Has it really been 4 months since Facebook decided that I couldn't use their service unless I paid them by giving them information they should never possess? Checking back, it does appear the parting of the ways was on or around June 30th.
Have I pined for Facebook? Have I crawled back, capitulating to their demands? Have I quietly set up a different identity? Have I, Hell! While I haven't been busily throwing darts at an effigy of Marc Zuckerburg while cursing his heritage as the eternal Jew, I have been enjoying my life more.
Without Facebook I have been concentrating on other things. I've joined a real photography group. I've worked on my bus. I've done a lot. Oddly enough aside from photography on my phone, I've not done much photography.
I have investigated changing my camera system and have investigated buying new lenses and new bodies in order to take the kind of photo I'd like to but selling a working sytstem for peanuts just for that seems silly. I've pared down to what I actually use from the ton and a half of stuff I has. Wanting to take night sky images like so many others do seems a little bourgeois. Basically I'd be paying to copy others instead of using what I have, and stretching it to its limits.
The photographers of old largely had one camera, one lens and did their best with what they had. The possession of massive amounts of gear does not bring happiness nor better photography. All it does is clutter the house after costing a ton of money that withers away agonisingly before your eyes.
For me, the thought of money tied up in gear that's not being used and which is depreciating rapidly while being a thief magnet is good enough reason to minimise. Some things such as my Canon S1IS have plummeted so much in value that they're pretty well worthless. It used to take decent pictures but picture quality has declined though the videos are still excellent.
Oddly enough, I'd still be using an all in one had I not been using one of those iniquitous online forums. I remember an Australian lady who went to the forum for advice on a camera. She received the forum "advice" and got her camera. I encountered her a year or so later and her comment was that the people on the forum didn't know anything and that the camera was "crappy".
Well, I was happy with my all in one but succumbed to the temptation to get a DSLR though in fact while the image quality was clearly higher than my all-in-one and had no shutter lag, it just wasn't as convenient. Of course then I was pressured by somebody I knew at the time into getting all the stuff I'd need in order to be a professional photographer. So, I ended up with way too much gear. Now I have cut back to just the stuff I think I use and still I feel I have too much bulk.
I look back at the all in one and wonder if there's a better way. I don't need ultimate image quality and 8 megapixels is adequate for my photography. I don't really need more. I've a hankering to do more high speed imaging and more than an all in one might be capable of. Thus I've been looking at other systems.
Despite my wrong turn into DSLRs (which are nice but not really what I want in a camera), I would still like to get close to the same image quality. A friend at a camera club showed me his Olympus which was very nice. It was compact enough to be much more portable. I keep coming back to the Nikon 1 though. For some reason that little camera has captured my heart, being both small and having decent image quality. The one I'd like though, that does everything I want is hideously expensive though. C'est la vie!
So, eventually the plan is to go smaller. As and when it can be afforded though. The basic thing is that though I like taking photos, the immediacy of my cellphone means it gets used while my DSLR doesn't. The bulk of the DSLR counts against itself too. What I'm crying out for is CONVENIENCE. And, of course, freedom.
Just as I am free of Facebook, I cut myself loose from forums too. I joined a camera club which is a very non judgemental group. So I wonder through the valley of life, fearing no opinions.
Have I pined for Facebook? Have I crawled back, capitulating to their demands? Have I quietly set up a different identity? Have I, Hell! While I haven't been busily throwing darts at an effigy of Marc Zuckerburg while cursing his heritage as the eternal Jew, I have been enjoying my life more.
Without Facebook I have been concentrating on other things. I've joined a real photography group. I've worked on my bus. I've done a lot. Oddly enough aside from photography on my phone, I've not done much photography.
I have investigated changing my camera system and have investigated buying new lenses and new bodies in order to take the kind of photo I'd like to but selling a working sytstem for peanuts just for that seems silly. I've pared down to what I actually use from the ton and a half of stuff I has. Wanting to take night sky images like so many others do seems a little bourgeois. Basically I'd be paying to copy others instead of using what I have, and stretching it to its limits.
The photographers of old largely had one camera, one lens and did their best with what they had. The possession of massive amounts of gear does not bring happiness nor better photography. All it does is clutter the house after costing a ton of money that withers away agonisingly before your eyes.
For me, the thought of money tied up in gear that's not being used and which is depreciating rapidly while being a thief magnet is good enough reason to minimise. Some things such as my Canon S1IS have plummeted so much in value that they're pretty well worthless. It used to take decent pictures but picture quality has declined though the videos are still excellent.
Oddly enough, I'd still be using an all in one had I not been using one of those iniquitous online forums. I remember an Australian lady who went to the forum for advice on a camera. She received the forum "advice" and got her camera. I encountered her a year or so later and her comment was that the people on the forum didn't know anything and that the camera was "crappy".
Well, I was happy with my all in one but succumbed to the temptation to get a DSLR though in fact while the image quality was clearly higher than my all-in-one and had no shutter lag, it just wasn't as convenient. Of course then I was pressured by somebody I knew at the time into getting all the stuff I'd need in order to be a professional photographer. So, I ended up with way too much gear. Now I have cut back to just the stuff I think I use and still I feel I have too much bulk.
I look back at the all in one and wonder if there's a better way. I don't need ultimate image quality and 8 megapixels is adequate for my photography. I don't really need more. I've a hankering to do more high speed imaging and more than an all in one might be capable of. Thus I've been looking at other systems.
Despite my wrong turn into DSLRs (which are nice but not really what I want in a camera), I would still like to get close to the same image quality. A friend at a camera club showed me his Olympus which was very nice. It was compact enough to be much more portable. I keep coming back to the Nikon 1 though. For some reason that little camera has captured my heart, being both small and having decent image quality. The one I'd like though, that does everything I want is hideously expensive though. C'est la vie!
So, eventually the plan is to go smaller. As and when it can be afforded though. The basic thing is that though I like taking photos, the immediacy of my cellphone means it gets used while my DSLR doesn't. The bulk of the DSLR counts against itself too. What I'm crying out for is CONVENIENCE. And, of course, freedom.
Just as I am free of Facebook, I cut myself loose from forums too. I joined a camera club which is a very non judgemental group. So I wonder through the valley of life, fearing no opinions.
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