It seems that a lot of my other photographically-inclined friends and students share the same few passions – watches/ horology, cars, cigars, food/ wine, travel, and to some extent, hi-fi. It could be because serious photographers tend to be mostly male (no sexism intended, but 90% of my reader demographic and students are male) and these are male pursuits; however, the funny thing is that a good number of the ladies in the 10% share these interests, too. I’m not counting casual or passing fancies here – I’m only including people serious enough to devote a meaningful chunk of time and income towards these hobbies. Even so, the numbers are overwhelmingly in favor of just a few pursuits*.
*My point of view could however be biased by the demographic of my readers; I suppose if I surveyed those who lived in countries with strong anti-smoking laws, expensive car operating costs, and reasonable public transport – sounds like the UK – we’d find that cigars and cars drop off the list.
Several recent discussions with friends and readers got me thinking about why exactly this is the case. Undoubtedly there’s an income/ financial component to it; you have to be reasonably comfortable to play the equipment game (especially Leica and medium format digital), which translates into a certain proportion of disposable income. Then again, this isn’t always the case: there are plenty of other people I knew back in the early days of DSLRs – myself included – who saved up several paychecks in order to be able to buy one. It was 2004 and I’d graduated only a year before; I was an auditor in London and making probably slightly less than minimum wage once you’d factored in the number of hours and complete lack of overtime. The D70 kit I bought represented about four months of disposable income, and a whole after-tax paycheck.
Best of both worlds.
At the time, though, I was also interested in watches – though I didn’t have the money to do anything but attend collectors’ dinners, drool over the eye candy and make some photographs. Photographs and knowledge were free, however, and that’s how I started down the path of becoming a serious photographer and watch designer. In my case, it was one hobby that catalysed the other: I could see the same thing being true especially for travel, and to a lesser extent, cars.
I suppose the latter two things – and food – are all somewhat related; you could go on a road trip through Europe in a nice car, enjoying scenic routes, winding roads and challenging yourself to see if the curves makes your passenger lose it before the sheer amount of food eaten does; then intersperse that with a few on-food sojourns through interesting towns, camera in hand. Finally, top it off with a cigar and a coffee after lunch in the early afternoon when the light’s too harsh to shoot and the roads are too crowded to make much progress, and you’ve pretty much covered all the bases.
As we can see, all of these things are related in a way, and one thing leads naturally to another when you’ve got a limited amount of leisure time and want to maximize the epicurean pleasure derived from it. But there’s one other difference: depth. Though everybody has a hobby or passion, some tend to be more obsessively passionate over it than others**. A pursuit of relative mental passiveness, like reading, jogging, collecting [insert object here] or perhaps drinking – all lack the depth to keep your mind occupied for more than a few hours (the exact opposite for drinking), and the routine doesn’t vary much. You’re going to get bored of it. Sooner or later, you’ve found that elusive limited edition widget, you’ve read the entire Times best seller list, or you’re passed out on a floor somewhere. Game over.
**This isn’t always a good thing.
I’m sure I’m generalizing here. But on the surface of it, there’s a degree of depth to photography that isn’t covered by few other casual hobbies – the obvious ones being cookery and painting – for a start, to do it well requires both technical and creative skill, and involvement on the part of the photographer. (You can, of course, point your iPhone at anything random and run it through your favourite app without doing much thinking, but arguably you aren’t really a photographer, either.) The personal satisfaction rewards for getting it right are high, and it’s very obvious if you get it wrong. Yet the beauty of the medium is relativity: you can feel good about an image now, but wonder what on earth you were thinking back then when you see it again two years later. There’s room for various forms of intellectual satisfaction that don’t necessarily come from other pursuits.
I enjoy a good Cuban as much as the next cigar aficionado, and can generally tell the brands apart by taste, but there’s enough variation out of your control – most of these things making for a negative experience, such as poor construction, wrong humidity etc. – that you get the feeling that it doesn’t take a lot of skill to be able to smoke one. It’s perfectly possible to enjoy one without being able to identify the leather and fennel notes, for instance. The overall intellectual involvement is low; intellectual satisfaction derived is minimal.
Partagas Shorts. Vegetal, earthy with a strong tobacco flavor and some citrus highlights. Or at least that’s what my notes say; at one point I took the time to document what I smoked. I just remember it as being pleasant, but mostly one-dimensional with the same flavor throughout – some cigars evolve.
Though Maslow’s pyramid of needs might be mostly decried as something a consultant (or former, in my case) might use to make a point on slide 67, I’d just like to point out that once you have all the other things – food, shelter, family/ friends, confidence/ self esteem – intellectual fulfilment is at the top. It makes sense, because you generally have to not be worrying about survival if you’re going to have any time and energy left over to devote to mental exercises. We’re also social creatures: you need somebody to share the enthusiasm, celebrate the highs and commiserate the lows with; that’s where friends come in. It’s therefore also quite possible that people who take up one hobby are introduced to the others by friends with whom they have common ground already; I know I’ve passed on the photography bug to fellow cigar smokers, the cigar bug to photographers, and go for weekend drives with people who enjoy both. As for the friends I made early on in the watch community – most of them seem to have taken up photography seriously in one form or another; several are now my students.
Aside from cross-pollination and the common thread of creativity, one thing photography shares in common with the other more mechanically-inclined hobbies is of course the equipment. You can’t drive without a car; the more serious you get, the more serious your car. Mechanical watches increase in quality, tactility, rarity of materials and complications as you go up in price; everybody wants to, because it’s human nature to get bored with the common after a time – and in the world of horology, every brand is competing for the dollar of the collector by bringing out increasingly different products. This is especially true at the high end of the market, where stakes are high, watch prices have six figures and make medium format digital look cheap***.
***I’m not even going to get into hifi – after several expensive detours into headphones (I used to travel a lot in my corporate life, and a static setup would have been wasted) I settled on a pair I’ve yet to find an improvement on – at least not without an order of magnitude more investment. For the curious, they’re first-generation UE Triple.Fi 10 Pros with custom silver cables. The only thing I’d consider to be an upgrade – to my tastes, which run to the analytical and warm – are the Stax Omega IIs, but you also need a very non-portable amp to drive them, impeccable source material and a quiet area because they’re electrostats.
Personally, I find the specific aspects of each hobby I enjoy are actually relatively similar: the tactility and mechanical-ness of the equipment for watches and cameras; the variety in travel, and the consequential ability to be exposed to and see different things to capture; the feel and methodicality of driving; the escapism of reading a good book. But above all, the satisfaction of getting something right when you’ve had to make a creative investment to produce it takes the cake – it’s the reason I photograph, and the reason I write (not the primary reason I cook though, that’s due to hunger). It’s what keeps me coming back and seeking to repeat the experience – we press the shutter more often than not because we see something compelling in reality and just have to capture it and see how it looks. I suppose it also doesn’t do any harm that some shutter actions are plenty satisfying, too; and it’s an activity that can be done when you have small chunks of free time, unlike say baking, travel, parachuting, or marble sculpture. Doesn’t really have the adrenaline hit of driving fast, though; that said, I can (and frequently do) get in the zone with accompanying rush when I’m covering something relatively fast-paced.
Here’s the parting thought I’m going to end on for you to leave your thoughts on in the comments: I need a new hobby. Now that pretty much all aspects of photography have become my job, I’m looking for something else to do to unwind; it’s not so much no longer enjoying shooting as needing something to give my mind a break. Doing variations on the same thing for effectively all of your waking hours – something that has been the case from the time I turned pro last year until now – is a fast way to losing inspiration and burning out. Variety of mental stimuli helps keep your perspective fresh and your eye keen – I know for example an appreciation for mechanical watches definitely makes me a better photographer of not only watches but other still lifes and mechanical objects; looking at art helps my composition and awareness of light, and smoking cigars…well, gives me something to do while on location and waiting for golden hour. So, suggestions, anybody? MT
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Ming Thein | Photographer 
Hmmm. No road biking. Eliminates a more obvious one. Archery? Yea, you can get as nit-picky with the equipment as you can in photography, but as in photography, the results depend by far more on you than the equipment.
How about this: Building model ships in the bottle. It allows for lots of creativity once you develop basic skills, can be demanding, perfectionism, attention to detail are invaluable, and you get a sense of satisfaction when you have finished. Then you can take photos too. The “problem” is that the equipment required is pretty basic and inexpensive, although you can get all fancy if you want.
I did it for several years, and built 30 or more, before I got burned out on it. Left them all back in the States at my parent’s house, and now, 14 years later am considering taking it up again. In addition, to photography and road biking in increasingly hazardous for cyclists Tokyo.
That actually sounds pretty awesome. Other than the obvious – tweezers and planning of rigging – are there any ‘tricks’?
Try juggling. It differs in a nice way from both heavy physical activities and intellectual activities.
Very good blog by the way. I am a long-time reader but first-time commenter.
Thanks Stefan. I already do it with many professional functions, I’ll try it with physical objects 🙂
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post, and I’d like to come up with a couple of suggestions you might like which I haven’t seen posted yet (much to my surprise!)
The first is amateur radio, particularly rewarding (IMHO) if you decide to teach yourself morse code; I find it incredibly stimulating to be able to communicate with someone quite literally on the opposite side of the world using equipment I’ve designed and built myself. In addition, morse code requires intense concentration to do right – both receiving and transmitting. You almost go into a zen-like trance when trying to copy someone else’s transmission – and you’ll always have something to strive for. (Being able to communicate faster, decipher weaker signals, learn some new construction skill, improve on the kit you already have…)
Also, it is quite travel-friendly – I travel extensively at work, and I often bring a complete shortwave station, antenna/aerial and all, weighing in at less than a kilogram.
The second potential hobby being soaring (not RC; full size!) – join a club, enroll in a course which will take you to your pilot’s licence. You’d be amazed at how quick you’ll be able to fly solo. Intensely rewarding and quite intellectually stimulating – figuring out where to find good soaring conditions as you go from A to B via C, D, E… Constantly revising your plan as mother nature tends to throw all sorts of surprises at you. Just you and a (surprisingly simple!) machine facing the elements.
Gliding is something I’ve considered in the past – lack of relative accessibility here is what stopped me. But I admit, radio is a new one…
Interesting read. When I left corp life (programmer) I vowed two things: not to ever work full time again and never code again. After trying a few different things over a few years, I went back to programming. It’s what I knew best and made the most money at. But I stuck to never working full time again. Twenty years later and I still code 8-10 hours a week and find something new and aggravating to solve regularly. As much as I try to get away from it, I’ll probably do it the rest of my life. If photography is what you like and what you think you’re best at (and can make the most money at), you’ll find some aspect(s) that you’ve not yet encountered and the the flame will burn brighter than it does now. So… sit back, order a box of Burdick Chocolate, enjoy a Fonseca Delicias, take a spin in something fast (sorry, I just sold my Mach 1 so I can’t help you there but my Santos looses time faster than it should so maybe I could challenge you with that) then maybe write the definitive essay on whether it’s better to shoot with an M and convert to b&w or an M Monochrom. See, you’re getting excited already (and you didn’t have to try…). Savor life; we really don’t live nearly as long as we think we will.
You’re right – I have to be involved in many different things to keep my mind active and stimulated. Burdick’s is excellent, as are Fonesecas – you have excellent taste 🙂 Too bad internationally shipped chocolate tends to melt while awaiting customs clearance 😦
Sounds like the Santos is in need of a service – either things are gummed up reducing amplitude, or it got magnetized. Both should be fairly simple fixes.
As for M vs M Monochrom – I’d do neither. I’ve become addicted to Acros 100 6×6 negatives. 🙂
The Santos has been factory serviced. My little buddy just likes to run slow. As do I. As for the Acros, maybe that’s at the root of your challenge… the M vs. MM has simply become to banal for you at this point. If that’s the case, you’ve already solved your dilemma… with the Acros. I know for myself that once I’ve reached some sort of undefined plateau, I move on to the next “thing”. For you it’s the Acros. For me, after three years of ownership, I’m still trying to figure out when I want to shoot my Noctilux wide open and when I want to stop it down. Sounds simple and arcane but for me it’s a tremendous intellectual challenge. More Burdick’s!
Wide open when you can’t tell it’s a Noctilux; stopped down when you need sufficient DOF to be able to identify the background context, but not so little that things become abstract. At least that’s my take on it…I object to images being all about a particular lens’ signature.
Really great photos!!! Love it!! I love the shot of the BMW at the top of your post and the watch following!! If you’re interested in cars and automotive photography you should check out my blog, http://dr1ven.wordpress.com/ Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks.
Try fly fishing, real escapism and it takes you to some truly wonderful places you’d otherwise not likely see otherwise. Start with fly fishing for sailfish in Rompin mere hours from your home. Tight lines.
