How are gas prices affecting your photography?

[Mike_R1664876643]

I wasn't sure where to post this question, but since most people have

to travel to take nature photos thought it would work just as good

here as any of the other forums. I'm mostly just curious, because

speaking for myself, I've had to cut my photo trips way back with

these $3 a gallon (US) prices. Used to be I would head out at least

two or three times a week in my CRV to take pictures, but I just

can't bring myself to do that anymore. Those of you who live in the

city are really lucky. These aren't good times for us "rural"

photographers. Just wondering how others are coping.

[kuryan_thomas]

<i> How are gas prices affecting your photography?</i>

<p>

My images are getting blurrier: the heartburn is making it difficult for me to focus. Sorry, not

a serious answer.

<p>

More seriously: taking more images in and around the house.

[Two23]

Not affecting me at all, and I fill my gas tank about once a day. (I drive 200-400 miles per day during the week.) The way I look at it is life is very short. I'm not going to let something like ten bucks more for gas get the way of my enjoying life.

 

People who live in the city are "really lucky"? Silly me fled Kansas City 16 years ago and never looked back. I have turned down jobs that paid over $100K per year because it required me to move to a big city.

 

 

Kent in SD

[wildwoodgallery]

It's affecting me a lot. Rural also. Only taking photos close to home.

 

Rick

[v.anisimov]

The way I see it, petrol is less than half of my car running cost. Then you have depreciation, service, insurance, registration.

 

Thus, petrol going up 10% is less than 5% all up.

[jd_rose]

Gasoline, considering the work it does, is still cheap at $6.00/gallon. However, considering I am a po boy, $3.00 is mighty expensive. I am definitely staying closer to home.

 

That is not a problem though:

 

"For the last three decades of Monet's life, his main subject was his front yard in the small French town of Giverny, with its lily-filled pond, Japanese bridge and weeping willows. He painted hundreds of works of water lilies."

[jd_rose]

VA,

 

I appreciate where you are coming from. But it has gone up from $1.50/gallon to $3.00/gallon here in the colonies. That is a 100% increase. My gasoline bill is now larger than my car payment. That IS a jagged pill.

 

--- JDR

[v.anisimov]

"...from $1.50/gallon to $3.00/gallon..."

 

JD - I understand US$3 per gallon is still cheap compared to most if not all other countries.

 

Coincidentally, the US enjoys the cheapest photo gear prices

[john_macpherson]

Spare a thought for us poor UK (GB) drivers in rural Scotland where petrol is between $7 and $8 a gallon (USgal).

[jd_rose]

Copy that, VA and JM,

 

Gas is still cheap here in the states. Indeed, I think, adjusted for inflation we are still a wee bit cheaper than the 1973 prices. I feel for you fellows on the east side of the pond.

 

From a personal point of view, my petrol is expensive to me. I live in rural northern Arizona and it is a 120 mile drive to buy chrome film.

[greg s]

I have become more efficient in planning my routes (favorite local spots for birds), and don't drive over to Sauvie Island quite as much as I used to, but it's as much or more for environmental concerns than cost.

[awahlster]

gas in 1918 corrected for inflation would have been $3.75 a gallon.

 

It hasn't really effect our photo trips as we normally do more then one thing at a time. And we take the wives car more now then the Pickup at 35-37mpg in her 97 Saturn Sport coupe $20.00 still goes quite a ways. She drives 84 miles a day to and from work.

[wayne_haas]

I suspected that gas prices would increase about now, and hit the outer trails in my home area (Juneau, AK) that are over an hour round trip drive throughout winter and the early spring months. Now that gas has gone up, I will basically stick to trails and shorelines that are a short distance drive away or within walking distance.

 

I'm lucky in a certain sense in that this schedule fits the terrain and safety considerations around here. The outer trails are primarily in lowland areas, and now that the sedge grasses are due to come in the bears will be out and about. Sedge grasses are the staple food of bears this time of year, and one of the best bear defenses is avoid areas where they congregate seasonally. Conversely, the inner trails are in the highland areas, and often traverse high-risk avalanche runs. As such, they are best avoided in winter, but make for great photo ops from late spring through fall. By the time late summer comes around gas prices will likely drop somewhat (I hope) and then I will start driving out to the outer trails again to catch the fall colour.

