[ChooseAName]

How does photography compare to your other hobbies as far as enjoyment, time commitment, money, and accessibility (how frequently you get to do it) ?

In the past, when my dear lovely wife balks at the magnitude of a purchase I'm making, there is a small voice in my head (which sometimes makes it out my mouth) that says "Be glad I'm not involved in (insert more expensive hobby here)"

Photography, for most people (for me anyways), seems to be a fairly inexpensive hobby. I feel sorry for people who have very expensive hobbies, or hobbies that are not as easily accessible. If I want to take pictures and practice my hobby, I get home, turn the camera on, and have fun, as my main interest right now is family photos. It effectively costs me nothing to do so. I can take as many pictures as I want, and I could potentially trash them all if I wanted to. My current setup (K200D, Metz 48 flash, FA 50/1.4, FA 35/2) cost me about $1500 so far. And the end result is a lasting one, a collection of beautiful pictures that I can treasure for the rest of my life.

Then there are other hobbies. I live in the vicinity of a lake and one of my friends likes boating. A boat is much more expensive than a camera system, has much greater upkeep costs (gas, etc.), and you cannot just decide to spend a few minutes on the boat when you get home from work. It's a significant investment of time, money, and energy to go out on the boat.

I suppose similar things can be said about cars, guns, skydiving, or what-have-you. Each of those hobbies is either much more expensive or much less accessible than photography. Or both.

And yes - I know photography can become very expensive. But I'd venture to say that for amateur hobbyists like me, it is a fairly inexpensive hobby. Perhaps because for now, I am content with my two lens, one body set up. I'm sure the money investment would rival some of the more expensive hobbies if I had 400+ lenses and 7 bodies.

My other hobby also fits the inexpensive yet accessible categories - board games. I'm talking Euro style board games, not Monopoly and Candyland. For anyone who knows what I'm talking about, I own Carcassonne, Dominion, Race for the Galaxy, Stone Age, In the Year of the Dragon, Tobago, and Fury of Dracula. (I'm sure some of you have heard of Settlers of Catan, have friends who play it, or even have played it yourself!) Again, this is also a hobby that can get very expensive, as some people have game collections of 300+. Board gaming is much more of an accessible hobby to me than many others because my wife likes games too...she beats me most of the time (To fit the accessibility requirement, I do not buy games that require more than 2 people)

What are your thoughts on the matter?

[Ira]

Wife was busting your balls today too, huh? Welcome to the party.

[Ira]

Also, if you only have two lenses now and she's still bitching, you're doomed.

Two?

You still have no idea what sacrificing marital harmony for your art really means.

[freeload]

Photography is my "main" hobby but I also play the drums.
I have investet the most in my drums, but they are also the only thing "generating" money from gigs. This year it looks like the drums are going to earn me three times the money I've spent on them.

For now this is valuable income for us, but as soon as my wife is back in a job some of the money earned will go to the "hobby" account for some long sought for upgrades

edit:
It also helps having a wife who's really into scrapbooking. She understands that equipment is expensive, and appreciates the improvement in the pictures she's using.

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Last edited by freeload; 07-15-2010 at 12:20 PM.

[JACOBY]

Thats a good one Ira

[ChooseAName]

The problem is that she has no corresponding expensive vice. She doesn't do the shoes or purse thing like many women (apparently) do so I can't rib her for that.

Luckily I haven't been bitten by the LBA bug too much - I don't make enough money for it Wife stays home and will continue to stay home with the child(ren), so we live pretty frugally and I am perfectly fine with that. I am surprisingly content with my two lenses. I can see myself one day adding a telephoto of some sort, if my kid(s) do sports or something like that. Maybe a wider angle one that I have now...maybe. We'll see where this all ends up 10 years from now.