I note you dissed reading perhaps because it usually is a pass-the-time on “my new Kindle!” while waiting for the next real activity. That’s a shame because reading is nothing about ticking off bestseller lists. That is goal setting and true readers are adventurers. You cannot set milestones in an adventure because you have no idea where it will take you! So what is reading: it’s about ideas; it’s about people; it can be about plot but better it’s about human nature; it’s about language and its power, beauty, subtlety and nuance. It can also be about style (Proust) or social commentary and essays (lost art!). Reading is pleasure supreme and more; for even more than travel it expands (not just broadens) the mind. I must confess I haven’t read a lot of popular new fiction but there is so much juice in the old ones e.g. from Lucretius (where he broaches evolution) to Thucydides to Caesar or Cicero; (Aristotle is hard) but Homer with the right translation is stunning and so is Virgil. I just finished Jared Diamond’s book Collapse and I would never have imagined anthropology as thriller: my world view switched. One reads a book like Hemingway’s The Old Man & The Sea and he wields a power that holds one spell-bound; the man was a wizard. And what of Gogol or Grossman’s Life and Fate. I’m just skimming here for there are hundreds and quite possibly thousands of great books and poetry though I find the latter hard.
Personally, I find reading superior to masturbation (I do that too so I know!) and what it does to my brain is what I imagine LSD does for some people; it’s the difference between taking the blue pill and the red pill. I’m like a cosmologist granted space-time travel into another universe or I’m like the curious little bugger who walks through the looking glass. And I think this is where you as photographer can contribute something unique because you have a highly developed skill in catching moods and expressing them in strong, stark and evocative terms. Reading and photography can provide source material to: write a book which is my suggestion. But don’t write a book about photography (we have gazillions of those) but write one about a photographer. Who would read it? Ah, that’s where your genius (as in the daemon) comes in. Beseech it. I’m thinking of Orhan Pamuk’s The Black Book where it’s about artists (and murder) and what a beautifully written book! The photographer as protagonist. The ability to look into the human soul and capture its essence is part of the genius of Dostoyevsky and Shakespeare and it’s what you photographers do all the time. I bet you can write and it doesn’t have to be 500 pages. The Old Man & The Sea was like 100 pages and Solzhenitsyn’s A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich was like 100 pages too if I remember correctly and they are both far superior to the mass of books stored on most people’s Kindles. (Nesbo? Pah! Peter Hoeg’s Miss Smilla’s Feeling For Snow – superb).
Modification to my earlier post: the Orhan Pamuk book I was thinking of is My Name Is Red and not The Black Book.
I didn’t ‘dis’ it at all; I said it was too passive and something I’m already doing. I actually read quite a lot and find it a good way to escape – if only for an hour or two. Hell, as an extension of that I even tried lucid dreaming; I stopped when I was having trouble distinguishing reality from dreams. Life was getting a little too weird at that point.
Wow! Just spent a very interesting half-hour reading about lucid dreaming, thanks for that…
I admit what first got me interested in it was Inception – discovering that it’s a) very real and b) incredibly immersive was quite something. However, I do caution you NOT to do it too often because it can really alter your perception of reality in a not-so-good way (e.g. if you daydream, you may not know you’re still awake and really injure yourself thinking that it’s a dream; this nearly happened to me once).
Fascinating and scary. I had a somewhat similar experience with meditation a few years ago: I got so into the Zen mindset that I felt it was beginning to hinder my ability/desire to lead a normal life. I guess the moral of the story is that obsessives like us need to exercise caution when taking up certain hobbies!
It’s one of the reasons why I tried and abandoned meditation. Far too easy to become detached and non-functional in the real world.
Precisely. But most people never get that far, in the same way that most people don’t take photography this seriously. Perhaps it pays to be a dilettante sometimes!
It’s certainly less likely to generate a headache 🙂
Your observations here are very interesting. I’m really into photography, cars, cigars, hifi, food, watches. 🙂 I think we’re drawn to things that are beautiful and well-crafted, that take talent to create, but are lovely to behold. And I think as photographers, we tend to find the beauty in common things that go unnoticed by many.
As for a new hobby, I’d recommend woodworking and/or metal working. Some communities have co-opts and classes you can take. I’m lucky enough to have some woodworking tools, but I’d love to try out welding. Building is very challenging and yet so rewarding.
Good luck finding a new hobby!
You have a point there – maybe it’s a ‘trained’ eye appreciation for aesthetics? I’ll have to find a garage first before anything requiring a machine shop, sadly 😛
Have you ever considered rebuilding old cameras? Just an idea. I was given an old Zeiss-Ikon Cocarette from 1928 by a friend. It was just a decoration. The shutter didn’t work. The bellows were brittle and crumbling. The outer faux-leather covering was mostly gone and what was left was coming off. I rebuilt it (albeit half-assedly) from shutter to bellows. It was a joy to rebuild. And when I was done, I had a working 6x9cm camera. Since you like the mechanics of watches and much of your photography is work (and therefore somewhat less than intellectually satisfying), rebuilding nonfunctional cameras and shutters could be just the thing for you. Plus when you rebuild one, you’re getting something that doesn’t work and is falling apart, so it can’t cost very much. And when you’re done (after shooting a few rolls of film, of course), you can resell it (especially if it’s a somewhat rare find).
Interesting…I’m already doing my own maintenance on mechanical cameras, so this isn’t such a big step, I suppose. One wonders how available spares are going to be, or the difficulty in machining parts, though…
How about fly fishing. It’s relaxing, requires some technical expertise, and you can even get into the equipment if you want. Rowing is another alternative. Having said that I think I am in a similar position, for me photography is a hobby, but I seriously need another one. Tried golfing just did not connect. Would love to play the cello but really have no musical ability other than listening to it. Like to read a lot, but am picky about authors and finding no ones I lie. Love traveling and planning trips, but cannot do this all the time. Collecting something gets old, and the best part is in obtataining the items, for me once they are there they more or less just set there so what is the point really. Woodworking was a nice creative and technical pursuit of mine years ago and one I think I need to get back into. I wish you the best in finding some meaningful and enjoyable pursuit.
1. Meditation
2. Yoga
3. Horsemanship
4. Training a dog for obedience trials
5. Leather work: making wallets, gun cases, knife cases
6. Crafting knives
7. Building your own acoustic guitar
8. Building your own tiny house, think Tumbleweed homes
9. Woodworking, making bowls and other beautiful work
10. Start drawing, sketching, keeping a notebook, then progress to watercolors as well
11. Invest in an Arabian Horse Syndicate. Go to horse shows.
12. Take cooking classes: Go to Italy to take a workshop
13. Try film making, video work.
14. Start working out at the gym, become a bodybuilder, enter a contest.
15. Design a clothing line
16. Design t-shirts with old cameras as graphics
17. Learn how to paint: oil or acrylics
18. Learn how to sculpture: clay, wood, rock, whatever
19. Write a book on photography, or a novel. Write poetry.
20. Start a microbrewery for beer or root beer
21. Get tattoos all over your body
22. Become a coffee or chocolate expert.
23. Learn hot to do mosaics
24. Go to school to learn how to make pastries
25. Breed Macaws, especially the Hyacinth
26. Birding, buy some Leica Binoculars
27. Grow Hemp and make clothing to sell
28. Ride a unicycle
29. build your own bicycle
30. Learn how to fly an airplane
Now that’s a comprehensive list!
Ming, please, if you do anything, MAKE IT #28
Haha. That was bonkers lainer1—thanks. #11 was my favorite 🙂
Yes, all I’ll need to do is by the caster foot and seat head attachment for my monopod…
i know this isn’t Facebook, but… Like!
…all I’ll need to do is by the caster foot and seat head attachment for my monopod…
Crikey, Ming, we were talking about Porsches for On Assignment the other day…
WHAT ON EARTH WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU PEDALED UP ON A UNICYCLE!
[I’ll stop the kidding around here—but this has really brightened my whole day, I’ve been chuckling since I saw it :D]
Depends if the job was for a circus or a bank, I suppose…
Hee hee!
Hey Ming a little late to the conversation but I thought I’d chime in. I have been practicing Aikido for the last 9-10 years. I find it to be an excellent combination of physical and mental stimulation. It is a defensive art that essentially blends with the attackers energy and redirects that attack to neutralize the attack. It’s not for everyone, but It maybe worth checking out. Here’s a link…. http://www.aikido-maa.com/dojo_directory/index.php?location=Kuala%20Lumpur You may find it interesting. I had read somewhere in the comments that someone recommended Tai Chi, and I would encourage you to check that out as well. Perhaps a couple of other disciplines as well. As much as I love training Aikido I don’t believe it is the one and only art to practice. Certain styles suit people better than others. I held back on my Aikido “sales pitch” a bit so as to spare your other readers!!! If you have questions or would like additional information please don’t hesitate to contact me and I’d be happy to share more! A parting thought…. After training for 9-10 years and achieving the rank of black belt some might assume I have mastered the art of Aikido. Nothing could be further from the truth. My Sensei simply said that having a black belt only meant that I was a “serious beginner.” Humbling and encouraging that there is so much more to learn.
I hadn’t considered Aikido either – thanks Jeff!
Watchmaking… start from the ground up filing, heat treating / blueing, turning on a lathe. There’s more than a lifetime of work there, even if it’s what you do full time.
Or, yoga. It’s far less stressful and an art itself 😉
Yes there is…also, that gear is not cheap or easily stored!
I have to say, I feel quite humbled (alienated?) by the lofty, exotic and expensive pastimes being bandied about here. That guy you mentioned in the original post, spending four months disposable income on a D70 kit… c’est moi 🙂 Perpetually…
Actually, a lot of these hobbies are not expensive – exercise, kite-flying, fishing etc. It’s more about finding something for the intellectual challenge than anything else. The expensive ones typically land up with you showing off your acquisitions to some degree; this requires nothing more than deep pockets and zero skill. One of the reasons I’ve pretty much stopped any sort of collecting; my pockets weren’t deep enough and it just wasn’t satisfying.
Very true. I was totally subconsciously focusing on the ones that are beyond my reach; funny how the brain does that 🙂
Fountain pens…
Been there, done that, grind my own nibs, too.
Without singling out one particular religion, I will say it in as agnostic of a fashion as I know: search for some form of enlightenment. Choose a religion, philosophy, or practice and really dig in. All the other pursuits you mention are man-made pleasures; fine, to be certain, but the pleasures of the metaphysical world are far more beautiful than the physical world we create for ourselves.
I find when I am truly on my path, I feel very fulfilled, and my photography becomes more beautiful. Photography is an intellectually rewarding journey if you are not seeking fulfillment from it. When I am out of touch, I focus on my “things” (cameras, cars, hifi, and watches, for me), and invariably end up disillusioned. The problem as I see it is that if you are highly intelligent, you will “consume” anything you get into, becoming quite bored once it is mastered. Mastery of human pursuits is quite in reach for many, and I think you have found this to be the case in your life, as well.
You cannot master enlightenment…
Ming
I will second the suggestion of Fly fishing, as it can touch all of the factors of what stimulates you. First it has a good smattering of gear. The rods and reals will satisfy your mechanical interests, to the point that if you let it you can be as addicted as any other gear related hobby. It involves strategy as you try to figure out what the fish will strike based on the time of day, water conditions, weather, etc. If you get into fly tying, it will satisfy your creative needs as it is a manual process and the flies can be quite beautiful. Plus, fly tying give you something to do on a long transoceanic flight; two of my coworkers do this on their monthly flights across the US.
Next comes the physical benefits, since you need to walk to your fishing location and walk while you are casting. Many times you will be waste deep in the water (stream, river, lake, ocean, etc.). By practicing catch and release you can come back and catch them again another time. Though occasionally bring a few home for dinner. In the end once you have a basic kit you will have all you need to fish. And all the camera you need is a point and shoot to record your catch and what you see along the way if it strikes you.
PaulB
Powerlifting (bench, squat, deadlift)! Alternatively, you can do olympic lifting (snatch, clean and jerk). Takes a couple years of practice and determination, and can serve as a form of meditation when you’re focusing on that dream personal record max lift. And there are plenty of amateur events out there to compete in to keep yourself motivated. If you want an idea of how to get started: http://www.manhavenproject.com/sheiko-training-plan/
Cheers!
I have to admit I’ve never considered this one.
Mountaineering. This has always been an intellectual’s pursuit historically. You will have to think to stay alive, you will send your adrenaline levels sky high and push you to your physical limits. It will take you away from everything normal and set you in places where nothing can bother you. It will heighten your awareness of what truly matters in life and to you.
