Are you obsessed with the technology only?

your sitting in front of one right now 😁 i was at a art gallery a while back looking at very large glass prints that were amazing . as im walking around i stopped and commented how beautiful the glass print was to my daughter , then all of a sudden the image changed ,🤨it was an oled Sony monitor was truly amazing. never say never.

I've seen ones that looked nice. They just sucked as viewfinders.

Great insights. Many thanks. That's refreshing to see some photos and examples . It is inevitable to incorporate two basic approaches to get most of the opportunities. Everyday carry setup, and purpose built setup.

Buying gear based on its strong character is not an unknown concept, but very foreign to me. Worthy of deeper evaluation though!

I missed this thought provoking thread. The last point is the most interesting.

I am not particularly interested in the technology, for me photography is an artistic pursuit to get away from my technical job. I am though very interested in exploring how I can use the technology to photograph things that were difficult to photograph in the past. My particular technical( GAS) interest at the moment is shift lenses for architectural photography. That Schneider-Kreuznach 35mm PC lens that sombody is selling on Ebay right now, is a tempting purchase, whilst looking at lenses on a rainy day, with not much else to do. I do not need it, but it looks like an unusual lens and might be fun to use.

To actually keep my interest in photogrphy alive, I set myself projects. Usually these projects are fairly fluid and changeable as I go along, and they sometimes spawn sub projects. A project is concluded with a Blurb book, when I feel I have exhausted the subject. My projects are all based on something I become interested in. I love history, art and architecture, so I have no problems finding subjects for my projects.

My best photography was made when I worked semi professionally for our local theatre. I had a brief and I knew exactly what pictures I needed to take. I also had a subject I need to take an interest in, or was interested in like Jazz. Setting myself projects is the next best thing.

A project or a professional brief often involves solving problems. For example, my architectural project concerning Romanesque architecture has thrown up several problems. A tripod is the proper solution, if I want optimum photographic quality. But I cannot use a tripod in many of these buildings. IBIS is a good solution, but HDR sets are out of the question. I thought awhile, and I dug out my old monopod with feet and combining the relative stability of the monopod, with IBIS, I can do those 30 second exposures at base ISO. I refined the setup with a carbon fibre monopod and a ball head. But I had instability problems as the weight of the camera in vertical risked making the whole lot fall over. An L bracket puts the center of gravity of the camera right over the pole. Problem solving such as this makes photogrphy interesting too.

Being up to date with the latest technical advances is no bad thing perhaps. With IBIS I am now able to make photographs fairly easily, in dark old Italian monuments, first off with M43 and when the FF IBIS systems caught up, I changed to the more performant Nikon Z7. I took some shots yesterday at high ISO and slow shutter speeds, and I am still amazed at the technical quality the output has. But I also enjoy my "slow" photography with a D850 with my old Nikkor 28mm and 35mm PC lenses, with the camera firmly mounted on a thirty year old tripod.

Being able to share my photography via my Blog and via forums such as this one keeps me from concluding that photography is a pointless pastime (think Vivian Maier).

Very impressive shots - this one in particular (I'm well aware of how small those eyes are)!

I'm sure that it doesn't apply to many people (for whom the gear is mostly just that) but I agree that building your gear/optimizing your setups can be a lot of fun, particularly if you try to come up with your own solution which suits your particular needs, rather than just follow a tutorial from someone experienced. I feel like I'm still in the middle of finding my approaches and solutions and gear certainly is part of the process.

Pinch watching by simple.joy, on Flickr

Gotta hand it to the rain: it feels amazing! by simple.joy, on Flickr

Shoot for the stars! by simple.joy, on Flickr

Rust suspect busted! by simple.joy, on Flickr

Hey! Whom did you just color greenhorn? by simple.joy, on Flickr

No questions asked by simple.joy, on Flickr

I enjoy incorporating many of the unique aspects of the gear (particularly the old manual lenses) I use in my shots, even some which might be considered flaws by most standards:

Ballways online by simple.joy, on Flickr

@NCV I did read your "Beyond the tripod" thread. Inspiring stuff, indeed!