[anthers]

In my spare time, I race powerboats along the French Riviera. A 4 day weekend trip will usually set me back about $400,000, but that includes the amortized cost of the Gulfstream and the powerboat.

j/k

I have about $1700 into my Pentax system over the last 5 years. That's not too bad on an annual basis, although that's not everything I've spent on photography in the same time frame. Most of what I've bought will be usable for awhile, the only thing that really loses value is the body, everything else (assuming it doesn't get dropped) I could easily sell for 50-75% of what I paid for it.

I enjoy taking photographs, I take it seriously, and it makes my life more enjoyable and interesting. That's what I would say if my SO ever complained about what I'm buying.

BTW, Settlers of Catan is an awesome game.

[kalison]

Photography is a hobby that brings other hobbies in. You can be into cars, fishing, painting, flying planes, trains, jewelry, whatever you can think of. You can usually use photography with it.

Granted photography is my main hobby right now, computers, RC, automobiles, fishing, hunting... Those all get photographed so it's like an inter hobby for me.

In general its the cheapest hobby I have and it creates memories and captures history.

[ChooseAName]

Also, if you only have two lenses now and she's still bitching, you're doomed.

Two?

You still have no idea what sacrificing marital harmony for your art really means.

Nah, she's actually fine with the purchases I've made so far. I had very good reasons for making each purchase so far and she agreed with my reasoning. But sometimes I do like to point out the 4 or 5 figure amounts that some photographic equipment goes for, just to see her reaction

[ChooseAName]

In my spare time, I race powerboats along the French Riviera. A 4 day weekend trip will usually set me back about $400,000, but that includes the amortized cost of the Gulfstream and the powerboat.

Wow, thought you were serious until I got past that last sentence. My first thought was "he must be filthy rich."

BTW, Settlers of Catan is an awesome game.

I've played it once and played horribly. I would not avoid it if given another opportunity, but it's a minimum 3 player game so I don't think I will be purchasing it any time soon.

Photography is a hobby that brings other hobbies in. You can be into cars, fishing, painting, flying planes, trains, jewelry, whatever you can think of. You can usually use photography with it.

Granted photography is my main hobby right now, computers, RC, automobiles, fishing, hunting... Those all get photographed so it's like an inter hobby for me.

In general its the cheapest hobby I have and it creates memories and captures history.

That's a very good point, about intertwining with other hobbies. I'd never thought of it that way before. But I've never felt the need or desire to start photographing my game sessions

[kalison]

Hah, well yeah the gamin sessions might be harder than others. But I have done it, sometimes to capture the emotion of someone that just got something they didn't want, or took them out of the game.

Sometimes you can get neat images from the people around the board.

[Ira]

Let's face it--we're all whipped to an extent.

Fortunately, my love for old Taks enables me to ignore my wife's dirty looks.

[ChooseAName]

Hah, well yeah the gamin sessions might be harder than others. But I have done it, sometimes to capture the emotion of someone that just got something they didn't want, or took them out of the game.

Sometimes you can get neat images from the people around the board.

No no no, I can't do that. I like board games but am not that great at them (or maybe it's just that my wife is that much better). All of my attention needs to be on the board or I will lose even worse than I normally do!

[kalison]

No no no, I can't do that. I like board games but am not that great at them (or maybe it's just that my wife is that much better). All of my attention needs to be on the board or I will lose even worse than I normally do!

LOL.

Well maybe get some good captures of your wife gloating or excitement (flattering ones of course) maybe she will accept it more

Or just take lots of flattering photos of her. Then drop the old "see? Now I will always have this moment"

I don't know, something cheesy.

[VaughnA]

My wife encourages me a lot and doesn't have a problem with me buying stuff for photography if we have the money. And we both look at the checkbook and see what's available. Her hobby is painting which doesn't cost quite as much. We do have a rule that I'll at least ask if I'm spending more than 1-200 bucks.

As for other hobbies, it's cycling. We've probably got 10-12k worth of bikes in the shop. But we are set up well enough that the continuing cost on them is pretty low. About our only cost now is tires and entry fees for events.