My passion for photography has been a source of pleasure for the last 35 years. The pleasure is proportional to the time I’m spending with the medium, but not with new gear (that kind of pleasure lasts only for a very short time) and it grows with working hard, with experimenting and even with failure. The world which can be discovered by photography, when used as a medium of artistic exploration seems to be exploding universe full of secrets to me. I can hardly imagine that I’ll once have got enough of it.
Another pleasure with photography is studying the works of the old masters or of contemporary photo artists like Todd Hido, Alec Soth, Daido Moriyama, or some students of the phantastic Helsinki school or the German Duesseldorf school.
Following my ideas, shooting, editing etc. is sometimes a bit lonesome, but exhibiting together with others often leads to deep debates. With exhibitions abroad I have made some long lasting great contacts with very nice people.
Some years ago, I felt that I needed some more physical action and some more activities which can be shared with others. When the German weather allows, I’m now going on tours with a kayak-club. Don’t know if your landscape or seascape is good for kayaking, but I can really recommend this kind of sport, because kayakers are very special, very social and very helpful people. They need each other in many situations. That’s what makes them so different from many cigar smokers or watch collectors who just use their hobbies as status symbols, wish to be admired but produce more envy than true friendship (as far as I have experienced it.)
Can’t say I’m on for 35 years yet – more like 13 – but I agree with you: the pleasure from photography comes out of the creation part, not the acquisition part. And that’s one of the things that inherently limits any collecting-type hobbies: there’s no mental exercise. You do meet some interesting people that way, though, and go on to discuss philosophy at length over cigars (for instance, which I’ve done and still do – or at least try to when time permits) – but any activity that requires no more effort than opening your wallet is probably not good for the mind.
I’m not sure whether you want something intellectually stimulating or physically demanding?
If more on the intellectual side perhaps you might consider something like electronics as a hobby? At least one doesn’t have to spend time outdoors to accomplish this (and given possibly inclement weather) and your penchant for listening to music it might be an idea to build your own amplifier(s)? Sure they’re (DIY) not always up to commercial aesthetics but you’d maybe get a kick out of listening to something you’d built yourself – and the hours of research, construction etc – and possibly design your own at some stage.
just a thought.
Otherwise you could always try vegetating – very popular in certain cultures 😉
Cheers (and, as always, thanks for a ‘good read’!).
Definitely more on the intellectual stimulation part. Vegetating doesn’t really cover those bases 😛
Social dancing is a lot of fun and a great escape (when it’s not competitive.)
This is just speculation on my part – it looks to me like you are taking the mindset to excel at what you are doing to your hobbies. Which is essentially a good thing, but unwinding and taking the mind off is different in that you want to get out of your usual thought patterns.
Based on personal experience, as this is a problem of my own, I found that good ways to avoid tiring my brain are sports and indulging in guilty pleasures. You’ve had a lot of people suggest things like climbing, which I can recommend. (as long as you don’t mind torn, thick hands) Simple fitness in a gym or at home should not be disregarded either – many people thrive in exercising the fatigue of the day away. As for guilty pleasures, I find it rejuvenating to secretly do those things you would never openly admit to be doing in any way. It works wonders.
Maybe you can extract something helpful from that. Your articles are amazing, I hope you will be able to recharge those batteries of yours.
You’re spot on: I want to do something to relax the bit of my brain that’s normally engaged, and exercise another part – if that makes sense.
The adrenaline rushes are good. I particularly liked that about skiing; speed, control, nature, exercise. I have a tendency to just point my skis downhill and go straight – as fast as possible. I normally use much longer skis than I should for precisely this reason. Alas…not a lot of snow when you’re 3deg above the equator. Guilty pleasures? Haha; that was meant to be shooting film. Looks like the cat’s out of the bag…
Horses.
Waaaaay out of my budget and accessibility…
For marketers targeting amateur photographers these comments are a goldmine when doing media planning. Ming, erase them all and sell them to the camera industry:-) Then maybe you can have a weeks well deserved holiday.
!!!
(feel free…)
Or even two weeks, ahem, I mean twice one – always think of your customers…
Hahaha!
Hi Christian,
Sounds like this?
Smart man. 🙂
(This post wasn’t written with ulterior motives, however. I’m genuinely looking for a new source of mental stimulation. Making marketing associations I’d do through the survey so as to have empirical data to back things up.)
That’s part of the plan for the survey 🙂
I see that I am not the first to suggest sailing…
Small boat sailing is for both mind and body, after a while the boat becomes part of you – even more than a motorcycle.
And it can be meditative as well as sportive. For me, it can take my mind off everything else.
I have of course no idea of waters and weather where you live.
There are quite a lot of different types of small craft light enough to transport easily on a car top (could look really nice on a BMW), and yet large enough for a crew of one to two.
You can find boats both for the advanced sailor and others for the beginner, quite a few are suitable for both.
Some of my better photographs are of water around my moving boat, fast or slow…
As an example, mine is a sailing canoe of 4.8 x 1.2 m with 7.5 m2 of sail, easily reefable, the hull weighs about 50 kg.
(Don’t forget practising to handle a possible capsize. In your climate that is no problem. With some boat types it is a piece of cake to right the boat, get aboard again and go on sailing. Important: one crew always has a lifeline, you can’t catch a light boat adrift swimming.)
Your mention of a canoe actually makes me think about kayaking or rowing…
Yes!
I enjoy that too, but…
When rowing, I don’t see were I’m going.
When paddling (not my sailing canoe, too big for paddling), I wish for the ease of being under sail.
Especially in fresh weather, or even more when there is almost no wind and you change the now to heavy sheet to a piece of string and the boat sails with half a knot or even one knot…
I’m surprised nobody has figured out a mechanical solution for rowing other than a little mirror…
Oh yes, they have.
I have seen a photo of a Swedish forward rowing boat from the beginning of the last century.
An American firm sells forwars oars.
And now I find this info, new to me:
http://rowingforpleasure.blogspot.se/2010/04/this-extraordinary-mechanism-is-fine.html
But, you row more efficiently with oars that can be rotated, so you can apply that final twist at the end of a stroke.
I confess, I have considered making my own forward oars for my sailing canoe, but I seldom have to row it, it takes so little wind to move it.
Interesting – that mechanism doesn’t look strong at all, though.
Some more links:
http://www.christinedemerchant.com/rowing-forward-facing.html
http://www.frontrower.com/
(Googling “forward(s) rowing”)
Another interesting boat propulsion:
http://www.hobiecat.com/mirage/miragedrive/
The fins flex, supposedly inspired by swimming penguins.
Also this comment got labled “Your comment is awaiting moderation”.
No worries, just for your information (in case the system does not inform you).
Happens sometimes – the system burps. It’s supposed to allow previously approved commenters through, but it occasionally stops if you a) post from a different name b) post too frequently c) post too many links.
Ah, Thanks! (c, I guess)
(I just considered a possible bug as I saw no problem.)
As to strength, the mounting point for the mechanism has (evidently) to withstand twice the torque the rower applies to the oars
Or more, because of the added leverage – torque is proportional to distance from the pivot…
Not quite, unless I misunderstand you.
Because the reaction torque of the oar now goes in the _same_ direction as the applied torque and the sum of these torques at the mounting point no longer cancels out as for a normal oar but add to the double.
Ming,
Now I see how I probably have misread you.
(Sorry, been awake all night, here 5am.)
I guess you mean pivot distances within the mechanism, not to the hand or oar blade.
And with a narrow boat a “gear” increasing the torque could (not quite) eliminate the need for outriggers.
Precisely. 🙂
“…is a fast way to losing inspiration and burning out.”
Burn-out is a serious problem that is becoming ever more prevalent. In my view there are two predominant reasons: 1. work density which has increased dramatically over the last decades and 2. lack of recovery time, i.e. vacation. I strongly recommend to everyone to take one long vacation per year (ideally 4 weeks, but no less than 3) … and no internet.
Others have recommended rock climbing, which is a sport I have done for 30 years and still do on a regular basis. I agree that it is a very good way to forget about everything else that is going on in your life and warmly recommend it. 2 words of advice: 1. it’s not about dangling from ledges, it’s about standing on your feet – so don’t start with building up muscles first, strength will come with time. 2. Don’t start in a gymn. It’s too steep, it smells, there are too many people in too little space. Make your first time an enjoyable outing at a real rock with a guide (friend or commercial) and enjoy the air, the views and the smells of vegetation. Start with a route less then vertical, so you don’t get tired out too easily and learn about your feet.
I am really enjoying your posts.
1. My business would die if I disconnected for a month. Seriously. Then the stress combined with the amount of work I’d have to go through to restart things would just negate the point of taking a vacation at all…
2. Noted, thanks!
All the avocations you cite have an EXTERNAL focus — attenion to things or the outer pleasure of sense experience. How about something more contemplative and inward-looking? Meditation, philopophical study, art/music/poetry as personal expression, service? Maslow’s heirarchy has been revised over the years by other psychologists, and for many those changes have centered on meaning. Not exactly a hobby, but few endeavors have greater and more positive impact on our photography — or our life. I really believe that’s the next best step for person growth and fulfillment.
John
+1 to what John said.
I’ve never been into the pleasures that certain “matter”/materials may arouse in some, better: most. That said, while I get details of your latest blog entry, I can’t find a gist or meaning to it.
I’m a trained teacher, and philosopher and really find it hard to look at any “disposable” income these days (or any days, that is). After rent, gas, electricity, and insurance take the better part of my already low income, I have to eat too then! It’s close to impossible to have coin left to spare without being self-employed, thus in charge of how much you earn. Of course there are advantages to earning the same wage each month, no matter how many hours you worked a day. The advantages are consistency and safety. In Europe in most countries you’re guaranteed a job as a teacher, and cannot get fired, unless you commit some major crime. The disadvantage is, you’ll never be rich by western standards, if that’s something you’re after, that is – which I’m not.
Looking over my not so old life (early 30s now), I observe certain patterns, and waves of what you may call hobbies. They came and went, and with them came and went the equipment required. Nothing fancy, just the basics that enable you to perform certain activities, since I always try to keep a low profile, and enjoy the meaning behind stuff, not their material manifestation. Eventually, though, I grew tired of most. Even photography has become more of a documentation of my family, and city- which I really enjoy doing, but I stopped trying to create “art”, whatever that may be when it comes to photography.
There are only three things that have been accompanying me my whole life: reading, music, and physical activity. I read tons of books about any topic really, usually novels and specialised books (philosophy, education, photography) though. I play the piano, and have an academic interest in classical music. Seeing those are highly intellectual activities, I always feel the urge to do something with/for my physical body too. Do I count those three activities as hobbies? No. Their influence and constitutive element go way beyond “hobbies”. Those are passions, they determine who I am. I never looked for them, or tried to find them, rather they came naturally, and I couldn’t but answer their call. Those are my safe banks, I’ll never grow tired of reading, playing or listening to music or exercising my body (in any kind of way, really, hiking, climbing, walking, running et cet.).
Can I recommend a “hobby”? Sure, any of them! Will they satisfy you? Of course, however, only for a limited amount of time! I don’t think you need another/ new hobby, but listen closely, go back to your roots, whatever they may be, pick up on those activities, that made you who you are. You’re a trained physicist if I remember correctly. This requires a certain mindset, a way of thinking, an ideology, or philosophy of life, if you will. Your mindset became manifest in your studying physics, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you ARE a physicist by nature. Recover your passion, excavate your driving force (in a non-professional way!), i.e.: take a step back, to take two forward
Hope that makes sense.
You’re not at all in charge of how much you earn if you’re self employed: ultimately you can make the best pitches at the lowest price, but your potential client can still give the job to his friend instead. Or worse, you could do the job and never get paid – that’s happened, too. You might make more, but in all likelihood you’re going to make far less because you have more functions to cover now – not just the job; there’s sales, accounting, marketing etc. too. All of these eat away at your billable productive time. We choose to be self-employed because we want to have some small freedom in being able to at least choose the general direction which we go in. No ‘take it or find another job’ stuff – this is all too common in my previous employment.
Perhaps hobby is the wrong terminology: I’m looking for something to give me intellectual satisfaction again. Photography has almost become too easy, but I have to do it because it’s a passion and quite defining of who I am. Opening this up to the reader pool was to get some suggestions in which I might not have otherwise considered…
Hello flokon
…I can’t find a gist or meaning to it
Perhaps, read the title?
[I’m joking, I’m joking!]
Flokon, I would like to reply to you as I thought you wrote a nice comment. Obviously put some time and effort into it; I enjoyed reading your thoughts.
…excavate your driving force
I think this is good advice for anyone, at any time or place. The ancient Greeks — as you know, I know, flokon — wrote “Know Thyself” above the entrance to the Oracle at Delphi. What more is there? It’s really never been bettered; much like another one of their gifts to us: nothing in excess.
