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Wife serves slice of Humble Pie


jay_smith3

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I recently went to Maroon Bells and had my cover blown by my wife.

I carried one bag with my D70 with 3 lenses, another large bag with

my large format camera and carrying my tripod over my shoulder. I

must have looked impressive carrying all that gear. Ha Ha!! As I

began to unfold the legs on my tripod, my wife looked at the other

two photographers while pointing her finger at me and blurted out to

them that her husband is just a beginner and that he would greatly

appreciate any pointers that they could give him. She then walked

back to the car to read a book feeling good that she had just helped

her husband. I just would have preferred to have waited and talked

to the other guys myself in my own time. Has anyone else had any

awkward moments with their wife or children involved in there

photography?

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I think an equally humbling response, though not in a public sense, is when you go to beautiful places, try very hard to create the best photos you can, and then the wife doesn't even care to glance at 'em.

 

BTW, did they give you any pointers?

 

One pointer I would give is "Don't go photograph the Maroon Bells"- some of the most photographed mountains around. Of course, that wouldn't stop me from doing it. : )

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When fishing, my wife won't put a worm on a hook and she won't take a fish off a hook. Consequently, when we go fishing I spend all my time tending to all the fish she catches. Back home she relishes telling our friends how I can't catch a fish, but she can't seem to not catch them. Grrrr. And more to the comment under discussion, she thinks my photographs are boring beyond belief. It took me a while to realize that she likes pretty calendar art and has no comprehension of the pretentious BS I studied in art school. On the other hand, she was very supportive of my purchase of a few thousand dollars worth of large format gear in the past year. Gotta love her for that. And... although she will go fishing "with me," she has no patience for the slow pace of LF photography. None whatsoever.
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No public humiliation yet... But after showing my wife a couple of my 4x5 color transparencies on the lightbox to try to convince her that they are worth the $5 I paid each shot, she did agree and said "Wow, they are nice!", but quickly followed by "so you don't really need the medium format system anymore, right? Can you go sell them on ebay now?"
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This wasn't photography. My youngest son is now 22 years old. When he was around 4 years old, he was sitting on my lap at church nice and quiet.

 

I snuggled up against his cheek and he promptly turned towards me and loudly announced, "Stop wiping your nose on me!"

 

I was mortified! Low under my breath, I all but shouted, "AARON, I AM NOT WIPING MY NOSE ON YOU!"

 

He came with a nice loud rebuttal: "But you ARE! You ARE WIPING YOUR NOSE ON ME!

 

I could have slid through a crack in the floor! Afterwards he always sat on my wifes lap...

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Jay - I really hope it made you feel better to ventilate you experience. Women are fantastic, but... - sometimes something like your experience makes me happy for being single... for a moment *lol* Now what i would like here is to see responses from the opposite sex of the partner photographer!
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When my daughter was two, she was learning to talk and had difficulty with some of the sounds, including "tr".

 

Like most little children, she loved big vehicles, like trucks and buses. She usually pronounced the word truck as "fwuck".

 

One day while on a shopping expedition with her mother, she excitedly pointed to a truck coming through the parking lot, and exclaimed loudly and very distinctly, for all to hear, "Mommy, a fuck, a fuck!" to which her mother replied loudly, "Yes honey, that's a truck."

 

Oh, where would we be without our faux-pas? So human, so beautiful....

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Specializing arch/interiors, I, filled with pride, set up my Sinar to photograph the family

house. Very proudly I had all the family come out to share my entusasim of shooting LF.

Big mistake!

The comments ranged from the obvious; "Its upside down" to the worse.

Mom says:

" Don't worry honey, when business is better, you can buy a new Nikon"

(i.e. 35mm)

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sounds like you've got some issues with the wife

 

i never shoot LF unless I am alone. Most hobby stuff I do i do alone, although it would have been nice to have an assistant yesterday to help me rip some 4x8 sheets of 3/4" mdf :). Talking and waiting on someone to go to the "next place" takes away from my thoughts. Therefore, wife and kids are never in the same field with the Tachihara or Horseman. Ever. It would be like me sitting in a chair and watching her knit or do quilting.

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My wife's a much better photographer than I am, but not technically inclined, so I'm the equipment man and photo lab :).

 

We go out shooting together and her shots are usually composed better, but she has to keep asking me "what should I meter for, EV + or - , should I use a polarizer, which aperture... etc".

 

We'll probably be shooting the LF together.

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My father was a serious amateur photographer, mostly 35 and MF, and he lured me into the field at a young age. But my family was not very wealthy, and there were often times when my parents told me that they couldn't afford to get me various things I wanted. Once, when I was about ten, I decided I just wasn't going to take it any more, and I asked my mother if she knew how much my father had invested in all that camera gear in the basement. "He's got over a thousand dollars tied up in that stuff!" I yelled (this was in 1950 dollars). It turned out she didn't know how much he had in his gear, which led to something of a drought in his purchasing -- and in my access to his gear.

 

They both got over it, thankfully, and many years later he began bequeathing some of that old gear to me as he became less and less able to use it. But at least once a year he asks my wife if she knows how much I've got tied up in my gear!

 

By the way, I've made a practice of making sure my wife knows eactly how much I've got invested in my "hobby."

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Many years ago, early in my "career" as a photographer, I went "out shooting" with a friend. I quickly found it way too distracting. Since then, if I'm going out to shoot, I go by myself.

 

These days, I'm happily single. most of the time. Happy, that is.

 

Anyway, I can't imagine being involved with someone that doesn't share my enthusiasms. Especially with my photos! Kind of a primary prerequisite. Some people really like my stuff, others are blase' about it. Won't date someone in the latter group. Too humiliating!

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Gees to bad to hear about your experience.

 

My wife is perfect in every way. She gives me nooky whenever I want it, kisses me at the door

the moment in get in, is around for me for every beck and call, and better yet she carries my

60 lb camera backpack when I go hiking.

 

sorry to hear about your experience. ;-)

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