[daniel_smith6]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Volkswagen-Rabbit-Rabbit-TRUCK-1981-VW-Diesel-Rabbit-Pickup-truck-Caddy-52-mpg_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ15294QQitemZ4636955415QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

Buy the truck at the above eBay link and your fuel problems are in hand. 50mpg will take you a lot of places.

[ryan mcgill - trm photo st]

I am have to take out loans just to eat now... Thinking about selling car and buying nice bicycle and a nice rain coat just in case...

[William Kahn]

Daniel, I don't know if the truck is worth what they're asking, but that's one of the best and funniest descriptions I've seen on eBay.

 

I paid $2.65/gal yesterday at the Sam's Club in Cookeville,TN, about 30 miles from home. Wouldn't have been there, except that's where our dentist is located. We've been trying to cut down on non-essential driving, carpooling with friends, etc., in order to leave enough gas for important things like, well....photography, for instance.

 

Of course, we're still getting off cheap compared to the UK and Europe. On the other hand, over there you can drive through three countries in the distance it takes us to get to the nearest big city......

[vcallaway]

I always laugh when people compare US gas prices to UK prices. In the UK you drive for an hour and you have crossed three countries. I drive for an hour to reach an interstate hwy.

 

Gas prices are certainly effecting my planning. I'm looking for public areas that are much closer to home. This year we will probably not leave the state during any vaction time. A lot of areas I like to go are SUV accessible only. At 18 MPG I am being more picky.

[p_l_jensen]

Gas prices in the US is half of what it cost in the rest of the western world. But then the average US car use twice the fuel as the average cars in the rest of the world so I guess it evens out...

[bill_thorlin]

Welcome to the real world.

[greg s]

Another way to answer the question is... I'm hoping high prices today will positively affect my photography years from now, to some lesser or greater extent. It can only help.

[jo7hs2]

I just feel guilty more, haven't really cut down that much because my commute in Alabama is now so short weekend travel averages me back to where I was in Maryland already... I have been hitting multiple locations in one trip when possible, and using the cruise control a lot...

 

I too laugh somewhat at the US/UK price comparison. People don't always realize that if gas was $7-8 a gallon here, many people in states like Alabama couldn't even get to work. Scale is hard to translate. I'm from a small state, so the differences in scale even with a medium sized state like Alabama are incredible. I'll often think I have a half-hour trip on a map, only to realize that it is really two hours. I can't imagine living in Texas, or Montana. We also have no inter-city train option that is reasonably priced. Cough, Amtrak, cough, joke. Many cities, like Birmingham, have no subway or metro-rail service due to poor planning. Biking is dangerous in Alabama because this state doesn't believe in shoulders, or guardrails for that matter. If such options were availible, I'm sure our elected officials, in their infinite wisdom, would tax us out the wazoo as well, but right now, if they did, people would be unable to even get to work. Plus, it is true that our cars are mostly gas-guzzlers, my Taurus gets about 27-28mpg on a good day, but I am sure Ford could have done better without sacrificing performance. Heck, the car idles a nearly a thousand RPM.

[jo7hs2]

I didn't catch that rural Scotland in that one UK post the first time, so I do feel for you there. I know a good chunk of the higher gas cost comes from higher fuel taxes in Europe and the UK. Is there any system of gradation in the taxes, or at least regional taxes (like our state gas taxes) that could be adjusted to account for rural regions? One of the problems I have with "taxronmentalists", i.e., those who wish to tax people out of using fossil fuels is that they tend to fail to acocunt for rural regions where automobiles are essential.

[Mike_R1664876643]

Thanks for all the interesting answers. I've heard gas is higher in Europe than here in the USA, but somehow that doesn't make me feel any better. Photo trips just aren't as much fun now that it costs $40 or $50 to fill the tank back up after a half day of driving around shooting. It has definitely made me change my driving habits.

[joe baker pine bush ny]

this is a good time to discover all the beutiful things there are to photograph in your own back yard

[dave wyman]

John wrote:

 

>Spare a thought for us poor UK (GB) drivers in rural Scotland where petrol is between $7 and $8 a gallon (USgal)<

 

I do think about you. I think that to explore your country with a camera, you only have to travel over 30,420 square miles (or 78,789 square kilometres). To go from, say, Glasgow to John O' Groats is about 300 miles by car.

 

Just my state, California, contains 163,707 square miles. To travel from the city of San Diego, in the south, to the town of Arcata in the north, is more than 800 miles.