I don’t like Nietzsche, and I don’t know if you like, or don’t like, Nietzsche; but even though I dislike him, I have a few of his books on my shelf—the reason is that I liked reading about the ancient Greeks and I find Nietzsche was always the closest to uncovering something like the ancient Greek soul. And through that, the simultaneously vigorous and delicate nature of their thought. Nietzsche’s writing on Greek tragedy and the dilemmas [not lessons] inherent in their drama make the reading of their religious practices richer and the aphorisms of the Sophists something close to sublime. The concurrence of shallow and deep found there is very powerful. That you can reduce the whole shabang, the whole human enterprise, down to Know Thyself and yet doing that remains just about the most complex undertaking possible [i.e., obviously not an exercise in reductionism] underlines it.
“Excavating your driving force” was the life work of C.G. Jung—his “Red Book” is one of my most treasured possessions. It’s not one of those show books, that we all buy, to sit on a coffee table or conspicuously prop on a book shelf, a shorthand to quietly advertise our taste and magnificence to visitors. No, it’s something like a religious book to me. Something to take seriously; reverently practice. Jung recommended listening to your dreams. Specifically trying to understand the language of symbols through which the unconscious communicates. It sounds mystical. And it is. It’s a sign of how far divorced we are from our own humanity [the sterile triumph of conscious thought] that leaving a little room for mysticism is the quickest way to alienate yourself or attract derision. Jung took boat loads of it. But the man was a Titan. Anyone who says otherwise has obviously never read a lick of him. I’m buggered if I know what my dreams are telling me [what I’m telling myself], but I attempt to understand. I’m better for it.
…and enjoy the meaning behind stuff
Well, you’re a philosopher so you’re probably about to school me here. But I disagree with this [and the mind-material dualism theme in your post, but that’s perhaps another conversation!]. I think there is only surface [information & language. And that’s it], and trying to allow for any more puts you on the same track as Kant, i.e., a train heading towards “things in themselves” as apart from just things. If there is a meaning behind a thing and we can know it, then OK, but I’d say then there was no “meaning behind” to start with. Just a mistaken meaning eventually corrected. Nothing deep in that. If you mean there is a meaning behind things which is somehow esoteric and only knowable to a few, then, hmm… okay, maybe. But if this knowledge is almost inaccessible to start with, then how does the knower verify he knows? Comparing notes with his pals is obviously out of the question. This opens the trap door to the Kantian pit: if you’re saying there is a meaning behind things and perhaps it can’t be known, then… SO WHAT! It cannot be known, so in fact no connection to our reality [by our I mean us, the atoms, the energy, the lot] and so no affect on our reality. So poof! Nothing there. I don’t need it. Problem solved.
[And you can’t have something that cannot be known but does have causal effect—this will become incoherent when the position is tested.]
OK, I wish I had a neat bow to tie on this post to finish it; but I don’t. So…
Awesome post, Tom.
Cheers Todd. The typos were not so awesome, but I’ll take all the praise I can get! 🙂
I absolutely love your philosophical segues. Know thyself sums it up nicely: by putting yourself in new situations, you understand yourself better in the more frequently encountered ones, and hopefully – through a little objectivity and self-reflection – become a better person. An unexamined life is not worth living and all that…
And the unlived life is not worth examining!
–Keats
I’d imagine it’s not so much not worthwhile as there being nothing to examine at all…
And this is not to mention the semantic problems with unliving a life 🙂
Pschh, small matter of time travel and all that. No problem at all. Just cross out all the numbers on the dial of your watch and write them in backwards.
Haha
It’s amazing that time travel is possible and happens quite readily. Yes, everyone, I just said that. Time travel is part of physics as we know it, right now. In fact since decades ago. We can even reliably produce time travelers—they do it for a living at Cern.
“Anti-particles” are just particles traveling backward in the time dimension, rather than forward. A positron, one of my pals from the old work, is an electron going backwards through time. It really gets interesting [the philosophical bit as well as the scientific] when that positron bumps into something [usually an electron]—just take a minute to think about cause and effect there. No so clear cut, anymore, which comes first…
I have no idea how this squares with the unidirectional arrow of time from Thermodynamics… but there it is. I do know that positrons, and other anti-matter, are a material fact—they capture and store them for quite long periods of time [relatively] at Cern, Fermi [Tevatron], etc.
Same with sub-zero absolute temperature—possible. Yes, Kelvins that go lower than zero. The laser beam [disc reader] in your CD player at home, that thing right there in your living room, achieves sub-zero Kelvin in order to work!
If they’d told us all this at school, there’d be a few more scientists about…
One particle is unfortunately very different to a whole person…
Mmm. That difference — the qualitative and especially quantitative nature of it — is actually quite a hard concept to grasp, in my view. The conceptual dividing line between parts and a whole. How many particles before it’s me, or a part of me, and so on…
The more you drill down into this — I find, anyway — the more you notice that the difference is linguistic-conceptual rather than physical, in any concrete pin-down-able way. In other words, arbitrary. One particle is only very different to a whole person because we say so [and if we didn’t we wouldn’t be able to conceptualize very well]. So we break things into bite size, manageable pieces for the purposes of modeling and therefore a kind of understanding; but we neglect to put the pieces back to together again.
On the one hand I know it works [with limited success] to say there is a thing such as a particle. On the other, I’m savvy that my particle is really a space-time event, a collection of data [information], which requires the other particles around it to compute [its information is predicated upon everything around it, i.e., it is not independent of anything] and so where does one “particle” end and the next really begin? Any boundary we draw up, it seems to me, is one we bring to the model—not the other way around.
Tough subject. Bit too hard for me, really 😦
Well, particles all have sub-components (as far as we’ve been able to discern) so perhaps there really is no dividing line; it’s just that above a certain physical size threshold, physics becomes predominantly Newtonian (we never fully exit the quantum realm, but since the effects are frequently proportional to the inverse of the radius squared or cubed, things fall off very quickly). So yes, it’s the model.
Something for the strobists to ponder the next time they’re inching the lights in a little closer 🙂
I forgot to thank you for that compliment, Ming!
Thank you! 😀
Tried meditation, already somewhat involved in philosophy, and since when was photography not art when done well?
The asking ‘why’ certainly doesn’t diminish with ascension of the pyramid, though. if anything, the opposite.
… the entire statement by john is the most spot on … you may have ‘tried’ meditation before, and the fact that you ‘tried’ doesn’t mean you got it
the external seeking will always come back to the brickwall
it is the mind that is a restless animal, you have to find out the fundamental why of that – in that target point, you will understand this statement: that it will not matter ‘what’ you do
… and so, i think … you need a guru ! 😉
:-)))
Finding the right guru is going to be even tougher than finding the right activity. I don’t have a photographic one, for instance, and haven’t had for some time. I think things turned out okay.
ok. 🙂
good hunting!
If writing a book is a hobby, you should write. Travel books, photography books…complement these images with words, as you do for the blog…
I completely forgot about it, but: Shooting.
I haven’t shot for well over a decade now (since they overhauled the gun laws in the UK after a series of tragedies; it was the right thing to do, but hit us in the rural communities pretty hard—it’s not just hobbyists, hunters., etc but the whole ecosystem of tradesmen and artisans that take it plum in the wallet for the satisfaction of city dwelling voters. Anyway…)
I used to do skeet (type of clay pigeon shooting) and 10m target (very high precision air rifle) shooting and a bit of distance target shooting with a rifle. It was great. The rifle shooting was nice prep, it turns out, for some bits photography—the rifle scopes introduce optics and things like minutes of arc (clicks on the scope for distance correcting aim, “holdover”; minutes of arc is more connected with circles of confusion in photography). Strange that there isn’t much more crossover between scope makers and camera lens makers. Leopold was the scope brand I trusted the most.
Anyway, it’s different; there’s a gear aspect; it’s about precision, control; and let’s be frank,squeezing the trigger and letting a hot one go, straight into the bull is EMMENSELY satisfying.
Maybe too close too archery?
Just not possible here at all with our laws. Forget about it.
Makes my first line a bit ironic, doesn’t it 🙂
Yeah, I miss my .357 Colt Python 😦
Blimey Ian! That is a firearm…
She sure was …mmmm…..nickel finish….
S
Best Regards, Othniel J Liew
I have two suggestions for potential hobbies. First I would say try olympic style archery, there is nothing like the zen practice of controlling your muscles in the finest of ways and it also has a mechanical aspect to it as well. Second I would recommend cycling, not necessarily racing but just get a decent road bike and see where you end up. It is extremely satisfying to ride 100km with your own power. Good luck on your search and enjoy all aspects of life.
Thanks!
freediving or meditation…you will find inner peace……….
..if the above is too slow for you, I am sure aerial photography with self-built multicopter (FPV) will ring a few of your bells and whistles….however you will need to learn a new set of skills and put in the flying hrs……
And not mind risking a large amount of gear with every flight 🙂 I’d actually seriously thought about that. But flying + shooting simultaneously is really a two-man job, as I understand.
for play, kimosabe can do it alone with a gopro…for job, you will need tonto plus his tonto too
I saw you tried golf and would up with blisters. My suggestion would be to try it again. Things may have changed. There is nothing quite like a good cigar and a good round of golf.
New hands? 🙂
Hi Ming, you wanted different… Have you thought of trying rock climbing? It is great, social and takes you to amazing wilderness locations. I find it is great for a number of reasons: First, it is in many ways about problem solving and technical ability. When you get above a beginner level you start having to really focus on how to position your body and what sequence of moves to take, which is usually not immediately obvious. Second, it has the mechanical aspect in that it involves a lot of different tools which you need to know how to use properly. Your life depends on it. Third, it really forces you to focus on only climbing when you are doing it, so all the aspects of day to day life are forced out of your head and allow you to recharge. Finally, climbs are graded meaning you can make it as difficult or as hard as you like. It doesn’t matter because it is fun at every level. And it means you don’t have to be good to enjoy it and you don’t need to go at the same pace as others. Also, it is just plain good fun!
And if you ever wanted to, there are the thoroughly complex problems that come with climbing photography, which involve a lot of rope work to get yourself into the right position to capture that shot!
Interesting…I’ve got a few friends who are already very active here. I should hit them up for some more information. That, and start building upper body strength if I’m going to dangle from ledges…
I’m willing to second climbing Ming. It’s a fantastic sport with a great community and it works well with traveling as there is good climbing all around the world. Climbing can also be as ‘deep’ as you would like it to be while having the added advantage of keeping you in shape.
rock climbing and photography
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1034713/Pictured-The-incredible-Stone-Nudes-rock-climb-completely-naked.html
It occurs to me that scrapes are going to hurt if you climb naked…
Nude Rock Climbing is “a thing”??!!! Of fer christmas’ sakes! Nude rock climbing may become a craze in the UK??!! Are they nuts??!! Oops…sorry, no pun intended! I hope it doesn’t, I live near The Peak District where climbing is popular…the idea of naked people hanging over me when I am out walking and shooting is very disconcerting!
Go karting.
Did that before. Great fun, but also gets seriously expensive very quickly.
For an aesthete like yourself with a love of well constructed manmade things often leavened with a soupcon of speed, I would think an appropriate change of pace (and a most challenging one) would be the study and collection of bonsai.
Tried that, really wanted to like it…but insufficient light in my apartment meant none lasted more than three months 😦
Ming,
Sorry you are bored – but in many ways that is a good thing – you are not content with things as they are; in your life or in a universal sense. An obvious suggestion would be to use the graphics software, which you know so well, to paint (as was suggested by another of your followers). With all it’s creative possibilities the resulting art images can be unlimited. Another idea would be to use your considerable ability and unique perspective to do more “photo journalism” from your personal philosophical point of view – advancing causes and conditions you care about . One other suggestion is gardening. It places you a little closer to nature and the true, basic realities of the world and can be extremely fulfilling and creative. I know it isn’t very challenging when you start out – but neither is photography.
Best of everything in your search for a new relaxing passion.
Don
Gardening doesn’t work if you live in an apartment 🙂
Houseplants are small gardening, cooking herbs can be grown in a windowsill – OK, not the same adrenaline rush as soloing over favourite music (through headphones) which is also recommended, but still a provider of satisfaction (if they thrive).
If we’re to believe Erikson, then this is most likely a quarterlife crisis because your task of securing your identity was not sufficiently accomplished during adolescence and you continue to struggle with identity issues. I’m the same, and photography and buying a new bicycle have suddenly taken the last years place of watch collecting and Oudh (fragrance). I also keep wanting to change the direction of my career.
