Page 5 of 5 FirstFirst ... 345
Results 41 to 50 of 50

Thread: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

  1. #41

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Pacifica, CA
    Posts
    1,710

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    Cletus,

    Develop the film. You can pretty much do that mindlessly. (Taking=Creative, Developing=Mindless, Printing=Creative)...

    Your story sounds familiar. I generally catch up developing film every year, but this year I finally caught up from several years back. There were some shots I didn't want to mess up so I kept putting off developing.

    Sloshing through this backlog of a hundred sheets was an experience, reliving the past. I daydream about the good prints to come from some memorable shots that came out as good or better than I expected. It didn't take long for the film to be done and now I have to switch gears from daydreaming and writing about the future prints to come... and actually make some prints.

  2. #42

    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Medicine Hat Alberta
    Posts
    331

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    Last week my wife and I were down in Glacier Nat Park and I shot with the 4X5, Hasselblad, Hasselblad SWC and digital Pentax and my wife shot with her Pentax, the two Hasselblads and a pinhole 5X7. I found it refreshing to change formats and when I was using the 4X5 I would think that I really like this and why do I not use it more however I would use the Hasselblad and think the same thing. Different trips at the same locations and different images. One can focus on a single format or one can interchange them, both approaches work.


    The reason I am writing this is though one of the waterfalls I hiked to and shot 6 images when I got back home found out that two of the holders some how were never loaded hence no only got two images and do not know which ones. But the actual process of setting up and shooting them was very enjoyable as was the hike there and back from the road. To me that is what it is about, enjoying yourself. Go out and have some fun and do not worry about taking images or making sure the images are great, just go out with your camera and get some pleasure from it. Next month we are returning to Glacier and now I have a reason to repeat this one hike, it is to a nice spot, not very long or steep and near another place we were thinkiing of revisiting. If it was not fun I would not do it.

    Develop your existing films, it is relaxing and rewarding. Take some pressure off yourself and as others have said it is not the equipment but if you do not enjoy using the equipment you have then perhaps it is. The trick is to take off all the self imposed limits and pressures and go out and enjoy yourself.

  3. #43

    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Northern Plains
    Posts
    187

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    I've gone through similar periods. From 2005 to 2011 I shot virtually no film at all, just used a Nikon d80 or D300. It wasn't satisfying though, and all the photos had the same "look." I got back into 4x5 using vintage lenses, then 1930s folders, then Leica LTM. I"ve been shooting the Leica the most this year as I love the look, and love the aesthetics of the camera. I've also been buying some classic box cameras--Tengor, Troliz, Beau Brownie, Coronet, Gevabox etc. These are so simple I no longer even think of gear, and concentrate on the image. My photography has improved, but more importantly I am having a bunch more fun! So my suggestion is......simplify. Concentrate on seeing and using Light.

  4. #44
    Henricus Henricus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Houston, Texas - USA
    Posts
    26

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    Quote Originally Posted by Cletus View Post
    ? . . . .

    Please help! I don't [think] I really want to go digital!
    I want to help you, but you have to be strong. I've come across this many, many times in my photographic life. I can help you, but you have to follow my directions to the tee. First, sell me all your LG/film equipment at rock-bottom prices. Next take the money you make from this sale and buy the digital stuff you NEED and must have. You'll feel better and I will feel even better with all the new gear I have. ;-).

    Just joe-shing. Listen, gear is just a means to an end. Most folks get great deals from people like yourself. I know I have. Enjoy the new digital and maybe get other stuff for it if not more digital cameras, but trust me, you will regret getting rid of the cool stuff you already have. Never sell, never trade, buy more and hide it from the wife; in the end you will be a happier gear-head. The moral is, more is better. You are already in too deep, switching your fancy will only make things worse. I'm not being sarcastic. This is my life.
    Henricus

    Lux et Veritas.

  5. #45

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    95

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    Keep shooting / keep developing / yada-yada-yada -- my advise FWIW is to take a class or two or three in an area of photography for which you have little familiarization and get away from the mundane -- could be an alternative process or aerial or or infra-red -- just some aspect to kick-start those creative juices flowing again but I wouldn't recommend going fishing or the like -- just find/learn other ways/techniques of expressing you to you! Thanx for reading.

  6. #46

    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    75

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    Quote Originally Posted by paulr View Post
    If your photography seems pointless, maybe it's time to take a break [...].
    +1. Don't sell the gear (yet). Get a lens or two for the DSLR that lets you do something totally different -- macro or telephoto. Or get a decent hiking camera like a Ricoh GR or Sigma DP1/2/3. You'll have fun catching close-ups of bugs and flowers and rock climbers and foxes and other things that won't sit still, and you can concentrate on how nice a day in the Rockies is, not how slow the heavy pack makes you. You may find that kind of photography is what you were born for, or that it's simply a fun change of pace. At some point you'll see something that makes you say "Man, if I only had the big camera...", and then you'll be happy as can be to have rediscovered your passion.

  7. #47

    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Phila, PA
    Posts
    19

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    Here's a suggestion get a film scanner, scan your odd stuff to digital, then use some inexpensive software such as Picasa or PicMonkey and play around. Before long you'll go back and look anew at all, with just another toolkit in your pocket.

  8. #48

    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    53

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    Too much gear = too much money to buy gear?
    Too much money generally does not help creativity.....


  9. #49

    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    739

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    Meet up with and spend some time with other large format photographers and if that doesn't inspire you then I don't know what will. It works for me whenever I'm not "feeling it".

  10. #50
    Henricus Henricus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Houston, Texas - USA
    Posts
    26

    Re: Help! I'm teetering and afraid of what might happen...

    Quote Originally Posted by tangyimail View Post
    Too much gear = too much money to buy gear?
    Too much money generally does not help creativity.....

    I was told there would be no math!
    Henricus

    Lux et Veritas.

Similar Threads

  1. Afraid......! Is my tripod bolt going to break!?
    By paradoxbox in forum Location & Travel
    Replies: 32
    Last Post: 17-Sep-2009, 10:21
  2. I'm in a show! Yow! How that happen?!
    By Robert Brummitt in forum Announcements
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 28-Mar-2008, 20:32
  3. This could happen to you!!
    By Mark DeMulder in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 1-Mar-2000, 10:43

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •