The joy of a hobby
One of my childhood memories is seeing my father fiddling around (pun intended!) with his violins. He could easily spend hours, testing different strings, chin rests or just practicing etudes to get better at something which was his hobby. I would often watch him through the rack of the door and he seemed to be happy.
Nowadays I totally see myself in him when it comes to photography. I can be the one who runs down in the basement if there’s a ray of sunlight passing through our living room in attempt to attach that Takumar 55/1.4 to the X-T5 only to find out, that once I’m back up again the sun has already disappeared and it started to rain. Having three kids can be a bit limiting when it comes to freedom of movement (if you want to call it like that) and although we travel a lot I often find myself at the exact same spots within a radius of a very few miles around our house to learn how the sunlight travels in the different seasons. Often I make notes to remember to come back at a different time of the day or even at a different time of the year. It’s geeky but it gives me peace.
Last year I wrote a post about minimising my photography gear but I have to admit that I love gear. I love the research part of the acquisition, I like to get in touch with sellers on Ebay, track the shipment and I am always putting a new lens onto a camera with excitement. On the other hand I can dump equipment without batting and eyelid and strangely I also enjoy that. I am old enough to accept my weaknesses, knowing my strengths and hell yeah I am a sucker for gear.
As much as I am a collector I am very minimal when it comes to my camera bag. I plan my trips thoroughly and I never bring more than needed and most often it is one camera and one lens. I never leave the house without a camera. I literally drive the family wagon back home with an annoyed wife next to me and three kids screaming in the back if i realise that I forgot the camera. As a preventive measure I have recently put a point and shoot and two rolls of HP5 in the glove box to avoid a divorcement.
Another thing I love about photography is the interaction. As much as most of us hate IG these days it`s still a bliss to be able to nerd talk with people from all over the world who share the same passion.These interactions led me into analog photography, developing my own film, made me create a website, cop zines and photo books, they inspire me and they fill my life with content - with positive content.
My father was no happy man. Having a hobby that makes me smile helps me embracing the few memories I have of my father being happy as he sat in his room playing the violin.
Fujifilm GFX50R TTArtisan 90/1.25