Four dollars a gallon.

[Don Wilkes]

I just did a quick calculation... The price of gas here in Victoria, BC, Canada, is currently $1.139 cents/litre, which has been fairly constant for the past month. That would be about US$ 4.35 per US gal.

To keep the excess poundage (and my blood pressure) to a minimum, I walk to work in the morning (5km, or 3 miles) and take the bus home at night. So, most of my driving is either to the grocery store, the golf course, or my favourite nearby forest for a 4x5 workout with some Provia. So, I don't worry about the cost of gas all that much.

As for the Super 7, one of my friends has had one for 20 years or so. The back roads around here are just as hilly and twisty as I think you'd find in England, and it probably rains about the same amount :}

Cheers,
\donw

[Alan Davenport]

Well we are currently paying the equivalent of around $8.30/US Gallon here in the UK. There's a lot of folks here who would dream of $4/Gallon!

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but it's my understanding that the price you pay in the UK includes lots of taxes that go toward underwriting mass transit (i.e., rail) which means folks in the UK have an alternative (sort of.) We have no such public support of rail in the US, with the result that there is no viable alternative to private vehicles (outside of a limited number of metropolitan areas.) Factor in the greatly increased distances in the US vs UK, and the cost to get from point A to point B probably averages out. Myself, I'd gladly pay more tax if I thought anything good would come of it, but sad experience indicates that would be unlikely.

The root cause of the energy prices we're all paying, is the commodities market. Before rich people started gambling on the price of energy futures (around 1978 I think) the price for oil was at least predictable, and was set by OPEC. Now OPEC can set any price they like and it won't even approach what we're ultimately forced to pay, thanks to 1/3 of the price going into the pockets of speculators who never add a single thing (of value) to the economy of the nations.

[Andrew O'Neill]

We are paying $1.20 per litre here in Canada. So I think we are already paying more than Americans. Get used to it. That's the way we are heading.
Hey, I just heard on the radio about an engine that'll run on compressed air. Will go 1000km before needing more air. I think the top speed it 97km/hr.

[Joanna Carter]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but it's my understanding that the price you pay in the UK includes lots of taxes that go toward underwriting mass transit (i.e., rail)

ROTFLMAO!!! We certainly pay lots of tax on fuel but, as to where it goes, it certainly doesn't subsidise rail travel.

London may have a reasonable public transport network but, for us who are fortunate enough not to live too close (in British terms), there really isn't too much choice other than to use cars. If I wanted to travel to London from Liverpool for a day's business, arriving somewhere near 09:00 and leaving around 17:30, I would have to pay £215 (around $430US); petrol for the car journey would only cost around £72.

We have no such public support of rail in the US, with the result that there is no viable alternative to private vehicles (outside of a limited number of metropolitan areas.)

Just like here in the UK.

Myself, I'd gladly pay more tax if I thought anything good would come of it, but sad experience indicates that would be unlikely

Just like here in the UK.

Add to our transport costs the fact that, anything over £5000 that self-employed people earn is liable to income tax at 22% plus another 8.1%; not to mention the 17.5% we pay on most purchases...

[Robert Brummitt]

First, sorry for putting this in the wrong category. My mistake.
As it was stated earlier, I did place this thread in many other photo websites. I wanted to get as broad arrange of thoughts and responses and I think I did.
What I hear from the LF Members is this "Damn the gas pump! I'm heading out to photograph!" Most of you have either a second econ car or don't care about cost. What about your bottom line?
From a more commercial photo site, I heard photographers saying that they are charging more for their services to cover the gas. Fine art photographers, who make a living selling prints say that they have increased their print prices to cover gas.
I also heard from one person who does workshops on both coasts and he's really feeling the pinch. He say's that airline flights have almost doubled. He fears that if he raises the tuition, his clientele will bulk.
Most of you, I'm sure, don't attend too many workshops or events. But if you do when does the cost of traveling come into your considering a workshop?
I'm also really fascinated by the response this thread has gotten from our European photographers. They have felt the gas pinch a lot earlier then we here in the States. I had always thought because of the train services in Europe, traveling was so vastly greater then here. The trains was the best means of travel. I guess I'm a victim of Hollywood.
Thanks for all the great responses!

[John Bowen]

I live in Richmond, VA. I travel to VT and NH 2-3 times a year to participate in Fine Focus Workshops hosted by Bruce Barlow, Ted Harris and Richard Ritter. The workshops run Fri - Sun, but I always add a few days either before or after the workshop to photograph in the area. I always drive and take the SUV. The cost of shooting 8x10 & 7x17 negatives always exceeds the cost of gasoline.

I enjoy these "get aways" becasue they get my photographic juices flowing and the comraderie is outstanding.

Last year Bruce and I took a trip together to Maine (you can read about it in the March/April View Camera). It was a VERY LONG drive from Richmond to NH to pick up Bruce, then on to Maine. I broke the trip north into 2 segments. Segment 1 from Richmond to VT was one day, a day or two photographing in VT, then from VT to Maine. The return trip was accomplished in one VERY LONG DAY. We left Maine at 5:30 AM and I arrived home in Richmond around 1 AM....

We plan to do it again this fall.

[MIke Sherck]

What Daniel said. At $4 per gallon I doubt I'd change my habits: my photo trips tend to be either 30 miles or 3000 miles, rarely anything in between. For the 3000 mile trips, photography is a sideshow, anyway: the real reason is to get my wife warm for a week or two during the winter, so she can forget about her arthritis for a while. At $5 per gallon, those might end.

I used to love flying, 20 years ago, but I stopped long before 9/11. When the airlines started packing passengers in with a rubber plunger, I opted out of the game.

Mike

[tim atherton]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but it's my understanding that the price you pay in the UK includes lots of taxes that go toward underwriting mass transit (i.e., rail) .

All the US taxes on a gallon of gasoline (which are quite a substantial percentage) are supposed to be for transportation - it's essentially a user tax - you are paying anywhere from 26c to 62c per gallon in taxes depending on where you are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasolin...tes_of_America


in the UK it's USD$4.84 per gallon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasolin...United_Kingdom


and Canada between about 90c and and US$1.49 per gallon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_tax#Canada

(according to Wiki...)

[roteague]

If our do-nothing-worthwhile Congress were to pass a sensible energy bill allowing the exploration and drilling of the oil-rich areas in this country, we wouldn't be beholden to the international cartels and could once again be the masters of our own energy destinies.

The issue is more related to the free fall of the US dollar. Everytime we drop interest rates, the dollar falls even more - and oil is paid for in dollars. Even if we drilled in ANWR (which I'm not opposed to), the price of crude would still be based upon the world market.

[QT Luong]

Compared with time and other expenses associated with photography, I find gas prices rather immaterial in the US unless you drive a big gas guzzler. If gas prices reached European levels, I'd probably buy a more efficient vehicle in the Prius-class, but that's the maximum extend to which I'd let gas prices affect me.