Why did you decide to buy a digital Leica M.

[wlewisiii]

I know, you're both right, and I know what to do about it...
The only thing is having time for it.

Like most of you creative people with multiple interests, I'm having multiple hobbies and passions. If you want to become the best in just one thing, you'll have to leave the other things aside, like Olympic sports, they only train for that one thing for years. But don't ask them to do anything else at that time.

My problem is that apart from photography, I also want to improve my guitar playing skills and compose new songs, I also want to build up a good condition for a couple of sports to stay fit. I also have a full-time job, and aside that there's also my children who each have activities that I have to take them to.
There's only 24 hours in a day, but I guess that's for everyone. I guess we all struggle with the feeling of having not enough time, as life is too much interesting.

However, some people are single and have photography as their main job, it's logical that they can spend so much more time and improvement in their skills in that situation.
I feel like I'm doing 100 things and just fumbling around in each one. But one day the kids our out of the house, my job will be less demanding, and I'll find more time. I'm longing for my retirement already 😀

I had a really good PRS guitar. I recently walked into a Guitar store in La Crosse, Wi and plopped in on the counter. "How much". We came to an agreement and I sold my last guitar because, as I told him that day - as I placed my K-3 on the counter alongside that PRS "This is my Ax". I used that money to buy a DA 35/2.4 lens... I enjoyed the guitar. But I love my cameras far, far, more. They are how I live and breath.

I work hard. Much more than 40 hours a week on an overnight shift. I actually enjoy my job. OTOH I have my camera bag in hand every night when I go to work. I find time Every Day for photography. Period. It is what I LIVE for. I would die before I stop taking photographs. I would kill myself if I lost my vision. Instantly.

For me, it really is that simple. If you don't live that way, I can't help you, i'm sorry. We live in different realities.

The light, and what it illuminates, is all that matters.

 

[boojum]

I had a really good PRS guitar. I recently walked into a Guitar store in La Crosse, Wi and plopped in on the counter. "How much". We came to an agreement and I sold my last guitar because, as I told him that day - as I placed my K-3 on the counter alongside that PRS "This is my Ax". I used that money to buy a DA 35/2.4 lens... I enjoyed the guitar. But I love my cameras far, far, more. They are how I live and breath.

I work hard. Much more than 40 hours a week on an overnight shift. I actually enjoy my job. OTOH I have my camera bag in hand every night when I go to work. I find time Every Day for photography. Period. It is what I LIVE for. I would die before I stop taking photographs. I would kill myself if I lost my vision. Instantly.

For me, it really is that simple. If you don't live that way, I can't help you, i'm sorry. We live in different realities.

The light, and what it illuminates, is all that matters.

I hope that you can continue forward without the need for any extreme actions. I for one would damned sure miss you. Stay in touch. I've been through some pretty weird shit and made it OK. If be needs be perhaps I can share my experience, strength and hope. ;o)

 

[bulevardi]

I had a really good PRS guitar. I recently walked into a Guitar store in La Crosse, Wi and plopped in on the counter. "How much". We came to an agreement and I sold my last guitar because, as I told him that day - as I placed my K-3 on the counter alongside that PRS "This is my Ax". I used that money to buy a DA 35/2.4 lens... I enjoyed the guitar. But I love my cameras far, far, more. They are how I live and breath.

I see,... yeah, for me it's both.
I love to create my own sound, my own world.
Sometimes I don't play for months, but you can always pick it up again, it's like learning to cycle, you never forget.
There will always be a time when you're stuck in a rut with one hobby, and you can switch to the other again.

And don't you have those moments when you look at something and think: "this would look great as an album cover artwork", or some photos you already took might look awesome if you crop them to square and think: "this image would really sound like..." and you imagine the sound, and you pick up your guitar, and you start improvising, jamming, recording... and before you know it you released an album ;-)

I personally can't give up one of those two.

About your story where you sold your guitar for photo gear,... where I work, 10 minutes walking distance, there's a street where 2 shops are just aside. One sells Leica's, the other sells PRS. 😀
I still prefer to walk in the guitar shop, a walhalla for me:

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[wlewisiii]

I hope that you can continue forward without the need for any extreme actions. I for one would damned sure miss you. Stay in touch. I've been through some pretty weird shit and made it OK. If be needs be perhaps I can share my experience, strength and hope. ;o)

Eh, a bit of hyperbola to make the point. I'm in no worse spot than normal. Though I do intend, once my son graduates from college next year to head for Berlin and getting an "Artist" visa until things get sane in the US again or old age claims me. But I'll be snapping away regardless 😉

 

[Richard G]

11 years after this message I can say I was wrong.
It didn't work.

You’ve posted some very fine shots in your gallery.

 

[Bill Blackwell]

... Why did you buy a digital Leica M ... ?

... because it was there ... and, while I never planned on it, I've upgraded from each generation since the M8.

 

[luuca]

You’ve posted some very fine shots in your gallery.

thank you so much.

 

[boojum]

Eh, a bit of hyperbola to make the point. I'm in no worse spot than normal. Though I do intend, once my son graduates from college next year to head for Berlin and getting an "Artist" visa until things get sane in the US again or old age claims me. But I'll be snapping away regardless 😉

Berlin, der Heimat. Oma und Opa kommen aus Berlin. Schöne Reise!

 

[brusby]

For the glass. To have a native platform for all the beautiful, old, small, highly portable -- and now mostly very affordable, while also tending to hold their value -- lenses, which btw can easily be shared with the SL system as well as almost any other mirrorless cameras.

 

[Godfrey]

I know, you're both right, and I know what to do about it...
The only thing is having time for it.

Like most of you creative people with multiple interests, I'm having multiple hobbies and passions. If you want to become the best in just one thing, you'll have to leave the other things aside, like Olympic sports, they only train for that one thing for years. But don't ask them to do anything else at that time.

My problem is that apart from photography, I also want to improve my guitar playing skills and compose new songs, I also want to build up a good condition for a couple of sports to stay fit. I also have a full-time job, and aside that there's also my children who each have activities that I have to take them to.
There's only 24 hours in a day, but I guess that's for everyone. I guess we all struggle with the feeling of having not enough time, as life is too much interesting.

However, some people are single and have photography as their main job, it's logical that they can spend so much more time and improvement in their skills in that situation.
I feel like I'm doing 100 things and just fumbling around in each one. But one day the kids our out of the house, my job will be less demanding, and I'll find more time. I'm longing for my retirement already 😀

I recall an interview with some famous photographer or other a few years or a decade ago. Can't remember his name, but he was well known for producing a lot of photos that sold briskly, for teaching workshops, for writing books, for giving talks and such, and also for having a life with three young children, a wife he adored, interests in going to theater, etc etc etc.

The interviewer asked him, "I and my audience know all the things you do, all the projects you produce, all the people you mentor and teach, and the fact that you have a young family and you are active in raising your kids, and enjoy theater and other recreations. Where do you find the time for all that?"

His response was simple: "People have it wrong. You never find time to do anything. When you want to do something, you make time and you do it. Period."

I'd believed the same thing for most of my life. And while I'm retired now, I didn't learn photography after I retired, or after the kids were out of the house, or when I didn't have a job that paid the rent. I learned photography because I wanted to do it, and I made the time whenever I could to do it.

G

 

[raid]

I made time whenever I could do photography. There were times when I did not do much photography and then there were times when my life was rotating around photography. No regrets.