How do you balance photog with other aspects?

How much would it affect you if suddenly you did nothing that is of interest to you but you just did photography. ... Stay at home and do photography within walking distance or a short drive to your township and with the people you don't personally know and to see what is just around you like the odd bird that just happen to be buzzing around your house or your local township.

Let's say it simple: No matter what I am doing; I'll most likely always be dry-swimming photography as a mind game on the side. To make my life hard, you have to push me somehow, so I can't shoot at all.

Being a truck driver must suck. You 'll probably pass the most amazing landscapes but have no chance to stop that darn thing and get out of it to shoot. - You can also herd me as a makeshift mountain goat and rush me through a hike. - I might keep a 50mm out and snap now & then but TBH: I won't be comfy / happy, since I am always pushed , never having the time I'd appreciate to shoot details I am noticing more patiently.

 

I absolutely can't complain about my environment here; it attracts tourists and during the 80s the top notch local newspaper photographer did a great side job walking his Hasselblad and shooting the annual local bank's calendar together. Would it be possible to do something similar walking just a Fuji & kit lens? - Yes!

I just pondered grabbing a former bath tub cutting at least two thirds away and using the rest as a studio to shoot a pet hamster.

My biggest obstacle here is the new Euro law granting people more rights on their data. I'd love to live in a street photography friendlier legal environment. But the big old Tamron zooms are cheap, so maybe I should get one and chase dogs? Or semi tame bunnies each day before work.

 

Long story short: We might shoot like crazy when on a trip, covering sports or... My domestic landscaping would be less intense. But Ansel Adams didn't shoot every day either, although he might have been hunting (an image).

• it is not impossible to spot subjects here.
  
• A great picture needs great light! - Planning & scheduling it should be way easier near home.
  

My photographic drive has ups and downs. Sometimes it is on life support & auto pilot; i.e. I really appreciate that shooting work's products is a sixteenth to quarter part of my job. - It feels good to have an external reason to pick up my camera and enjoy using it.

Quite a number of people already gave their personal answer to that question, since it was the question in your original post. You didn't get back on any of those answers, so maybe you could get a more compelling conversation if you'd actually respond to some of the points others have raised so far.

 

I second that. However, he answered my post where I asked what the purpose was he bought his equipment, to which he answered: "That's a can of worms". But then he said he was in a camera club, getting assignments to do. Presumably, those assignments were to take photos of things

I'm strictly amateur, so I've never had to take photos just for work and so I've never had the experience of "bland, unappealing, disconnected" feelings toward my work. I have had those feelings, especially toward my early stuff, but that's because I realize how bad they are. As to the OP, although I don't think I have OCD, I sometimes have real difficulty balancing the time I spend with the various aspects of photography with other areas of my life. Sometimes while reviewing and/or doing post work on recently shot photos, I become seriously transfixed to the point that I don't even recognize that I have an addiction of sorts. When my wife and I, whether it's just the 2 of us, or whether we're with friends, are going to a location I know I'd like to shoot, I deliberately leave my gear home. In such instances, if an opportunity arises, I'll use my iPhone7.

my younger brother and I have taken two strictly photographic excursions

 

Ed, I feel your pain. My youngest brother lives almost 3,000 miles away. He's an expert photographer, with whom I somewhat recently had the chance to shoot in a desert environment. Had I not done that, I may not now now be craving more time with him. A thorny dilemma . . .

There is little wrong with getting a camera for snapshots of family and friends. Just like there is little wrong with getting a camera as a needed business expense, or a necessary tool for personal artistic expression. And anything between all that.

 

I don't see it as balancing with the rest of life, though. Photography is a natural extension, and a hobby for which I'll happily free up time, drive a fair distance or keep in mind for holidays. That's still not balancing, because it is what I like to do and what makes me usually more happy while doing it. Balancing the paid job and free time - that's balancing ... :)

 

It is one of those things I don't really have an answer for that is just what people do.

 

Maybe things also have changed over time for me. Now I am doing less shooting, enjoying more the moment and slide photography while I am there. There will be other times I am out and don't do photography or I am out and I do photograph like the camera club topics we get assigned. Not just things but techniques or themes like "then and now" or "architexture" or "[city name] by night".

