OMG LOL, I believe we may have come full circle on the topic of GAS
Seriously though, for me and I bet many people, a lot of the basic know-how and not being afraid of technology in the first place came from having stuff around from a young age. It’s particularly the unused stuff, too! Like dust-collecting instruments, hi-fi equipment, photo gear, you name it. For a kid, that’s the kind of playground that can foster life-long deep hobbys or even careers. So maybe that’s what GAS is good for is what I’m saying
Oh man! Please allow me a minute to praise the gear you already possess. I have this same exact combo (E-PL7 + 45mm 1.8 prime) and it’s an incredible little rig that fits in the palm of your hand. Unfortunately either the body or the battery bricked on me about 18 mos ago and I haven’t sorted it back out, but the M43 stuff is just incredible. The 45mm is in fact the only lens I ever shot on with that camera.
Shooting with one lens forces you to be creative. Thanks to Hugin, I got really good at stitching panos together, which I learned could be done hand-held and pretty much error free due to the 45’s almost distortion-free glass edge-2-edge. And you know what? It was okay. Whenever i needed a wider field of view, I just set the AE-L and would take a series of 4 - 20 shots, completely hand-held (!!), merge, then crop to whatever looks best. I can’t do the same with my older Pentax gear (a K-5 and 18-55mm kit zoom) - the images are too distorted and not nearly as clean.
This is becoming “let’s quote Len and have at it”…I guess you have triggered a lot of thinking!
I used to be good enough on both guitar and harmonica to get out in jams and not embarrass myself, but have barely touched either in the last 15-20 years, mainly because my time has become stretched so thin. I pulled both out last week, and found I could still play the old Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins stuff on the guitar (my fingers started to protest about that within about 5 min), but the harp playing was so pathetic I almost threw it across the room. There may be hope for the guitar if/when I get to retire, but the harp is probably best forgotten about.
With photography, I do feel that I am making gradual progress, subject to the same time limits as the other stuff. But I sometimes go out, get no decent shots at all, but still have a great time just because I’m outdoors in nice surroundings. Often it’s about what level you used to be at, and whether you are trying to improve at something for the first time or get back to a level you used to be at.
Woo-hoo… does that make me an Influencer? LOL …now where’s that “smug smirk” emoji ??
I’m my own worst enemy in this regard. I like stuff like Allan Holdsworth, Dixie Dregs, Al DiMeola, Zappa, Gentle Giant … You know, not mere-mortal music! But my weakest point has always been my musical ear. I can tell I’m doing something wrong or that something in that chord changed, but I can’t tell you what it is so I can’t make it right.
Sounds like me back in the late '80s when I got my private pilots license through Civil Air Patrol. I paid for it out of pocket, so I sometimes went weeks between lessons. I spent the majority of my time each lesson catching up with what I had forgotten since the previous lesson. My last PIC time was in 1992, BTW.
I have much less money in guitar gear, basically an acoustic and an electric guitar, and even sold my amp because I use a software amp anyway so I only need a USB dongle, but I only play for my own enjoyment, not because I imagine that I would “amount to anything”.
I find the effort put into mastering a piece on the guitar therapeutic. I first play it slowly from the tab, then memorize sections, then put it together, record, listen, improve, etc. I can easily invest 30h–60h into 5-minute piece. I am under no illusion that I am proficient enough to play for an audience, but that is besides the point. I enjoy it, and that’s what matters.
Same with photography. During the weekend I was meeting with friends (and their family) and managed to capture some nice moments. Out of ~200 photos, maybe 5–10 actually bring back the atmosphere of that summer afternoon and that is very rewarding for me. I am now at the point that I am not distracted by technical stuff (aperture, exposure, iso, focusing, etc), know my lenses, and can actually pay attention to light and composition.
