To me, and my wallet, 8x10 Portra has always seemed like a Veblen good.
To me, and my wallet, 8x10 Portra has always seemed like a Veblen good.
Leisure class? Yeah, it's fun. But just lugging around an 8x10 system most of your adult life is real work, besides the day job per se. And as far as having a lot of "disposable income" goes, there are plenty of welfare rednecks out there who spend more on speedboats, beer, cigarettes, and lottery tickets, than most of us spend on our gear, film, and travel expenses. And as for geeks and techies, plenty of them spend more on their daily Starbucks habit than I spend on large format
film each year. I like good coffee, but brew my own. It's all relative.
If only this had been my reply, for I think you're right.
Except that we were at lonely no-fee trailhead in Wenatchee Nat'l Forest – not Olympic NP, North Cascades NP, Mount Rainier NP, or Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
But let's call this a distinction without a difference. ;^)
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I'll add that Struan's "Yes" reply would have made immediate sense to them, even if they'd never heard of 8x10 Porta.
I ain't got no class of any kind, but do make time to enjoy photography or to support the local school with pro bono coverage of events. On rare occasions there's even enough time to watch a feature on TV.
The definition of leisure class is wealthy with time and money to do whatever they want. Not part of the working classes.
For me photography is a lower middle class pursuit. It would be a totally poverty class pursuit if my spouse didn't have a good income.
Definitely middle class or better. I struggle because I'm disabled and can only work part-time, which means for much of the year I have all the time in the world for it, but I usually can't afford to buy a lens just because I want it. Much less proper film. Thank the Invisible Pink Unicorn (BBHHH) for X-Ray film.
Well, I'm not far behind you Vaughn. I put the boys through college, boy that set me back, bought and paid for a house in Vancouver Washington and working till October 30th and then I'm done. My photography hobby will expand along with woodworking and teaching. The wine fridge will be full! So I'll be leisurely doing my thing.
Abundant denials notwithstanding, yes it is mostly a leisure class pursuit.
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
I honestly don't know how much e6 costs to buy process and print
So it is pretty damn close
I took two rolls of b&w 35mm to praus productions to get developed and printed as I didn't want to do it
Processing not that expensive
But with him doing custom printing of negatives it would have cost over $200 for like 10-15 prints I had chosen
Who the f pays that except for the working professionals
Not me I took those mfing negatives and booked
I printed them and with all the custom work I did I'm sure
Positive
That level of customization would have cost 500-1K
If he would even have the time to take that on
So certainly paying for any higher quality custom printing of any size or process is for either the money making pro or the rich
B&w on your own is pretty cheap till you get into largest sizes of film/ prints and matting and framing
If you do that you'd better be selective, well off or have sales routinely cover costs
Or keep photography as your sole pursuit in life
With that said film costs just rose 1.3% while typing this post
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