learned from them and perhaps I wouldn’t have met my current wife (of 30 years now) who makes me so very happy.

What do I wish I’d realized earlier? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Everything is working out fine.

Mike
 
Not taking good free advice from an older pro!
Not reading instruction booklet.
Believing that a camera and or lens would be magic grail, to better photos..
Pro advice ('60's) work with 6x6 and not 35mm.
I would have shot way less, learnt real quicker!
Less negatives..
Instruction booklet left when all else had failed..
The magic camera!
Shooting film, folks have donated, given and or sold at minimum cost,
their cameras and lenses.
I "discovered" that Canon Ae_1P,Ae-1,Av-1; Minolta X series(leica r); Nikon-F,
Nikkormat, Nikkor lense, Pentax and Takumar lenses were all superb!
Even unknown SLR, Chinon K-mount, Ricoh lenses were lovely.
My Leica M and older Leitz lenses as good as the new..
Prefer look of Non-Asph lenses.
It all means one gotta work at making images..
 
there is a "start" line on 120 backing to line up with that arrow. zoom lenses are not for me. cheap lenses are (mostly) not worth buying. cheap zooms belong in the foul smelling boxes they live in at fleamarkets. filters are useful. i like contrasty b&w. black skies. depth of field preview + focus short to knock the background into the distance. I don't automatically take a straight photo. people will sell things as broken that really aren't, they just cbf investigating. sometimes it's not worth the effort.

on that cheery note, some things I'm super chuffed I realised early (or even late but at least "in time" & all by myself) are: most labs effectively push process E6 (so rate up a stop). Rayt's point about dabbling less and refining more (at least with process). take notes. rule of thirds. slanty light. I'll never sell a photo (and that's ok).
 
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I wish I hadn't listened when I was in my teens and twenties when people told me, "Photography can be a fun hobby, but you can't make a living at it."

And I wish, in the ensuing years, when I lived all over this country, and moved more times than I can count, I hadn't lost most of my negatives from the 1970's.

Other than that, I'm cool.

Best,
-Tim

PS: Oh yeah, I wish I hadn't sold my Canon F-1 kit when I moved out of NYC. I had some incredible times with that package, and made a good snap or two along the way.
 
I wish I'd realized that selling good lenses is not a good idea. Ever.
That pictures of my everyday life when I was young were worth taking, and I should have taken a lot more.
That cost of film is nothing compared to the regret of not having taken the picture, to save money.
That it's a really, really good idea to make sure developer and fixer bottles are clearly labelled and not easily confused in a darkroom :eek:
That there's a reason why many cameras have a film type reminder tab holder on the back cover. Now what was that I loaded in that camera?
That it's cheaper in the long run to buy exactly what you want!
 
That I was about to pour stabiliser into the developing tank rather than BLIX.

Oh well, nothing of any note gone and I really should let the professionals do my colour developing as I hate it!
 
Well, since experience nearly always comes from doing what didn't work and then going "I'd better not do THAT again", I'd say I've learned more things than can be listed here.

If it had to be one thing (picked totally from random) its that if you have the right $20-$50, 90/135 SLR lens, it can make portraits as well as an $800 90 Summicron. Don't like the bokeh on your lens? Get a longer focal length, stand back further and watch the background get nicely blurred. A soft lens shot wide open is your friend for portraits.

One more: fixer makes a lousy developer :)
 
Sumarongi said:
Hm, first thing I can think of: When I was a young college student, I spent years cooking and eating inedible meals until I finally realised how extremely important onions are!
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This made me laugh! I was the same, though I will add mushrooms also. I can honestly say that learning to saute onions (and garlic) and mushrooms has had a greater impact on my life than any camera/film/lens could ever hope to compete with. lol. Photography is a hobby but onions are life!
 
I wish I had realized how truly great Kodak HIE was before they stopped making it.

I also wish I had learned earlier to take good notes in the darkroom. I had been told to but it didn’t penetrate my thick skull until years later.
 
Stop your enlarging lens done to f8, my father advised. I did this for year with my EL nikkor 50mm f4. Which cost £50 second hand. Wished I had got the f2.8 for £75, done test prints and pint at f5 or f5.6. All my prints would have been sharper.
 
lynnb said:
I wish I'd realized that selling good lenses is not a good idea. Ever.
That pictures of my everyday life when I was young were worth taking, and I should have taken a lot more.
That cost of film is nothing compared to the regret of not having taken the picture, to save money.
That it's a really, really good idea to make sure developer and fixer bottles are clearly labelled and not easily confused in a darkroom :eek:
That there's a reason why many cameras have a film type reminder tab holder on the back cover. Now what was that I loaded in that camera?
That it's cheaper in the long run to buy exactly what you want!
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Exactly that. How did you know what I was thinking? :)
 
I wish I knew "then" that my first camera, a Pentax ME Super with a 50mm f/1.4 lens, was enough. Rarely since have I needed more camera or lens. Maybe a 28mm and a telephoto zoom but no more. Instead, I have used many different cameras, chasing a photo through gear instead of just shooting.
Phil Forrest
 
benlees said:
This made me laugh! I was the same, though I will add mushrooms also. I can honestly say that learning to saute onions (and garlic) and mushrooms has had a greater impact on my life than any camera/film/lens could ever hope to compete with. lol. Photography is a hobby but onions are life!
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I have found that most recipes could do with more onions than specified (e.g. minestrone, curries, stews...). Another trick is to cook most of the onions close to the required amount then add some more which will cook for less time. This works particularly well with tarte à l'oignons.
 
john_s said:
I have found that most recipes could do with more onions than specified (e.g. minestrone, curries, stews...). Another trick is to cook most of the onions close to the required amount then add some more which will cook for less time. This works particularly well with tarte à l'oignons.
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Agreed. Excellent tip; increases variety and depth of flavour as well as adding textures.



Not that different from developing b&w, in terms of contrast and grain...
 
filmtwit said:
Please substitute "Xpan" for "Contax t3" in your quote.
:cool:
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Yes! I wish I would have realized how exactly digital was going to affect everything...

I've done well at any rate however but jeez...

100 shares of Microsoft and 100 shares of Apple bought in 1986 would be worth what nowadays?
 
Phil_F_NM said:
I wish I knew "then" that my first camera, a Pentax ME Super with a 50mm f/1.4 lens, was enough. Rarely since have I needed more camera or lens. Maybe a 28mm and a telephoto zoom but no more. Instead, I have used many different cameras, chasing a photo through gear instead of just shooting.
Phil Forrest
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Years ago, Dad gave me his Pentax ME with 50/1.4, and some years later, after many cameras and lenses, I bought a Pentax-M SMC 28/2.8 to go with it. That combination can do about 90% of what I want in film photography. It's funny that sometimes, I'll pick that up over the Leica M7 with 50 Summicron and 28 Elmarit. The main reason why I'd shoot with the Leica is the much more quiet shutter. But if noise isn't an issue, Pentax ME, baby.
 
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