 

In the past I have been the type that goes away and it's every day shooting. Carrying a tripod 12hrs a day, althou a traveler tripod, 3 lenses, filters etc. It's funny because when I look at my shots. While I have carried all my gear out in the afternoon I haven't used it much cos the light is just flat and average. Yes, I have shot more at the sunset time but often the shots are very similar to each other. It might be a different building or shot in a different district. Or it's a peak lookout from city A then from city B.

 

I nearly always have camera equipment, and generally manage to balance conversation and photography along with the pleasures of travel. If the urge to focus (pardon the pun) intensely / exclusively on a particular photo project is overwhelming, I get up early, or ship my wife off to the spa, or other activity. On return from my efforts, it is easy to resume the usual balance. Methodology will always be subjective and specific to the individual situation.

 

In some ways yup. But for me maybe don't carry a truckload of gear outside and don't spend hours and do that every day that you isolate from the group - been there done that. Morning works well for more rural places but often I find the people I know prefer urban. Shooting cityscapes sunrises the buildings are still dark so that leaves sunset which is dinner time. I have in the past thought about and maybe scrutinize it more and think what I really want to shoot and does it need to be every landmark and every day. Maybe just head out occasionally alone and only occasionally carry that tripod. At times even when I did spend time doing all those sessions, when I got back it was just another building with a dark blue sky.

don't carry a truckload of gear outside and don't spend hours and do that every day that you isolate from the group -

Where do you see "truckload of gear" - or heaven forbid " groups" in my post - IMO groups are lemmings ( plenty of convenient cliffs out here). Not fond of tripods, or urban - nice to visit once in a while, but not a place to live if you have other options. Been there, done that - reason I live on a ranch in the country. So let's see some new photos - best 2 falls out of three - so far, just talk. :D

To me, photography is much like music. If you are musical and play music, its always with you, sometimes more active than other times, it ebbs and flows into the foreground of your life than recedes at times back, but its always there some place. I think I have the same relationship to photography. Sometimes its a driving force, other times it sort of percolates in the background.

re snapshots. Why not? Especially, as vernacular photography of the countless selfies, snaps of friends and moments is the probably the densest living record we've ever had of human activity in history and probably the greatest evidence of the growing power of the visual in modern life. We've never been so inundated with images as today. As more serious photographers perhaps some of us find juice in taking the snap shot mentality and stretching it into a little bit more. But I'm pretty sure people aren't going to stop uploading a gazillion photos a day into the world wide web.

In the past I have been the type that goes away and it's every day shooting. Carrying a tripod 12hrs a day, althou a traveler tripod, 3 lenses, filters etc. It's funny because when I look at my shots. While I have carried all my gear out in the afternoon I haven't used it much cos the light is just flat and average. Yes, I have shot more at the sunset time but often the shots are very similar to each other.

 

If you'd ask me, the problem in cases like this is not the amount of gear you chose to bring, but the planning. If the light is flat and average, and you'd bring a light, small camera, no tripod and no additional lenses, you'd probably end up with the same shots. But if the light would be great, you'd be limited in the techniques you could use because you'd miss a lens, the tripod or something else. It comes down to knowing what to bring, or whether it's even worth bringing something at all.

 

Personally, I always try to plan ahead and bring the gear I really expect to be using. That can be a lot of relatively heavy gear, but if I know that gives me the chance of getting the photos I hope for, I find it well worth it. A point Jochen raised is important in this: in my head, I am nearly always looking for potential photos; studying the light (and at different times of day if possible), studing viewpoints that may work, and as a consequence the gear needed and other esthetic choices that would best work for me (colour or B&W? film or digital? Tripod needed at all? etc. etc.). All that mental preparation makes it a lot easier to plan what to bring, and what to leave at home.

If you'd ask me, the problem in cases like this is not the amount of gear you chose to bring,

 

Could have been. In the past I have debated with that but thought I just use more muscles rather than waste time and head back to get the larger stuff later in the day when the light is nicer. Other times if the light was not ideal I thought, instead of taking a photo, the saying of make a photo. Intentionally blur it or stack filters. That also didn't really work out. I also considered a Gold Blue filter but didn't buy it.

