People like that have no business with expensive equipment and I have to restrain myself from asking them to hand over the goods. If only I could!
I find myself envying that which I do not possess. I salivate over the Nikon D80 or Canon EOS 5D I see in someone's hand as they click away at running children, as they use the wrong lens to shoot the red tailed hawk circling above lunch. I look through the endless photos on Flickr and see the results of people using equipment they have no clue how to use and I bang my head on the nearest hard surface.
I have my camera wishlist. I'm nowhere near able to afford what I want, but I dream about the day it will be possible. I dream about the photographs I'll take and the interest people will have in my work when they see what I can do. But it's nothing more than dreams at this point. Dreams and resentment toward people with unlimited budgets and no eye for the photographic masterpieces I just know await me were I to rip their cameras from their uneducated and untalented hands.
My dreams and photos are pretty, but my attitude is not. I have the potential to be more as a photographer, or I could stew in my avaricious juices and resent those who have more. It's a fine line, folks. A very fine line and I'm teetering.
I covet that which I cannot have and it's making me a bitterly jealous person. My art is suffering and so am I.
Article comments
1 - diana hartman
gawd...if only i had a nickel for every -- well, you know...
what a wonderful camera i could buy...
2 - Joan Hunt
yeah, welcome to my world Diana. It's been pretty damn lonely here and I could use the company.
3 - diana hartman
when are they going to redecorate the poorhouse, anyway?
c'mon, a little paint, a couple of throwpillows...
4 - Joan Hunt
It has been redecorated. Can't you tell by all the shabby chicness?
5 - Mark Saleski
ooh ya, i had some of the same ambitions joan. i have fond memories of my mother yelling at me from the other side of the bathroom door ("c'mon, i've gotta go!") ....the one i had taped shut, enlarger propped up on the toilet lid, chemical baths in the tub, print dryer on the floor.
by the way, check out this article, a friend of a friend is into photography and does some pretty amazing macro work.
dang, i gotta get a camera soon.
6 - Joan Hunt
cool beans, Mark!
I do have quite a bit of macro work under my belt and have written a brief (published!) macro tutorial for a wildlife group.
If you ever have time, you are welcome to check out some of my photos on Flickr
7 - Joan Hunt
P.S. You're a horrible, horrible man for teasing me with tutorials for a camera I do not yet possess.
8 - Mark Saleski
i'll check 'em out.
i got "re-interested" in photography again after seeing jerry's article on macro. he does some crazy stuff, like taping eyepieces to the front of the camera...there are some pics on there that show either salt or sugar crystals up close.
...which is sort of up my alley as i like to take very close, textural photos with the context removed.
9 - Joan Hunt
yeah, I'm eyeing his snowflakes at the moment and drooling.
you know, one of the best and worst aspects to flickr is the incredible wide-ranging spectrum of "ability" there. Some of the photographers floor me with such amazing work. I try to focus on them.
10 - Mark Saleski
sorry about the camera thing. as with reviews (making poor people go out and spend their money on new cds), my aim is of course to make people buy other "stuff" as well.
;-)
11 - Phillip Winn
I've got some Canon lenses, so I guess I'm a Canon guy for life, now. The new Canon Digital Rebel XTi (aka 400D outside the U.S.) looks like a pretty nice target for me. Not a 5D, of course, but I can't afford a 5D. :-)
On that macro tutorial: When shooting sensitive exposures (like moon shots of the Harvest Moon the other night), I use the timer mode so that vibrations in the tripod have time to die down. Or the remote, of course, which is also good.
12 - Joan Hunt
Oh, if you only knew how many cameras I've lusted for, Phillip! Actually, I think we may have had this convo before. Good advice on the timer/remote!
Mark, I think you must tell your wife that half your salary this month is going toward MY new camera.
La la la...it's obviously bedtime for Bonzo here. I should never covet while exhausted.