I’m probably (almost certainly) my own worst enemy in this regard. I’m a fairly detail-oriented person – if you’ve not already deduced that! LOL – so a vital part of “doing” anything includes all the details. I have a kind of ‘default baseline interest’ in fiddling with lots of stuff, but to truly enjoy it I need to be able to see obvious progress (at least) toward some level of ‘mastery’. (“mastery” is probably too strong of a term, but I can’t think of a better one at the moment)
For guitar playing, learning any fragment of a song required that it sound exactly like (or maybe even better) than the original. Obviously I never reached that point (!!) There are so many, many factors involved in making the original sound as it did that it’s impossible to achieve: Gear, external conditions, all the human elements at the time of recording, etc., etc., ad infinitum. So I was never truly satisfied with my playing and therefore, it was never enjoyable nor therapeutic – just increasingly frustrating.
The same core factors also came into play when I was regularly riding my bike 5 to 10 years ago. Age and fitness levels somewhat aside, I wanted to just be “competent”, i.e., to be able to ride with others of my age (no TdF illusions). But I never really achieved that. I have moderate temporary tachycardia – Any exertion will cause my heart rate to rise significantly (even, e.g., mowing my lawn). It drops quickly – e.g., 40 BPM in five minutes – so it’s not a serious problem but it does go up. I’ve seen as high as 182 BPM riding up a freeway overpass. Typically it would settle around 165 BPM on a flat ride (I was 60 years old at the time, four years ago). A side effect was I’d blow through whatever fuel / food I had eaten and very quickly fall behind. So the group I was with either left me, or was forced to slow down, neither of which I wanted. And since there’s no real scenery where I live, the ride wasn’t enjoyable from that aspect so I quickly lost interest.
Yes exactly, you’re setting yourself up for inevitable failure. I don’t get that. Why not set yourself more realistic goals, to make the proficiency gap between your current skill/doability levels and your desired outcome more manageable? It’s a bit like you’re deliberately entering the longest available tunnel and then complain that you can’t see light at the end of the tunnel. Well, take a shorter tunnel then, no?
That’s a legit question, but just as legit is asking, “Why set my goals deliberately low?” I.e., “I’m interested in X, so let’s see if I can be so-so at it…”
That is what you’re currently doing. Your X appears to be achieving world-class-level mastery, which is out of realistic reach. I’m suggesting that you pick a different X, and then totally rock that goal. That is not “being so-so at world-class-level mastery”, rather it is not giving a damn about world-class-level mastery.
It seems like you’re throwing out the baby with the bathwater when you give up guitar just because you unwisely measure your progress against the most perfectly arranged and engineered recordings made by some of the most talented artists in the craft. Or maybe I’m just dumb and happy, that could also be the case. Either way, do it your way, I’ve spoken my piece.
No, in this context my ‘X’ is achieving what might / should be termed basic professional-level competency …never mind that I don’t want to make money from photography. Nothing advanced.
So, one alternate viewpoint and you’re done?
After 45 years, I think I have a pretty good handle on where I was, but more importantly on where I could (not) go. I’d recommend not assuming a comprehensive understanding of a much larger context based on a brief comment.
But at any rate, you’re correct that there’s no sense in continuing this increasingly off-topic sub-thread…
Maybe my wife gets her way and makes me print 13x18cm from the drugstore.
Me and my gear we are ready.
One of the first things I do with a new setup of darktable is set export to max 3840x3840 pixels.
And that is both for private and professional stuff - no customer has ever complained.
But I make very sure that I do not get hired for my megasuper camera.
Even if I use that 24-120 in its old F-mount incarnation as my main tool.
But privately I would never haul around such a lens. Too heavy, too big.
Back on topic: currently looking into selling old gear to finance a Nikon Z30 with the 26mm as my next personal camera. But what to sell? So many great pictures created with that gear. I still have my Canon A40 lying around. Maybe it’s time for reviving that one instead of giving in to an urge?
At times I have wondered if I should improve my tripod sitch. My tripod pre dates me by a decade, a vintage Gitzo sports performance. I have used it for many things besides cameras… I used it as a rotating antenna stand, because of the 5° tick marks, for testing radiometric goniometers at work.
I’ve since lost all the accessory attachments, and honestly if I were to acquire a new tripod, I would replace it with the exact same model.
On eBay you can buy them in vintage-never-been-used condition for less than $100 USD. Seriously.
GAAAAAAAAAASSSSSS!
