how much is photography...

back alley

back alley

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...a part of your life?

i have been at it for a very long time and sometimes it's less than others but...it's always there.

if i could retire it's all that i would do!
 
Joe
What I like is what this forum does for me in terms of photography.
Lots of members with great pictures and ideas to ponder.
I have been fiddling with cameras since the early 60's but still have a huge learning curve in front of me.
I would like to devote more time to improving my skills but like you other priority's get in the way and I have been retired for nine years.
 
It's a big part of my retired life. I have learned a lot about artistic things that I never paid attention to, and it's a pleasure to do. And I love buying new stuff and selling old stuff (that's "photography" too, right ;) ).
And, I enjoy this forum enormously.
 
As a 21-year old, I was a relatively late starter to photography and now, a half century later, my enthusiasm for it remains undiminished.

I have other hobbies and pastimes that I enjoy - flower and vegetable gardening, touring and camping in my motorhome, hill-walking, cycling - and photography fits in well with all of them.

As a safety valve for the pressures of professional life, photography has few equals and my fervent wish is to be able to use film in my trusty elderly cameras until I'm called to the darkroom in the sky...
 
Right now, it is a big part of my life. Outside of work and doing some things with my girlfriend, I'm usually photographing or working on PP-ing photos.
 
Being retires now photography has a great part in my daily life. Bit photoggraphy it is not only taking or developing or printing photos. It's also travel to visit exhibitions, meeting friends with same interest, looking for and reading books, being involved in creative activities...
robert
 
My career is creative but it is literally creative to order--I'm a chef--so photography is my personal creative outlet.

It keeps me just a little more sane than if I weren't pursuing this passion.

Rob
 
I've loved taking photos since my teen years in the the 1970's and the older I get, the more passionate about it - as a hobby - I become.

Although I had a go at it professionally (supplementary income from weekend weddings) in the 1980s, I wouldn't want to do it as a full-time profession. As a hobby, it's fun. As a career, I expect it's very pressurised and cut-throat - especially since the advent of digital.
 
I've been taking pictures for almost forty years, I started in high school and
went on from there. When I started working in New York City and I got my
first Leica I would take the camera to work ever day do to street shooting
which is the best, so it's a part of my life and it stuck like glue!

range
 
It is my life. Its mine and my families income/living and has been for several decades. Had a full time job in it the day I graduated from college (1986) and have been working in it full time since. I shoot commercial/advertising mostly for healthcare. That stuff feeds the family and my personal work feeds my soul. I have had dozen of exhibits over the years with my personal work. I've been in some group shows and a few one man shows. In fact I have a large exhibit coming up in April. Theres rarely a day that goes by that I'm not doing something with photography. Several decades and I still LOVE IT.
 
Joe,

I've had a very disrupted life. In the seventies went to art school, but it took over a decade to get my 4 year degree, and back then I was painter.

A lot of stuff happened: got a MA; and then a MFA; stopped painting; became a writer; helped win the Cold War; was laid off twice...

But now I've returned to the visual arts and identify myself as a photographer. BTW I have a day-job to pay the bills. Being a photographer has become my identity, and it is what I live for.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Joe,

I've had a very disrupted life. In the seventies went to art school, but it took over a decade to get my 4 year degree, and back then I was painter.

A lot of stuff happened: got a MA; and then a MFA; stopped painting; became a writer; helped win the Cold War; was laid off twice...

But now I've returned to the visual arts and identify myself as a photographer. BTW I have a day-job to pay the bills. Being a photographer has become my identity, and it is what I live for.

Cal
Click to expand...

Cal, great story and glad you are now pursuing a creative outlet. Bresson was a painter. I have a B/A in photography, minored in art. I went through it all in 4 years. Wanted to get an MFA but the financial responsibilities kept me from it at the time.
 
airfrogusmc said:
Cal, great story and glad you are now pursuing a creative outlet. Bresson was a painter. I have a B/A in photography, minored in art. I went through it all in 4 years. Wanted to get an MFA but the financial responsibilities kept me from it at the time.
Click to expand...

My MFA is in creative writing. Even though my day-job involves medical research my job basically paid for this terminal art degree.

My MA is in TV Broadcast Journalism and screenwriting. I paid for this with my life savings at the end of the Cold War when my career was destroyed. Student loans helped a lot.

Anyways none of my college education really applies to my day job, and I like it that way. At this point in my life, I'm just a guy with a pony tail who is happy. Back in the day when I was a painter had a two person show in downtown Madhattan. Also did a lot of theater and performance art. Anyways it's been a life of nonstop struggle.

Cal
 
I've always had a up-and-down relationship with photography. A lot of it depends on the season (I'm not such a fan of shooting in the winter, despite having really warm gear). A lot of it also depends on how I view my photography on a given day. Sometimes, I view it through the lens of other people and get depressed (no one notices my photography, so why do I bother?) However, if I'm looking at my photography as a creative outlet where other peoples' opinions don't matter, I'm a lot happier.

So, my answer is, it depends. Sometimes, it feels like I would be lost without photography and other times it feels like a waste of time/money.
 
Calzone said:
My MFA is in creative writing. Even though my day-job involves medical research my job basically paid for this terminal art degree.

My MA is in TV Broadcast Journalism and screenwriting. I paid for this with my life savings at the end of the Cold War when my career was destroyed. Student loans helped a lot.

Anyways none of my college education really applies to my day job, and I like it that way. At this point in my life, I'm just a guy with a pony tail who is happy. Back in the day when I was a painter had a two person show in downtown Madhattan. Also did a lot of theater and performance art. Anyways it's been a life of nonstop struggle.

Cal
Click to expand...

Writing, painting, photography, creating, all comes from the same side of the brian and all all related. I shoot commercially to support the family, it buys me equipment and supplies a base from which I can do my personal work. I have had some success with my personal work over the years but not near enough to pay the bills with and have any standard of living.

Heres a great quote by Weston and I agree with everything except I don't hate the commercial work I do as much as he did.
"When money enters in, - then, for a price, I become a liar, - and a good one I can be whether with pencil or subtle lighting or viewpoint. I hate it all, but so do I support not only my family, but my own work." - Edward Weston
 
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