@simplejoy:
Very, very nice and technical photography. Gives me boners from the technical side of things, the bokeh work is way superb, but I also wonder who would enjoy these. Here on general forums, it doesn't state its purpose, and feels like a dead end I am already in. Would you please elaborate some more about reasons, purpose and such? My heard is iron in this department.

😅 I know (and agree in part) but that‘s a completely different question than what you asked in your OP. Motivation doesn‘t necessarily have to come from considerations about someone else liking or needing your images, don‘t you think?

And apart from that, many of my images are created for the 'weekly themed groups' on flickr I mentioned earlier, where they certainly fulfill some purpose, even if it might mostly be gaining more experience.

That question is partially encoded in the problematics. As I see it, interest or demand, or praise, can each be useful additional pillar for a reason and motivation, where not enough of it is present. Given the global online mood of people on forums, I can see how some might interpret it as an insincere troll question. But it is not, and it seems that you got it right.
And so asking for your audience portfolio is valid and worthy of exploration for the topic.

Indeed, motivation can come from other things too. I had my time with models of motivation, but I cannot use those working ones on photography. Or at least it did not work for me. It would spiral down to the happines of just being, without reason or purpose. I cannot do that with photography at this point.
The purpose can be fun of it, fun of the making, I get that. It is somehow not strong enough. I gave myself long enough break from it though, so maybe more personal exposure can start some ideas and motivation.

Thank you, live mosquito shot with a 40 yo olympus 10 x microscope objective 60 stacked images. shot in 6 secs with my mechanical invention. no electronic slides for me they are to slow for live insects.

very nice images, and thats a main point of why do you shoot extreme macro. set subject comps and groups. is the perfect motivation. and fun to push yourself to the next level.

Donald, Indeed, impressive work. That looks like fruits of dedication. I have a thing with small animals. They don´t like to stay close around me, and I am positive about that. :-) Fortunately, I have rather static objects to shoot, so that´s a non issue. I have tried stacking. It can be tedious work when one does not have setup that goes along the efforts.

The tools recommendation is halfway working. At some time, it is possible, at some time it is more feasible to pay someone to do it for me, because the path to photography through ironmongery in my garage would ruin it all, due to time constraints, frustration and such. I can get to professional results, but the time spent producing is unreasonable given my skills and tools. On the other hand, I can see how it is an opportunity. I have things to make, and so making them and showing them to the world through photography would be win-win.

So ideas and motivation actually are flowing in. Great!

I also enjoying shooting film noir images. This style is very complex but very enjoyable. I first need an idea or a noir film scene. the famous photographers that were the best at it in the 30s hand painted there own backdrops and the images had a fake but realistic look to them. Im hopeless at painting so i decided to make my own film camera projectors and print my own film slides of the scenes i went out an shot specific images so perspective of the images i shot had to be life size. If you want to be that gangster in a movie scene its great fun buying cloths from op shops and nick knacks for authenticity. i have a remote in my pocket and shoot with live monitors so you can see the results instantly and move around for the perfect take. i also hold workshops where the photographers become the model and shoots themselves. they love it and laugh through the whole day never experiencing anything like it before.

That´s sick. And thought provoking.
I have this mental image, that with cigar in mouth, sometimes, it looks more "wannabe", "waiting" and such. Maybe, sometimes without it, it would evoke much more purpose and gangster feel. Just a little critique and thought (for the last shot especially).

I did try "roleplay" shootouts with other people, and it went much less than successfull, so that´s that. On the other hand, there is most to learn in things we don´t like or we cannot achieve. And so in this department that´s being stuck again. Can you dig into that some more? Your ideas and feelings about that genre?

Its alot of fun to recreate scenes

www.pinterest.com.au/storm7997/film-noir-photography/

i enjoy going out for a day to find old sheds and buildings and then home to print off some transparences using pigment ink only.
i also have smoke machines for mood fog /smoke ect.

....because I do not have the gift of concision, you have to suffer my long posts.