May you find peace, Bro
Identity and seeking intellectual challenge aren’t remotely the same thing….
The curiousity of a creative genius is almost always insatiable . I hope you’d find this scholarly piece of interest
http://www.sengifted.org/archives/articles/the-me-behind-the-mask-intellectually-gifted-students-and-the-search-for-identity
I’ve actually read that one before…interesting site, too.
One more vote for Jazz (listening, and playing, if you can). I followed the evolution of Jazz, from the early stages like New Orleans and Dixie, and leading to Bebop and on to avantgarde Jazz (and whatever your development leads you to). You need to take that journey to understand things (and still discovering things). And with the background of that multi-year journey, there are still new angles on Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis. Jazz can be fulfilling and inspiring. And recent development is so exciting. (Hey, and there is the intersection to photography, e.g. with Claxton/Behrendt).
One of the classics to listen in is “bags groove”.
The listening part I understand – and was into the local scene quite a bit here in 2005/6, being house photographer for several clubs (one of the perks being drinks on the house and getting to listen to everything for free). Drifted away because the hours conflicted with the day job. I suppose there’s no reason now why I can’t get back into it again…
Very interesting observation. It makes sense we would all have very similar interests. We like and appreciate the details of beautiful things. Two things come to mind for a new interest / hobby. The first is wine. If you enjoy the depth and taste of cigars, you will probably find the tastes and complexities of wine as well. The details are endless. You can search different regions, varietals, and vineyards. Each region and growing condition or terroir is different and complex. It can also provide you with destinations to travel to and possibly photograph. I’ve been collecting for a few years now and really enjoy it. Makes for good parties also.
My second thought is a little more healthy. I’ve worked out for as long as I can remember but the gym got boring. I joined Crossfit a few years ago and got hooked. The workouts are all in groups and their emphasis is on Olympic lifting & high intensity. The lifting is all about the details. They focus on how to lift and do it efficiently. You are constantly trying to refine your movements and your getting in shape at the same time. And the nice thing is the actual workout isn’t that long because it is high intensity. So it won’t take up too much of your day. Also, the gyms are located all around the world. When you travel you are bound to find one. Good luck.
I don’t drink, but the healthiness ends there. I should probably exercise…thanks for the suggestions!
I share many of your hobbies. If you’re looking for a new one, road cycling fits the bill. Unlike running, cycling enables you to travel a large distance in a short time. It is mentally and physically fulfilling. As an engineer, the mechanical elegance appeals to me. If you like you can combine it with photography… Photographing bikes is a wonderful pursuit, But riding them is even more wonderful!
A possibility except not really in this country/ climate – other drivers here are oblivious, inconsiderate and rude; seen far too many accidents involving motorcycles (which you can hear, let alone pedal cycles). And our roads are full of potholes.
Sounds a lot like Louisiana.:-) I gave up urban cycling because of the crazy drivers and bad roads. Hard to beat just walking for an hour a day, with or without a camera. Not many days lost to ice in your climate. Or you can become a gym rat, but you are less likely to make that a life long habit.You could become a bird watcher and combine that with walking.
I’ve never seen ice here outside a drink or freezer 🙂 23.5C is the lowest I’ve ever seen in Kuala Lumpur. Most of the time, 30+.
Ah, birdwatching – I did that virtually every weekend for several years too, while I was seriously into wildlife photography…
Whatever could your excuse be, for not golfing ?
Tried it for a couple of years, took lessons, didn’t like it, landed up with hands covered in blisters?
Ming,
Here is one from left field: Aquascaping. Many aquarium hobbyists also are photography enthusiasts. Example images:
http://www.aquariumdesigngroup.com/#s=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&p=2&a=0&at=0
Those are incredibly cool. Presumably one could do the same thing without the tank of water and fish, but that would be bonsai/ bonkei, no?
I would assume that bonsai/bonkei takes a long time to reach the aesthetic that one is aiming for. On the other hand, an aquascape usually is mature within 3-6 months. I am an aquarium hobbyist because it allows me to combine my interests in science, art, mechanics and photography.
Ming, have fun choosing a hobby. Your forum has sure provided a wealth of ideas.
I think they’re probably a lot easier to maintain than bonsai too, right? It seems those air-breathers are very particular about their growing conditions – I tried a few times and landed up with dead trees in a couple of months.
MT, not true that they are ‘a lot easier’ to maintain … these aquascapes are quite demanding if you want it to be ‘perfect’ … i can tell you some war stories if you are ever seriously interested :-)))
if you travel a lot, forget aquascape …
Oh darn! I do travel a lot, so perhaps that’s out. As are pets.
Ming, my personal tanks are rather low-tech and easy to maintain. As with anything, the sky’s the limit as to how complex you’d like to make it. There is an international aquascaping competition held in Tokyo every year and the designs the winners obtain are unbelievable. I am not interested in competing. I compete enough in my occupation. My hobby’s are for interest, enjoyment, and relaxation. There is lots of information on the web and many local clubs to get involved with. If you do try this hobby I must warn you about TAS (Tank Acquisition Syndrome). Kind of like camera bags, one is never enough.
All the best.
I think I’d like to go see one of these exhibitions one day. Attempt to photograph a couple at the very least. Sounds akin to seeing an exhibition of photographic masters or the like…
Try archery. It’s great for body and mind.
I’ll have to talk to my brother about this. He’s an archer for the Oxford team.
If you decide to get into knives, check out Carter Cutlery — Murray will even teach you how to make them.
We’ve got laws here restricting ownership and sale of weapon blades above 4″, which is silly considering most kitchen knives run afoul of that…even my mum has a cleaver that’s easily twice that size.
I suggest *slowly* bicycling in a dutch grandmother’s bicycle! Seriously :-). e.g. a Bicycle from Batavus. Good luck in whatever you decide. #changeyourliferideabike
Hmm, interesting – why the slowly?
simply because bicycling through a city’s backstreets slowly in combination with walking is the best way to experience a city!
I have to walk. I’d stop too often to shoot.
Cycling is a great hobby. Keeps you fit, takes you places you might otherwise not go, and the gear aspect is quite interesting.
A fun thing could be to take a folding recumbent trike on your travels. You’d get to see more of the cities that you’re visiting, and from an interesting perspective. Also, being a trike, you can stop anytime you like and shoot without falling over!
http://www.gizmag.com/evolve-folding-recumbent-bike/20073/
One word: watchmaking. Not collecting, but tinkering with the darned things.
By the way, truer words were never spoken than these: “Yet the beauty of the medium is relativity: you can feel good about an image now, but wonder what on earth you were thinking back then when you see it again two years later.”
Except that in my case the cycle is still down around two weeks!
I already service my own watches…so nope, doesn’t count 🙂
If you want to expand your artistic vision, painting would be a good choice. There is technique, materials, and history that has to be at least as engaging as photo gear. I bet paint those high end consumer goods would be an interesting niche. For the long haul, i.e., the rest of your life, something physical that you can do anywhere. Walking, running, cycling, etc., to keep your mind and body sharp. Start now and it is easier 40 years from now. I also live in a hot and wet climate – south Louisiana, next to the Mississippi River, and you get accustomed to the heat when you are physically active in it. Since photography is no longer a hobby, the one expensive hobby rule does not apply. I think the key distinction is between passive collecting hobbies – which most hi-fi turns into – and intellectually active hobbies such as photography, painting, writing, etc.
It definitely has to be an intellectually active one. I think writing may be out since I do it for the site already…I put out close to a million words last year, which is about ten paperbacks – prolific by the standards of any author. Hell, I wore out a keyboard…
I did the BMW motorbike touring during summer vacations in Europe for five years, lived in six different countries earning some serious money, had the Swiss watches and fancy cars, was the skiing bum, earned a number of degrees with a pending doctorate degree, and hit a brick wall with it all. My wife and I sold most everything as of three years ago but I still have a Leica to take pictures centered on the human condition and nature, but that is literally all I own in addition to an old IWC watch and a junk car. We now work for international schools and serve in a soup kitchen on the weekends which are the first things I’ve done that are truly fulfilling. All of our money now goes to eating at good restaurants and to the best education available for our kids and other extended family members. Less is more and finding purpose by serving others is everything. Become a minimalist and find a soup kitchen in which to work, but keep an old camera to shed some philosophical light on the world.
I don’t have enough money to retire, and with our spiralling inflation, won’t do for a very long time – if ever. I hope it will come eventually. The bottom is falling out of pro photography here. Selling all the gear and keeping one old camera might happen if retirement ever rolls around, but at this rate…it looks like I’m going to have to work harder than ever. I think what I need is a diversion that stimulated the mind enough to keep the creativity flowing over for the other professional side of things.
Music as in jazz or classical….your instrument of choice….however a guitar is much more portable than a
piano, organ or cello. There is enough sheet music available to last a lifetime…and the release and mental
development and stimulation is immense. Jazz for creativity and classical for structure.
Bob
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I’m tone deaf. Tried before, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed or showed any talent at.
+1 to the guitar suggestion. Don’t get put off with concern about tuning it – just get an electronic tuner which lights an led for each string – piece of cake.
Hi Ming,
– You’re far too young to retire…! From your pics, you are late 20’s… early 30’s at the most? I’ve heard many people say that if they retire too soon without hobbies or other passions, they tend to pass away rather quickly (unfortunately).
– My suggestion is that you should consider a sport like badminton, which should be relatively popular in Malaysia.
Benefits are:
1) Exercise
2) Socializing
3) Strategy (Badminton is very, very strategic and very technical…)
– I would suggest that you stay away from the hobbies that involve the “acquisition” of items. At least in my opinion, this is not as fun or involving as hobbies that provoke an intellectual, artistic or athletic challenge.
I agree with what Robert said. Listening or playing music, such as jazz or classical is very worthwhile. Taking a chef level cooking class can also be challenging and rewarding. Heck, time permitting, just try a bunch throughout the year. You are bound to hit something you like and find rewarding. Let us know what happens.
Eric
Oh, I have no intention of retiring (nor can I afford to). Nor does collecting things hold any appeal – you buy, you use a few times, and that’s about the end of it – one gets bored again. Every hobby has a social aspect if you want it to, so that bit doesn’t bother me; I’ve got more friends and acquaintances than I have time to meet anyway. As for strategy…I was a management consultant for many years. I’m done with that 🙂
I think what I should have said upfront is that I’ve tried most of the obvious candidates (golf, cooking, music etc) and none really stuck – I was hoping for suggestions that would go outside the obvious…
You like writing, and mechanical objects. Obviously, what you’re missing from your leisure life is collecting and using manual typewriters. But you must hurry, because many others are also discovering this pastime and hence collectible machines in good working order are getting more expensive. Myself, I have a small collection of seven (or is it eight) typewriters. Olivettis and Olympias seem to be popular. Good luck.
Interesting…I can’t imagine writing several thousand words a day on one of those though; no way I can be anywhere near as fast as with the usual Apple keyboards…
Reblogged this on tinkersrealm and commented:
I can definitely relate…
Hi Ming – Most of us appreciate ‘Photography’, as it does stimulate ones mind with the technical knowledge and imaginative creativity. But as counter balance, please consider something physical, such as road cycling & yoga (not at the same time, of course). Form personal experience I enjoy mechanical beauty of the road bicycles, with added health benefits. I also use cycling for spotting my future photo opportunities. Yes it is yet another expensive hobby, but I love the metal discipline it requires to in order to enjoy. As for Yoga? simply put, it offers philosophy of life and eternal happiness, with added health and metal benefit. Thanks for asking the question, for it shows your ability to absorb and learn… keep asking questions, and listen to answers as yet another one of your life’s hobbies. All Best, form New York. Elias.
Thanks for the suggestions!
One more vote for sailing. It’s like flying (in imagination, not flying for real) but in two media at the same time. One wing, the keel, is in the water; the other, the sail is in highly dynamic, moving air. At the tiller of a modest sloop — something under 30 feet in length — the person at the helm becomes a sentient web-like creature constantly modulating the forces above and below to produce harmony and rapid forward motion. The experience is exhilarating.
Of course, that’s when you’re tacking against a good wind. Put the breeze behind you and even the sense of motion largely disappears. It can be as if you’re becalmed; the heat and humidity suffocating if the season provides an abundance of both. That means plotting a course which provides maximum enjoyment, minimal suffering. Not unlike life.
The downside is that sailing can be very expensive if you own the boat and directly foot the bills for purchase, maintenance, a slip, and insurance. You’re also at the mercy of the weather and its timing versus your own. The cost/benefit ratio can be incredibly wasteful. Better to learn sailing, charter the boat, and indulge yourself in places and seasons where favorable weather is more or less guaranteed. It can be bliss.
Another suggestion is perhaps too obvious: music.
