Quote Originally Posted by vinny View Post
For a hobbyist like myself, it's a big expense. I don't rent cars or book hotels. I prefer to shoot both color and b+w and when I moved up to 8x10, it was expensive but now it's $13/sheet for color plus developing, which I do myself. Man, when I got into 8x10 Arista 125 (ilford fp4) was $37/box. It just won't be doable once my stash of film runs out. It's hard enough justifying (to my wife) how much time/space I take up with this moneypit I call photography. I'd rather not change my methods but we're being forced to.
Photography was always - except for a very brief period - a hobby for the wealthy.

Eastman pushed consumer photography to the masses with "special occasion" marketing. The Kodak moment like graduation, baby's first birthday, big deals in people's life to remember and make it worth spending those few extra bucks.

The idea of constant use like a hobbyists was out of reach for the average person.

The golden age in the '80s and '90s was unusual.