In Sept '57 we got our first radio at home. A dedicated shelf was built near the door in the corner where every year took place the Christmas tree. The first transmission I remember was the Sputnik voice from Space, two months later. Just imagine how a TWO-year-old kid can conceive a computer and the computer world in that conditions.
I dreamed that.
In '76 My first job was in the 36kVolts transmission, In '77 I was looking at strip programming. In '79 writing code for IBM on a punching machine and reading results on a printer's sheet. Short jump. In '85 I owned my first PC! An 8086 Olivetti by AT&T all white... so beautiful. In '90 switched to e-transmission. Lost my job and all in the MCI-WorldCom crash, and ended up owning and doing Taxi-Driver at night for 15 years.
Long Jump ahead.
In 2014 health failed. I was not able to work anymore. I was forced to live on saving, waiting to fulfill the rules set for a retirement check. Live was sad and harsh, and in 2018 I was going down pretty bad.
"You cannot buy a Ferrari to mend your soul, aren't you?" A reasonable thought, followed by:
"Ok, but you can build a new Ferrari-Like-Computer for a fraction of the cost and it doesn't matter if you can or cannot afford it"

I set a 3k€ budget and started to chase my dream. I built a top-class beautiful "a White PC" after researching parts for months. That saved me.
(8700K @5G - 16Gb ram - RTX 2070 - 1Tb M.2)

In 2021 I upgraded it to a AMD 5600x + 2070x 32Gb Ram "a Purple PC"

In '75 I received as a gift a 6x6 Ferrania "milkbox" camera. Shooting on 11-shot rolls.
It stayed 20 years in my car traveling with me while work brought me to Customers all around northern Italy.... one occasion I stopped for water on Aosta Valley Highway... It took me 15 minutes to get the shot... ended up shooting from the middle of the highway. I don't have any shot of that period. Too many moves.

All that time I dreamed of a reflex with a tele lens. My Ferrania was stolen in '86.
In '88 I was on a business trip in LA. I'd won it with a huge check for performance... The boss got an F4, I got an N4004/F401 + 35-70 AF !!!. A few months later for Christmas, I went to Switzerland and got a 70-210 F4.
Not much of a Tele, but I can tell you I was happy!
In the '90s I amended the kit with a used F90. Money was what it was. In 2003 kids destroyed both cameras.

This year I'm a little down. Health is drowning.
I decided to get back to the "reflex" photo. (2-3K€ budget) >> Z30+ 2lenses kit -> changed the Z 50-250 with a better all-around Z 18-140 and added...
FTZ + AF-P 70-300 5.6E

Am I happy?? Not really...

PC side: I'm waiting for AM5 platform to stabilize and I will update with a new PC. Supposedly AMD 7800-3DX 64Gb Ram and Radeon 7700xt 16Gb

Camera side: 300 (450dx) is short but only 1.390Kg shooting weight. I do need a new lens! I'm debating if a shooting weight of nearly 3Kg will be too much for my hands (Sigma 150-600 C) or if I have to be content with a 1.8Kg and a Sigma 100-400 C.

Insert Sage reasoning
- My PC is near perfect or even more than my needs.
- My Camera system Is Perfect for my need and I have not yet explored its full potential.

• Whatever I'll spend and I'll get... there are performances I may not even be able to use due to my health.

DECISION TIME

• • That 150-600 is 8 years old... the seller is the owner. Another camera fan. He bought it and left it in a drawer.....

-> IT'S ONLY 650€ ... I NEED THAT 'cause it's cheap ( and also all the original box and accessories)

• • Why should I keep old Hardware if I can get a more beautiful configuration?

-> I WANT TO HAVE 12 CORES !!! and focus stacking will be faster (30 seconds is a long time to wait)

🤣😂😁🤣😂😁🤣

Technology hungry, or late years caprice... whatever you can indulge yourself in...

Actually, I told a lie. These are my favorite events

Maybe having the focus assist light on and having to wait until focus was achieved before shutter would activate was the reason you liked your photos so well.
And I am in the same boat about my desires as far as equipment being too expensive for me to even consider trying to satisfying them.

I have tried to delete this post, but can't figure out how. It was meant to be a response to davidwien way back on first page, but apparently getting it there was beyond my capabilities as was getting it deleted.

Get up every morning, stand in front of a mirror and repeat the phrase "my photos suck because I don't understand my motivation for making them"

Once you realize that it isn't the camera, it's you, you'll start moving forward.