First, develop proficiency in playing, then compose as well. Approach it on any level which seems genuinely satisfying, from the rigidity (or is that purity?) of classical forms to the freedom of improvisation.
You can even engage in composing while stuck in an airport or in-flight, using an iPhone or iPad app like Virtuoso Piano. At home, even in the middle of the night, a keyboard setup using headphones can take up little space and have no impact of neighbors. And once the performance aspect is well in hand, there’s always the option to join others in any flavor of ensemble that meets your taste.
So, there are two possibilities. Each can be scaled to fit budgets of time and expense.
One could always fit a small emergency outboard to a sailboat, surely?
As for music – one more thing I tried – well, was forced to because its something every Asian kid is forced to do at some point by their parents – and absolutely hated it. Doesn’t help that I’m tone deaf and have no sense of rhythm whatsoever…
Gosh, I have no shortage of hobbies just the time and money to indulge them all. I can certainly relate to everything you’ve expressed, Ming. I’m an electrical engineer who works on semiconductor designs. It’s a highly technical field in which one works in a virtual environment creating designs by manipulating software tools to eventually produce a functioning, physical object (a piece of silicon). It’s all very mentally challenging stuff but very much separated from the physical act of creating something. Few engineers ever actually see or experience the fabrication process or hold the end result unless they’re holding the cell phone that contains the chip. There’s a denied sense of satisfaction (for me anyways) if I can’t stand back and look at what I’ve created or participate in the physical act of production. I think that’s why I’ve gravitated towards many hobbies in which I can be creative and also use my hands/body. My interests other than photography include woodworking, wood carving, brewing beer, acoustic guitar and gardening. Of pure physical activities I really enjoy cycling as well as camping and hiking. I’m not sure where horology fits into my theory but it’s most definitely a passion for me as well. It’s what got me interested in photography and how I first saw your work on TZ-UK. At this stage in my life though time spent with my wife and kids takes precedence over everything, as it should. My master plan is to get them interested in all my hobbies so we can enjoy them together 😉
TZ-UK was ages ago – I admit I’ve been meaning to go back and say hi (if any of the original people are left) – but 1001 other things keep getting in the way…still remember in the early days of Eddie having a single server when a few of us would carry on sufficiently late into the night to crash the server….
One of the things I like about photography is that it complements all of your other interests. For example, if you love model rail road trains, then you can shoot them. I love to play tennis, so I always have my camera with me at tennis tournaments. Whatever it is that you love or love to do, you can photograph it and combine both pleasures.
That goes without saying 🙂
But then doesn’t it become photography again? Even if your focus is on the other activity, it’s impossible not to take the photographic part at least somewhat seriously.
How about analysing financial markets. Analysis of data/figures/charts is mirrored to a technical skillset of photography. Prediction/forecasting is mirrored to artistic skillset of photography??
I used to do this for a living. And still do…no way I can be a commercial photographer forever.
Have a child – you won’t be worrying about hobbies for the next 10 years at least.
Boredom seems to be a very bad reason to do this. I am absolutely NOT ready and frankly, it scares the crap out of me. Too easy to mess up, and scar the poor kid for life…heaven forbid they turn out like me.
Yes! So much time and money and yet a small lack of fulfillment. You could go into poor communities and give photo lessons to less fortunate people. You might increase the value of folks you are not friends with. You could meditate and perhaps become a photographic artist. Its wonderful you have acquired fine taste, but most of us could not care less. How about doing a photographic lifelong essay about beauty. Then we would all benefit. As long as you stay self absorbed you will need more stuff in your head.
Not to be all scolding, I read your blog everyday and find you very knowledgeable. I loved your comparison of the D800 and the Leica S2
I’m perplexed. Why bother replying at all if ‘you couldn’t care less’?
Here’s a great photog, Chris Amade, who does really worthwhile work
Best next hobby? I would suggest anything that you do NOT presently like or are good at. But that you could tolerate /enjoy doing still. It’s a paradox, something like “what you most need to be doing is often what you have been most successfully avoiding doing so far”. Being able to shift one’s vision/ attitude/ and view differing opinions without first judging (and more often than not discarding) them is very hard to do. And for good reason, it does slow you down and makes you less efficient. To take an extreme example, the German Nazis were strong, and brave, but missed a few dimensions .. We are all by nature, and just from being humans, conditioned in a certain way.
Those of us who are so lucky and privileged to have the time and leisure to be able to do and think besides what is required to live, and examine other viewpoints sooo much more conveniently via the open interwebs .. probably do not do one millionth of what we could be doing “in the right direction”. What is the “right direction” if there is even such a thing (maybe not a wasteful direction might be more appropriate), depends completely on each person’s makeup.
Personally I’ve spent some time recently figuring out what makes the financial markets and “the economy” tick (tip: you do have to be in the markets to maintain some real interest ), an area that I had long avoided because it seemed either too murky or technically confusing .. music (playing the guitar) and dancing are on my list ..
Good point – we are in the lucky portion of the population that has the ability to do beyond what we need to survive. Actually, I keep my hand in the markets too – but purely as an academic exercise (for now). Maybe I should take up archery…
Wine. You can collect it, you can never know everything about it, the number of wineries and places growing wines is always changing, and the vintages, quality, and characteristics of the wine change every year. It works great after a day of shooting, you can have a great meal (home or on location) have, a cigar, have some wine, and if you find it worthy add it to your collection. The perfect hobby.
Perfect except I gave up alcohol :p
yoga, of course! 🙂
My wife would love that!
Haha! tried that. It was supposed to be relaxing (or so I thought ) but it hurt! It’s only fun if you are naturally flexible. I found out I’m not.
Neither am I – am I stereotyping, or does flexibility seem to be a female thing?
Hobby, huh? It has to be GOLF!
Flyfishing has many of the aspects you seem to enjoy: Mechanics, the sound of a reel, tactility, vintage bamboo rod or hightech carbon fibre. The whole approach of a lifetime to master. The different theories of what is best practise.
Mixology – the art & science of making good cocktails. I’m not sure how the supply of ingredients is in Malaysia, but you travel quite bit.
Actually, I don’t drink, so I’ll have to pass on this :p
Though I do admit I used to – single malt Islay used to be my poison of choice. And I’ve tried to replicate a dirty martini with non-alcoholic ingredients, but it wasn’t even close. I suspect is have to use lab chemicals or something…
What made you give up?
Religion and medical warnings about cirrhosis. Let’s just say going to university young also made me start drinking young…
Haha. It ain’t good for your health or your wallet, that’s for sure.
You don’t need another hobby. You need a shrink, documenting cigars as you smoked them. Ha ha
I actually know a few. They’re all smokers too haha – must be a Freudian thing.
9-ball Pool Billard. Fast game. Technique, mental strength, wonderful handcrafted gear, an opponent. The challenge is to master “luck”.
Combines wonderfully with either cigars and whiskey. The “keirin” version of Golf or Snooker. I actually thought already you must be a 9-ball pool player.
I play very, very badly. Foosball is more of my thing – and I’m pretty good at that. The trouble is one needs two to play, and I’ve got nowhere in the house to put a table. But that’s definitely something I’d like to take up again.
You play badly? That’s hard to believe. You are wearing glasses, what maybe problematic, because in many cases your aiming directly on to the glasses frame. Anyway, someone who prefers BMW over Audi reveals a special kind of perfectionism. Maybe that’s what has to be “tamed” in your case. You’re not easily satisfied. I think it should definitely combine physics AND aesthetics, whatever it is.
No, seriously, I do play very badly. I don’t think glasses have anything to do with it, it’s simply a lack of coordination.
Not so much perfectionism as control – or at least the illusion of it – I suppose that’s why I’m increasingly preferring the film hasselblads over digital for my own work…
Classical guitar
+1 .. extraordinary experiences when you hear it played live .. Guitars have their technical intricacies too, but it’s the result that counts obviously, much like cam gear http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycandre/3027923141/
They’re also beautiful objects, much like anything else that’s handmade by an artisan.
Building Lego models – sounds juvenile but I find it therapeutic. Very relaxing to search for pieces to build, say the Space Shuttle or London Bridge.
RC helicopters and planes are something else to look into. Loads of fun.
I used to build large, fully-functional cars on commission. Far too time consuming, and again, it became work…
I would like to propose bonsai crafting. And also a vote for volunteering your time, it can be with WWF or hospice or old folks home, or you can start a weekly soup kitchen….food for the soul and all…
Tried bonsai, didn’t have enough light in my apartment; they died after a few months. Volunteering is a possibility…wait, you mean I don’t give away enough free time and expertise on the site already?! 😛
I recommend the porsche experience, but why not get a beaten up one and make it a project to get it right and up again. Involves technology, research, technical ability if you want to be hands-on, and certainly can evoke passion. any oldtimer of your liking could do of course, maybe its easier to get an old UK make in Malaysia.
Actually, if I were to do that…I’d probably get a Caterham, in kit form. 😀
Vacuuming….. Your wife will love you for it 😉
…..no serious suggestions from me for now….
Already doing that 😦
Well Ming,
I haven’t read all comments, but philosophy and meditation seem as natural next step to me, offering plenty of both: intellectual challenge and benefits
Philosophy is a natural extension of much of what I’m doing on the site – both photographing and writing. To photograph a subject well, one needs to understand the subject; if that subject is people, then we naturally get into the realms of both psychology and philosophy…
Motorcycle riding. You’ll be alone with your thoughts (like in fly fishing), but you’d get to see many more places, and – depending on the time – beautiful light. Really a Zen-like experience.
ooh yeah….thats a dream!
Only if you have a death wish here – it rains torrentially at the drop of a hat, the roads are terrible, and the drivers simultaneously rude, unskilled and oblivious. I’ve seen far too many accidents – as much as I’d like to own a superbike…
Yes, thats the downside…and the reason I don’t have a motorcycle – lost my uncle and cousin to them, and work in A&E (ER) so get to see this aspect all too often.
Ouch – sorry to hear that. Oddly the wife is very supportive of a motorcycle, so long as she gets to ride it. Maybe she isn’t telling me something…
Photography certainly touches many bases but not all. Two of my other hobbies are bushwalking and Latin style dancing (mainly Salsa). I’ve also been tinkering with golf. Having a full-time job cuts into my hobby time but certainly helps to pay for them 😉
I tried golf a while back but couldn’t ever get the grip right – so many blisters I had trouble doing anything with my hands for days afterwards. I remember trying to write an exam with my hands covered in them, it wasn’t fun at all…
i only do off-road ! qith my Yellow Defendeer 90 and my ATv Argentian is a great place for this !!
Greg
Classic cars – if you get something from the sixties, say, it needn’t be insanely expensive, but once you drive one, you’ll realise how much a modern car, even something like a Ferrari or a Porsche, does stuff for you. IMHO driving a new high end car on the road is like having an amateur DSLR and leaving it set on auto. If you use it to its potential on the road you will kill yourself and probably someone else. With a classic you need to DRIVE it, and everything at the edge happens at much safer speeds. In addition, you can maintain them yourself, so you get to the heart of it. I’m now looking to buy an early Austin Healey Sprite or MG Midget (about the cost of a reasonable Blad film system), having had a classic 60’s V12 Ferrari, which used to max out my credit card every time I took it out (an 80km run took 50 litres…..), and I had to belong to a recovery organisation to get me home on most trips. That took me one stage further, and I took up historic racing and had a Cooper Formula Junior (single seater, one step down from a GP car of the time), which was fantastic but took up too much time and money……. but one day, perhaps I’ll do it again.
I have a very, very soft spot for the BMW 3.0 CSL. Sadly, getting anything vintage here is difficult, and maintenance is impossible – parts are simply unavailable or taxed to the hilt. But I completely understand where you’re coming from – maybe getting an older track car/beater and visiting the Sepang F1 circuit on a semi-regular basis might be an interesting option…
Hi-Fi gets my vote (build your own amp and speakers) or painting (water colours or oils).
build a kite.
fly the kite.
Genius!
[excuse me bertram, I had to chip in there to say that. Bravo!]
Nice and simple. I like.
2 ideas for you. 1st, if you just want to switch your mind off then take up distance running. Nothing beats say 3 runs a week on beautiful paths. Don’t listen to music, just enjoy the environment & the sounds & feel of your body. Then take it further by entering races. You don’t intend to win them, but you can compete with yourself & best for age. It unleashes the deep competitive urge. 2nd, if you want to try your skills & see beauty then try making valve amplifiers & loudspeakers. Lots of skills to learn here & the beauty of electronic circuits is like looking at small cities. Nothing beats hearing music through equipment that you’ve built yourself.
That’s assuming it sounds good, right? 🙂
Hi Ming, hi everyone.