 

Now I am more picky when I go out and what I bring and what is the chances of getting a good shot than just heading out for the sake of it. In the past when I was learning, I just drove out to the waterfront every Saturday and Sunday winter morning for 6 weeks straight and I didn't even take my camera out of the bag once cos the sky was just this thick white cloud.

 

Until recently I got a premium compact camera - all the years before for 15yrs for me it was a walk around with a SLR. (One time) that was the result after travelling with a dSLR and multiple lenses, a large bag under 95 Fahrenheit weather in a foreign country with family. After a few days, I did cut my gear back and left in the hotel but since I had no smaller bag I had to drag that out while just carrying a Nikon FM2 with a 50mm. At the time, I dragged all the stuff out and didn't even take 30 photographs for the day.

Edited July 23, 2018 by RaymondC

. . . How have you balanced photog with other stuff you do in your life? Is photography something that compliments something else you are doing or have you like me who have gotten camera equipment and just stayed home and pretty much driven less than 20 miles away, had a wander with your camera and then drove back home.

 

For many years I carried a lot of gear around, and used it, because that was one main avenue for my income.

 

More recently, I earn my major income, less from Photography and more from other avenues: I still carry a camera (usually only one now), mostly everywhere I go.

 

Pondering on your question, Photography is not really something that 'compliments' (actually I think you mean “complements”) something else that I am doing.

 

Photography is just something that I do very often, no matter wherever I am and whatever I am doing – there always seems to be something interesting happening and something or someone interesting to record, it’s just part of what I do.

 

WW

Where do you see "truckload of gear" - or heaven forbid " groups" in my post - IMO groups are lemmings ( plenty of convenient cliffs out here). Not fond of tripods, or urban - nice to visit once in a while, but not a place to live if you have other options. Been there, done that - reason I live on a ranch in the country. So let's see some new photos - best 2 falls out of three - so far, just talk. :D

 

That is what the bulk of people do. Being not from the USA. All those who visit do so with Hawaii, LAX, NYC, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Orlando, Vegas, San Francisco :D Those from overseas would pick places like Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney also :D

The bulk of people takes photos with their smartphone. And that's OK. To each his or her own. What does it matter what others do?

 

If I see somebody carrying a lot of gear, I really have little opinion about it. It's a choice. Some people carry some sort of camera always - it's a choice too. Some prefer something compact and accept some compromises that smaller cameras may bring in terms of quality. Others do not, and will bring large stuff.

 

None of this matters to the original question on how much photography is part of what you do; or whether photography is a by-product of what you do. It's not about gear, and it's not necessarily about always doing it. As said before, it can also be always looking for light conditions, angles and point of view, details and thinking how that would render best as a photo - without even having a camera. For me, that "pre-study" is as much part of photography as the actual actuation of the shutter. Preparation and planning is as much part as the actual activity itself.

 

We're all different in this respect, so sure there isn't going to be one single answer, nor a need to compare each other (let alone value something as better or worse). But let's not pretend that the size, weight or cost of the gear has any relation with how deep photography is embedded in your system (or not).

For what purpose did you buy the camera equipment ? Just for snap shots of family and friends ?

 

Reminds me of the question about what professional golfers do when they retire?

(They can't play golf, right?)

 

What do professional photographers do when they retire? Take pictures?

 

I think I have always found the actual process, both in and out of the darkroom, just

a little more fun than it needs to be. Sometimes I will go out and take pictures,

just because I want to, not because there is anything that actually needs being

photographed. Especially if I want to try out a new (actually, used) camera, or

different film.

 

But otherwise, vacations, friends, and family have always been good subjects.

 

In early years, I was better at taking pictures and developing film, than at actually

making prints. I now have pictures on my FB page back to 5th grade.

(That is, 50 years ago.) It is much easier to scan and post them, and easier for

people to look at, than to make prints and put them in albums on the shelf.

