Photography And Your People

[Rahul]

I was thinking it may be fun finding out what everybody's spouse/family/partner/dependents think and know about your photography!

Here are the questions I thought I'd ask

1. Is your spouse/partner a photographer? If so, do you share kit/gear?
2. Does your spouse/partner allow you to take your gear with on vacations, a day out or to social events?
3. Does your partner know the real monetary value of your gear?
4. What do your family think about your photos?
5. Do your friends who have no interest in photography think you're overly obsessed?

Looking forwardd to seeing some replies

1. No - if she were, she would probably have more gear than I have and she wouldn't share ;D
2. Yes - While carrying gear is not a problem, I do get some complaining from time to time
3. Yes, but she doesn't know how much gear I have - I have been careful smuggling a lot of gear to my house when she is away
4. They are excellent - I make sure only the best photos are seen by anyone
5. Of course ... Yes

 

[swissmacro]

Hi all,

1. No.
2. Yes of course.
3. No, she doesn't know how many bodies and lenses I own.
4. They like family portraits and holiday's landcapes.
5. No because I am not.

 

[Pookie]

My wife bought me the 200mm f/2 a few years ago and I think that answers all the question perfectly.

 

[JonAustin]

I'm saddened by the stories of ex-spouses, about-to-be-ex-spouses and households where finances are split, gear is hidden, etc., but so it goes. Anyway, I'll play.

1) My wife isn't a photographer, although she will take our PowerShot with her from time to time. But I can't get her to use any of the SLRs, not even our old 20D in green-square mode with a small zoom.

2) She actually encourages me to take photo gear on vacations, trips, to events, etc., to capture the sights and memories.

3) She knows how much photo gear we have, because I store it all on a couple of shelves in a hallway closet. And she has a ballpark idea of what it all costs; fortunately, we're debt-free and sufficiently blessed that she doesn't care. Besides, I'm a semi-pro photographer, so all the equipment is paid for by our business; i.e., "above the line."

4) I get lots of compliments from friends and family on my work, although most of them aren't particularly skilled in the art, so "unqualified" opinions. I'm usually the go-to guy in our circle when someone wants some buying advice.

5) I don't think my friends think I'm overly obsessed with photography, but then again, neither do I.

Looking forward to more responses.

 

[Ivan Muller]

I have been very happily married for 32 years, I am somewhat obsessed with photography & I do it for a living. On holiday I photograph a lot...last year we went to Italy and Bavaria for three weeks and I shot about 400gigs of images. My modus operandi is usually to go out early in the morning when my wife is still sleeping and then come back have breakfast and then go out again, but minus the tripod and other heavy stuff. I try to carry a smaller camera like the M3 and then just 'point and shoot' when I see something...

After raising 3 kids at school and university - all three are still at home and one just started university - we have zero debt, live relatively frugal and actually have a pension fund that should be enough when we retire 10years or so from now. I never buy the top of the range of anything and have relatively little photographic equipment compared to most amateurs here...but I am lucky, I am not into 'boy toys' like most guys and we drive our cars for at least 10years !

We were three days in Amalfi last year and it worked like a charm. Here is a portfolio of 35 B&W street shots from Amalfi ( my spouse is actually in a few of them)

http://thelazytravelphotographer.blogspot.co.za/2016/01/amalfi-b-street-photography.html

regards, Ivan

 

[JMZawodny]

1. Is your spouse/partner a photographer? If so, do you share kit/gear?
2. Does your spouse/partner allow you to take your gear with on vacations, a day out or to social events?
3. Does your partner know the real monetary value of your gear?
4. What do your family think about your photos?
5. Do your friends who have no interest in photography think you're overly obsessed?

1) My wife does shoot her own photos with her own point and shoot. I occasionally shoot with her camera, but I do not think she has ever used my DSLR. A few of her photos are very special and at least one went viral.

2) Absolutely. She often encourages me to take my equipment along. She completely understands the role of photography in life.

3) In aggregate, probably not. I am allowed to indulge though.

4) Generally, they like them a lot as long as they are not photos of them - go figure.

5) Hmm, I think I'm overly obsessed in just about everything I do. I suspect that my friends are aware of this fact as well.

 

[JMZawodny]

My wife bought me the 200mm f/2 a few years ago and I think that answers all the question perfectly.

BINGO!!! We have a winner.

 

[sunnyVan]

My wife bought me the 200mm f/2 a few years ago and I think that answers all the question perfectly.

Did she buy with your credit card?

 

[Pookie]

My wife bought me the 200mm f/2 a few years ago and I think that answers all the question perfectly.

Did she buy with your credit card?

I know this is a novel idea these days but we don't use credit cards ;D

 

[Luds34]

One friend recently ask why I messed around with all the heavy, expensive equipment when I could just take pictures with my iphone like everybody else[/color]

The death of skilled photography can be summed up in one word:

SELFIE

What are these kids going to have to look forward to when they are older? Pictures of themselves with one arm extended. ???

Bore off. Sure there are lots of selfies, but there are lots of photos of EVERYTHING. Orders of magnitude more shots of every subject conceivable than even just a decade ago. Most of it is crap, but so what? Most photos from the film era were family snapshots or poorly composed and exposed from holidays or weddings. And they have value because they are of things that those people cared about. I actually wish there were a few more photos of me from my past. I always shied away from the camera (still do), so there's little record.

The death of skilled photography never happened. There are more skilled amateurs now than ever before. Or rather, the level of quality has gone up. Phone cameras have nothing to do with it (indeed one might argue that a phone camera, being the first imaging device many people get now, encourages some people into photography with dedicated devices, which can only be a good thing).

I respectively disagree. At one point the ability to take a photography required an investment of time and money. Now it comes for "free" and is in the hand of everyone. I think it's naive to think the world hasn't been saturated a bit with grainy, blurry, poor composed selfie shots. Social media is full of them.

Lots of great photos out there for sure as well, just they are in a minority of what's being captured every minute or second.

 

[Luds34]

My wife bought me the 200mm f/2 a few years ago and I think that answers all the question perfectly.

Did she buy with your credit card?

I know this is a novel idea these days but we don't use credit cards ;D

No no no! Gotta use the credit card for the rewards, and not a line of credit! Pay the balances in full each month and you got free money.

It's how I bought my latest Fuji, funded 100% with cash back from my Discover card.

 

[tcmatthews]

My wife bought me the 200mm f/2 a few years ago and I think that answers all the question perfectly.

Did she buy with your credit card?

I know this is a novel idea these days but we don't use credit cards ;D

No no no! Gotta use the credit card for the rewards, and not a line of credit! Pay the balances in full each month and you got free money.

It's how I bought my latest Fuji, funded 100% with cash back from my Discover card.

+1
I bought a m4/3 lens this month with of points.