I suppose it’ll depend on how much time you can break off on a new hobby, but I’d suggest something connected with nature: if you live in the city, gardening will be probably be a non-starter; maybe learning local flora, going out on walks to see them in the wild, taking it from there…
Be interesting to see what you fall into 🙂
I agree with the broad stroke sketch of what people interested in photos tend to be interested in outside of photos. In my case, I only tick a couple of the boxes: cars; food & drink. But I’m only casually interested there; nowhere near as into them as I am into photos [which is a new hobby for me, so I may still be in the honeymoon period; I seriously doubt it, but the possibility exists]. My other interests, which are more than pastimes but less than professions are:
1) Films. I have a CRAZY collection of DVDs and more recently Blurays. Just to give you an idea, when we moved from the UK back to Japan, 21 of the 80 boxes of our belongings were my films. I started collecting when I first came out to Tokyo as a 21 year old graduate, a foreigner from a non-descript rural town in the UK suddenly in this huge megapolis. I was a bored, lonely and made a custom of buying a DVD each Friday after work, watching it when I got home. I’m not lonely anymore but the film acquisitions continued…
2) Educational Revenge. I don’t mean reading an interesting book; I mean reading serious textbooks. Intended for students. I didn’t get a first at Uni; in fact I was one of those selfish too cool for school students. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Odds on the stupidest thing I’ll ever have done. The waste is that it wasn’t because I wasn’t up to it; quite the opposite. I didn’t attend a single class for my whole second year but still passed all the examinations with flying colors [and my department took a huge slice out of my scores as a penalty for truancy]. Though I did graduate, I let myself down and I’m quite ashamed of it to this day. I still have nightmares that I’m sitting the finals and fail miserably; that I’m still a third year and have the job of graduating ahead, instead of behind, me… Anyway, the experience has scarred me, probably for life, and I’m left with a psychological need to try and resuscitate some sense of “yes, I am a top flight learner,” to try and prove myself, after it’s too late. So [according to my interests] I buy mathematics and physics textbooks, read them, do the problems. Forget it all in a few months [because I need none of this for work]. Repeat. But, I enjoy it! And I’m savvy to the reasons why I do it. I’m under no illusions—except for delusions of my own grandeur 🙂 So, I’ve stopped worrying about the pointlessness and just savor the learning. Maybe one day it’ll be financially rewarding to me—though I’m torn whether that’s a reason to expand your learning, at all.
The other thing is: perhaps rather than a new hobby, Ming, why not give your valuable time to someone in need instead. Volunteer at a local hospital, old folks home, etc. I don’t mean to give somekind of gratis photographic service. Just to be an extra pair of hands. Doing this may have a seismic impact on your photographic eye; and, at any rate, will be beneficial to all involved.
Tai chi. Relaxing, good for you, can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Can be elegant or viciously violent depending on your inclinations.
Actually, that’s not a bad idea at all…
If you’re curious, this group is based in Malaysia (or at least has a presence there) and I believe their name is held in quite high esteem.
http://www.zhong-ding.com/
Thanks for the info!
No contest. Flying. Touches all the bases.
Yup, if I could afford the time and cash, and lived somewhere where there wasn’t low cloud and precipitation 75% of the time, learning to fly is what I would do….perhaps sailing as second choice. Painting (consider digital – Painter 12 – you already have the wacom and computer hardware), or even digital sculpture (Z Brush). you would then have the full suite of skills to create unique multi-media artwork. And when personal 3d printing becomes a reality, you can make your own actual art (not to mention furniture, interior design pieces, heck maybe even cameras and lenses one day!). This is all perhaps too close to digital photography though. How about dancing? Physical (especially if you get into Jive/Swing), something you and Nadiah can enjoy together, and perfect for those soirees with other super-rich society types with 6 figure watches and rare cigars! Plus you look like the dapper kind of guy to pull it off with aplomb 🙂
Digital sculpture sounds VERY interesting – how does it work?
“Digital sculpture sounds VERY interesting – how does it work?”
Just as it sounds…virtual “clay” which can be moulded, extruded, painted, etched, into any form you can imagine. Its how the models for CGI movies are made nowadays using software such as Z Brush:
http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/
If you google “digital sculpture” images you will see what can be achieved, once you filter out the majority of work which, while very impressive, is largely people emulating the CGI characters of movies and computer games. I am more interested in its application to fine art sculpture and abstract/geometric design. To me, though, the appeal is in the future when personal 3d printing becomes accessible…then anyone who can use the software can turn their ideas into reality. In fact, you could use these techniques to design watches/clocks and print the parts yourself, in principle.
Thanks for the info – I’m definitely checking this out when I have a moment…
I’m a digital sculptor for personal enjoyment; same software as above. I Sculpt things like fantasy figurines, sci-fi designs.
Once 3D printers are affordable, I’ll be all set, toyland, here I come…
P.S. from the pixologic.com site, download Sculptris, it’s free and very useable as an intro to digital sculting.
It does. Except it costs a fortune…
I feel you, Ming. I am a composer and music producer by day and I find myself struggling to want to create music in my free time. Also, like your recent experience with photography, following the money in music often leaves the feeling of creative compromise, i.e. giving into the corporate safe sameness, while all the true creativity lies on the cutting room floor. If you didn’t have your blog as a creative expression of your truest style, maybe you’d give photography up as your day job. Who knows?
I have loved the same things. I saved up for years to get my first Porsche and have been a Porschefile ever since. The latest edition GT3 still gives me deep satisfaction as a driving instrument – pure haptic joy and adrenaline. Even the sound is right. Food, cigars, travel, Hi Fi, yes, yes, yes and yes.
For me, becoming a semi-pro skydiver was quite an intense season of my life. Also becoming an instrument rated pilot and flying a plane around the country for 10 years. But so was learning Spanish.
Scuba diving is a whole different world view and experience. You do it in great locales around the world. And you could push your photography into a whole new realm. If I have one suggestion for you, scuba diving would be it. Join me on a Zen Diver’s trip anytime! I’ll swap you for a workshop!
Let us know what you end up considering.
Cheers!
Haha, I’ve got a friend who’s trying to convince me a Porsche is a good idea – just a shame we have insane (100%+) import taxes which puts them out of reach for all but the most wealthy here.
Diving is something I’ve been avoiding, because I know I’ll see all sorts of awesome things I want to shoot, and before you know it, we’re on another photographic expedition…
Roger! Sorry to butt in here [and the following will seem completely random to everyone, so sorry again for that!] but I really liked your recent pics of NYC—they looked like a 35mm field of view to me, were they?
Can’t resist commenting on the Porsches. My Dad’s been a Porsche fan since he was in his 20s [which was the 60s when you could afford a second hander if you knew what you were doing]. He had one before getting married and didn’t/couldn’t get another until he was almost retirement age. But was always into them and it rubbed off on me. I liked stripped down, no frills all thrills metal; so it’s the classic 964 RS for me. They cost as much as house now, which has just killed it for everyone—but I live in the hopes of someday being able to drive one, perchance to own 🙂
Nope, 28mm or thereabouts mostly I think. The EXIF data should be intact.
As for Porsches…my main problem is that even if I could afford one, I’d need another car for assignments because there’s no way I’d be able I get all of my lighting gear in…
Aha 🙂
Just shows how far I have to go yet [when it comes to clocking things like this!]
I started off as a massive 28mm EFOV type. I feel like I’m shifting to a preference for 35mm, recently. Yet I find it a completely unintuitive focal length—the preference is purely results based: everything I got, that I liked, for the past few weeks was all got with my 24mm Ai-s (35mm effective on my D7000). Which is a horrid lens for where I live by the way (and yes, I suppose also not suited to my camera: digital bodies and film era lenses just don’t mix; or if they do, it’s the exception and not the rule)… shots in midday sun are blocky, pasty, generally need a ton of finessing in post… I’m stuck with it though, can’t afford more modern Nikon glass at this focal length (or wider) so I just concentrate on making lemonade.
And yes Ming a Porsche to cart around your work gear would be BONKERS! Haha 🙂
I’ve always found 35 to be I intuitive because it’s really neither long enough to isolate or wide enough to contextualize – a compromise, of sorts. I tried it for several extended periods of time, and had great 35mm lenses, but ultimately never got along with any of them – I could never wait to get something wider or longer.
That’s what the 50mm FOV feels like for me. No width, no isolation—a whole load of frustration and half-baked pictures. The lens most suited to my D7000 [an AF-S 35mm 1.8G] is consequently the LEAST used one!
I’m using the 35mm FOV for people, in context—get up reasonably close with a suitable/interesting/what-have-you backing => simple and pleasing shot. This is all fisher-price stuff to you and the guys, but the pictures look to me like the sort of thing I see in newspapers. I like it.
I can do similar stuff with my 28mm [the Sigma DP1M], but you have to get RIGHT UP in someone’s face and the results are a little more comical as a result. Not to say the 35mm shots are undistorted or anything, but it’s a more moderate distortion and suits my tastes [at the moment] better.
All this said, no matter how much I practice with the 35, I can’t get the “built-in” frame lines in my vision [as happened with the 28 and 75]… considering there’s such a thing as the anxiety of infinite composition, maybe that’s a blessing in disguise 🙂
I never liked 50mm on DX or FX, but boy – 50mm equivalent (80mm) on 6×6 is sweeeet. I think it has a lot to do with the inherent way a focal length renders on a given format – not just angle of view, but DOF, DOF transition etc. Keep people in the middle half zone of the frame with a 28mm and you’re fine.
Will try! Thanks, as always, Ming.
Another vote for Fly Fishing
Jamie Olivers 30 minute meals. Get the series set on DVD and, the book too. Watch the DVD to see how’s it’s done. Then cook the meal using the instructions in the book. Fifty different meals, all including deserts. All nutritionally balanced and totally, achingly delicious. Plus, he’s just pure entertaining to watch. And the challenge? Making a three course meal in 30 minutes flat.
When you first start, your kitchen will look like a war zone, your nerves will be flambéed and, you’ll be pretty sure you’ll never overcome the struggle of multi-tasking (not our fault, we’re men after all). But when you get good at it… it’s a lot cooler and more satisfying than you’d imagine.
Or, given your ‘art’ bent, and the fact that you have a muse, how about painting with real paints and brushes, instead of light?
Used to cook, didn’t have the time or the inclination to kit out the kitchen; maybe I should look into it again.
The painting idea isn’t bad, though. I think starting with a blank canvas is much harder than seeing a scene and making it work for you though…I suppose the photographic background might help some. It’s probably not ‘real’ enough if you use a tablet and photoshop, is it? 😛
I’m a girly!!..interested in none of the above..Love cycling, it seems I have that in commom with a few other photogs and btw am obsessive about photography..not cameras really.
Our climate…is not suited for it. I did cycle for a while back in university, though. The freedom and exercise was great – just not so fun when it’s always 80+% humidity and 30+C outside.
Yep,me too! I started out in my student days being into Hi Fi then got into photography at college ( and naturally into cameras ) and somehow ended up at cycling which is where I am now with seven..(or is that eight?) bikes, at last count. It’s nice to combine adventuring by bike with photography. Can’t believe i used to haul my camera gear around in a backpack all over Asia including Malaysia. These days I let the bike carry the weight. Much better. Never owned or driven a car my entire life believe it or not. I don’t mind having beautiful ladies with cars driving me somewhere though!
Ming, good point about the humidity. We have it here in Japan in the summer and it’s horrendous.Much worse than what I remember in K.L , Singapore or Jungle trekking.. Wet shirt here after just walking one block in July. I still cycle to work though.I just shower and change shirts a lot. Feel better for it.
Of course cycling in K.L. isn’t a great idea. Even I’m not that crazy!
Actually, if you had a M4/3 kit, you’d be fine hauling it in a backpack. Plenty of room for other stuff, too. 🙂
Japan in typhoon season can be pretty darn humid too. But at least you have three other seasons if you don’t like that one.
Yep! Four photography seasons and three cycling seasons. In the end, works out nicely.
Mirrorless has definitely made travel photography easier.Can carry a small capable OMD system for about the same weight as a Leica M and a fast lens. Very nice really.
Some thoughts:
Fly Fishing (and maybe collect some bamboo rods)
Exercise
Travel
Tennis
I am 27.
I am into Leica (M3, 50 Summilux ASPH, 35 summilux ASPH, Zeiss 28 ZM)
I am into Hifi system (Turntable, vinyls, tube amp, high en speakers)
I don’t have a watch because I want only one: OMEGA Moon watch (so I am saving for it)
I am far to be rich, I have to work very hard, save and then I can invest in my passions and hobbies. That’s all.
It’s amazing all the expensive stuff you can collect, despite very regular income, if your goal is to get your hands on it.