Just sidenotes:

To cover a domestic area of 20mls, I do suggest downsizing your wheel set, to something that permits stopping where you want and maybe even exploring less known paths. Electric cargo bikes seem ideal. I haven't gotten one of those and live too uphill to enjoy pedaling groceries or Linhofs around on my seasoned 3 speed. My current dream would be working till a while before sunrise, having a saddle bag to hold a serious tripod and riding my 125ccm to a promising spot after work. The saddlebag & rack are on my to do list and the boss unfortunately wants me to work different hours but there are weekends. All I know: I was more environment conscious (in the photographic subjects hunting way!), back when I cycled as a teen and using rural paths instead of the highways should provide a subject, once in a while. (Motorized offroading with combustion engines for recreational purposes is pretty much entirely banned, here in Germany. Pedelecs are a loophole for the elderly & slackers. - Unfortunately their street legal power is severely limited to 250W and most cargo versions are made and offered by the Dutch, who dwell an extremely flat cycling paradise country and haven't invented batteries big enough to even think about hills.)

 

Pointing at my own nose: I rush my usual ways. - Yes, I am conscious of a half timbered house looking good in harsh afternoon sun, I notice the nice decorative light in another at night, during Xmas season. - There are 3 modern buildings that look nicely lit at night but still: I am not stopping. Much worse: I haven't strolled the pedestrian areas, that used to be my way to elementary school or around town for years and don't any longer know which trees or bridges might provide appreciated shade during the day or where to go for good urban or rural backgrounds, to do senior or engagement shots or the kind of shots a friend might need to market themself on a dating site.

 

Maybe keep sayings like: "If life gives you alligators, make Gatorade!" in mind?

Try to keep looking for something in front of you, that might be worth shooting. - I can plan documenting the life of wild elephants in Germany but there are no elephants...

Any more or less urban environment should lead towards shooting people.

Less stellar sunlight should teach looking for spots in the shade or bringing your own substitute.

 

I honestly doubt that going elsewhere will help a lot with taking great pictures. Sure, you can plan re-shooting Yosemite utilizing astronomy apps & GPS to make it into Ansel's tripod footsteps in time... - Is that rewarding? Worth the effort? Does it add anything?

Travelling you'll most likely end doing a once in a life time trip overwhelming your memory and clicking away to digest stuff at home without results that will make it into an exhibition.

Yeah, photography has served as a crutch for memories since it was invented but still: Postcard shots can't be taken every day and chances to reach a spot at the wrong time are quite high.

RETIRE!

.

Balance. Take the camera everywhere. Take photos as needed when appropriate. Edit when time allows. Put the camera down when necessary. Try not to let it interfere with personal relationships or work unless it is your work. The camera can become part of a healthy routine, going for long walks through towns, cities, country or parks. Take the camera on trips.

For 20 years, where I went the camera went. Learning to develop my own negs was a worthwhile learning experience because I could get just what I wanted and didn't have to depend on a lab. Then I taught myself to print in my darkroom in my mid 60's. Had a few shows in coffeehouses and the like, and have a stash of what I'd guess to be a hundred "keepers" that look OK.

 

This year I have largely given up photography and moved back to drawing and printing. Painting is next. My preference now is to work in the light, and not in a darkroom or peering though a camera's little viewfinder. This change has been liberating, and now the camera stays at home while the sketch book comes with me again. Pottery has been a new passion, and working in 3 dimensions instead of 2 has been very challenging.

 

Making images is fun again. Even when you're shooting film and old manual focus cameras, you're still dealing with a machine, and making the enlargements means using another machine. Now I work with my hands and minimal tools, and it's what I see and not what the camera sees. It's more "real", whatever that means. Nothing I have made with pottery is that good, but here's 3 plates, and the first large drawing (17x14 charcoal) that I've made in two decades. That one I'm sorta happy with, so I'll post it..

 

https://i.imgur.com/S8wzMV7.jpg

 

https://i.imgur.com/WCytVjv.jpg

 

https://i.imgur.com/AYL2yrw.jpg

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by steve_mareno|1

This year I have largely given up photography and moved back to drawing and printing. Painting is next.

Good for you exploring and finding your mediums. Creatives and artists do that. :)