That I learned when I was working: my colleagues would spend small fortunes on alcohol, I bought cameras 🙂
Hello starwolfy,
This is a bit late now, so I doubt you’ll notice…
Not being into watches, I didn’t know what a Moon Watch was and it was bugging me. A Speedmaster Professional, right? Expensive watch! But you’re right — and Ming too — it’s amazing what you can get, on a regular salary with regular commitments, if you set your mind to it. Rule number one is avoid alcohol; this is coarse language, but in the UK we called that p*ssing your money up the wall. It’s a quite literal phrase 🙂
I drink, but only on special occasions. And if I’m honest: on the company dime, if I can.
Most of my friends are taken aback when I roll up to work with yet another camera in my hands, or a new lens, etc. Yet they go out and spend $$$ on new clothes for themselves every weekend, at least; two or three times a week, more like. In actual fact, they spend more than me, not less, and what makes their purchases worse is they get bored/throw out what they’ve bought very quickly. Usually a week or two later… I bought a Sigma DP1M, brand new, this January; it’s already taken a thousand frames… A DP2M in March, it’s done 400. A second hand Espon R-D1s in April, it’s taken close to 450 since I’ve owned it. And a Nikon D7000 last month and it’s already got 600 and counting!
[these are not “keeper” figures, by the way! just shutter actuations]
Photography = much more bang for the buck, and useful to boot 🙂
P/S I know analog watches are amazing to you guys; but I honestly find the physics and workings of a bog-standard quartz watch fascinating. The use of RC circuits as oscillators from which to graduate time is brilliant. We can even clock the speed of light, by the way, from a simple RC circuit—the only use for light in that experiment is to see the instruments!
This said, the watch I’d really like — but won’t buy because the price isn’t right, in my view — is the Seiko ASTRON. Keeps time as accurately as an atomic clock [though the step up between quartz and that is not as large as between analog and quartz].
Cheers starwolfy
You forget that if you buy well, second hand cameras have decent resale – more, for the classics. You might even make some money when you get bored of them. I can’t imagine second hand clothes have much value, and lightly used alcohol has none whatsoever…unless you work in a laundry in ancient Rome, perhaps.
As far as shutter actuations goes…I’ve already put 500 on the ‘Blad I got in December. That’s film. And that’s my um…sixth or seventh body. The D800E I use as my workhorse has about 38,000 since I got it last year – and that’s used only single-shot, with lights, for formal setups. My OM-D has a few more, and that’s only used for travel. In a busy day, I might come back with a couple of thousand frames. You need to shoot more 🙂
Haha:D
Honestly I’m at breaking point now. It’s not the shooting, I can make more time to do more frames; it’s dealing with the RAWs afterward. Even if I only spend a minute or so per image (and I’m still a novice so it’s really more like 5 to 10) there aren’t enough free hours in my day! It’s good practice for the editing eye though: when you’ve only got an hour to play with PS on the family computer, you only bother with the AAA grade shots. Start with with the quality, work down from there.
“Quality” is a relative term, though, in my case 🙂
Ah, that’s the editing part. As a photog you’re only judged on what you show, not what you shoot. I go through silly volumes to get things perfect because I can. No idea if clients notice or care, but I do. My hit rate is probably below 2%.
Time for a nice new processing rig, methinks 🙂
Woodworking.
Infinite variety (turning, carving, cabinetry), creativity and great equipment, especially when hand tool centric (Sauer and Steiner or Holley planes.) Can be portable (carving spoons) and tremendous satisfaction when skill achieved and a joint fits together right from the saw or you get the design just right.
I like very much the idea of making things – wanted to get a machining setup or 3D printer at one point – the problem is I live in an apartment and just don’t have the space or ventilation (for curing etc). Plus I think my wife would scream…
I’m going to second the suggestion of fine cooking. Before I had the finances to start mmy photography hobby, it was cooking. Just a few basic ingredients and the rest is left up to the artistic chef. It also greatly aided by your palette for cigars or wine. I found Alton Brown’s television series “Good Eats” to be invaluable. His knowledge and teaching is extremely informative and strikes a delicate balance between science and art. He also leaves a lot of creative freedom for the cook to try their own recipe and creations. I started with his risotto and lemon curd recipe and tried to use similar principles to make eggs Benedict – my greatest guilty pleasure. A lot of his videos can be found on that youVideo website.
Photography to me is my release and hobby. I always try not to mix the two. When work needs pictures for this or that I do my best to decline. In the same way, I would like to voice a little caution not to mix one with the other such that the lines blur and your new hobby also becomes a part of your job.
Good luck Ming
I think your last line is the most valuable here: the minute your hobby becomes your job, then you need to find another one…
Hi Ming,
Your comments and observations are insightful and fairly accurate, I’ll wager. While I’m not into cigars (I don’t smoke), in addition to photography I am into sportbikes (my substitute for cars), travel, food/wine and as you insightfully point out, audio.
So…that is my suggestion for you…something you can into as a new hobby: high-end audio. Firstly, it has a strong artistic component: the recreation of a beguiling and engaging musical event. Secondly, it has GEAR. And do I mean gear…you can easily spend as much money in high-end audio as you on mechanical watches. Actually, probably more. And true enough, there is quite a deal of mental and intellectual involvement in getting your system dialed in *just right*, particularly if you’re into vinyl, as many of us are. Also, high-end audio allows the enjoyment of your other hobbies at the same time…for example, using an exquisitely made German protractor to dial in the stylus overhang of the Koetsu Urushi Vermilion phono cartridge mounted on your SME V tonearm while enjoying a dram of your favorite single-malt. In fact, the dram of single-malt is probably beneficial in this task as it relaxes you just enough to be able to determine if Baerwald or Stevenson geometry is to your liking. And, if you have a music server and DAC, you can be listening to your system while you dial in your cartridge! Ha! The best of all possible worlds. And, if you crave even more lntellectual involvment, you can use a real-time, in-room frequency response measurement system perform to Design of Experiments (I prefer Full Factorial DOEs when possible) to determine the optimal settings for optimally setting up your subwoofer (I actually did this and would be happy to send you my DOE model in JMP.
Cheers,
Stephen
Oh no! A lot of my other friends are into audio – I stopped after getting a very decent set of headphones and re-cabling. I admit, I’ve not used those in ages, either. Too much hassle. I should really dig them out again. Unfortunately the acoustics of my apartment aren’t good at all (i.e. small, lots of glass – I need light to survive :P) so I never looked into a fixed setup. I’ve got plenty of buddies locally who are always trying to convince me it’s a good idea, though.
Try sailing. I find it as mentally stimulating as photography but with added physical benefits. I think it has to do the fact that to be successful you must manage multiple variables and control inputs in order to reach a goal, all while maintaining an acute awareness of your environment. You can choose to sail as part of a crew, or solo, testing your ability to work with others or challenging your own personal limits. It’s immensely gratifying, and heaps of fun!
That’s not a bad idea, actually…
That JJ LeCoultre & cigar composition is simply beautiful
Thanks!
Seashell collecting! Things of amazing beauty.
P.S.– GREAT shot of a food plate.
Thanks – I’d be happy if I could get to a beach more often, let alone finding the shells. They’d make awesome subjects though, especially with the Hasselblad in B&W…
Fishing Ming,with a fly if you can but its not important how.Youre going to some stunning locations,with a little research and a couple of hours ,there’s an adventure waiting around the corner. 🙂
How does one pass the time while waiting? Or doesn’t that happen to good anglers? 😉
If you’re talking “fly fishing” you’re passing the time away by constantly casting and moving to where the fish are. I much prefer this type of fishing to stationary “sitting on the bank in a chair” type of fishing. We have over 600 miles of trout streams here in the mountains of western North Carolina to enjoy that sport. (Our local fly shop: http://www.davidsonflyfishing.com/ ) I put bank fishing in the same category as sitting in a blind waiting for a deer to come by to shoot as to the pheasant hunting I do in the fall with my Springer Spaniel. ( He’s constantly moving working the ground out in front of you trying to find a bird to flush. Then its up to you to bring it down and then the dog to retrieve.
As to those that have mentioned rock climbing and some of these other high “risk” sports, I will leave that to the younger crowd. I survived some of those daring type of sports in my earlier years and have no desire to attempt fate again.
Back to cigars Ming. Do you have a favorite that you tend to always smoke or do you like to experiment with something new? Here in the states we cannot buy Cuban made cigars but there are many many good alternatives from the other countries. I happen to prefer the Rocky Patel, La Aroma de Cuba, Padron and Partagas brands.
For the non-Cubans – I like the Opus Xs and Padron Anniversary series. For the Cubans – I tend to buy a box of whatever I happen to try and enjoy, smoke that for a while and then move on. I have several boxes of ELs that I have maturing in the humidor, though…
How about something for the mind AND body? Something athletic that makes you sweat, that get’s your adrenaline going, that involves testing and pushing your limits, taking some risks, and seeing how far you can go? I used to snowboard, and then back-country stuff. Now in Thailand, I switched to dirt bike riding (highly recommended). For this climate? How about Surfing? Rock Climbing? Adventure Racing? Lot’s of fun stuff…
I miss skiing – used to go at least once if not twice a season when I lived in the UK. Carried a 400mm lens a few times for those stacked mountain shots, too. The plan is to try and go to Niseko at the end of this year, but the calendar is starting to look full 😦
I always thought cooking was a no-brainer activity, that needed very little mental acuity or gymnastics. How wrong I was! After taking it up seriously now for two years, it has kept my mind going, heightened my five senses, made the wife happy. Besides saving a ton on fine restaurant bills. Knowing how to handle a good knife is also somehow pervertingly satisfying.
You cannot start to imagine how much sexier your wife will feel after a fine-dining experience cooked by her man.
This alone is reason enough to give it a try.
Cooking is in addition to my usual pursuits of Tea Art, Hi-Fi and photography.
Actually, I did cook seriously for a while. I got frustrated by the limited ingredients I could easily find locally, plus it is pretty time consuming. As for tea – I did that seriously too; which reminds me, I’ve got some aged Pu-Erh I should break out and brew when I can find a free afternoon.
Aged Pu-erh? Prices of fine grade, authentic old-tree aged pu-erh has gone through the roof recently. You could be sitting on a small gold vein… Recently saw a couple of cakes valued at RM45,000 each.
I’d heard something similar. Unfortunately my cakes are all broken-in, and very much for drinking. I didn’t pay much – and some were just gifted to me, so hey – easy come, easy go. Best enjoyed rather than being babied, anyway. (I don’t know why, but some of those Leicas that go for silly money at auction come to mind. They are cameras and meant to be shot!)
Candy Crush on the iPhone? Frustrating and challenging enough…. 🙂
Good lord. No!
Now you’ve opened a whole new can of worms Ming! Bought my Rolex GMT when I earned my “Wings of Gold” as a Marine Corps jet jocky in 1982. (I wear it to this day and its seen its share of action: http://goo.gl/lnws4) Owned a couple of cars that go fast until the next fuel station. Then there’s the Bang & Olufsen system I enjoy listening to. (Not that its some fantastic system but it is cool to look at) and finally my Leica M-E. (POS LCD and high ISO sucks along with the measly 2 FPS until the buffer is clogged). But hey, my new LeicaTime leather strap looks cool!
Then there’s that nice cigar I really did enjoy this evening with a friend of mine after enjoying an evening listening to the Jeff Sipe Trio here in town: http://goo.gl/8vfzJ (A quick iPhone shot until I get home to process my Leica images)
Now if I could only take a decent picture!
Cigars rock. Had one with my dad this afternoon; it’s enjoyable but you can’t do it too often, and it’s not exactly that involving…but perhaps I should start smoking a bit more frequently again. One a month really isn’t enough…
I’m not sure if anyone else took a look at Duane’s first link, but WOW. That is an AMAZING story and a great thing you did, Duane.
The people that congregate here below the line at blog.mingthein.com are brilliant. I know mentions of an MT forum were made, but even if the MY laws were relaxed to make it possible, Ming, I hope you wouldn’t do it. The whole dynamic would change and I’d hate for conversations to be siloed off. Perfect like it is now—all in together, and what a group! Just awe inspiring.
I just did – had lots of tabs open and somehow missed it the first time around – and I can only agree with you. Wow. Lucky!
Interesting – against the forum? I’ve noticed of late that the comment threads are in effect little fora unto themselves…all I do is provide the catalyst for the interesting discussion to happen. And there’ll be more of that in future posts, I promise. Nevertheless, there are some fantastic people on here – I’ve made a huge number of friends through this site and offline correspondences, and wouldn’t change that bit at all. In case I don’t say it often enough: thank you everybody! 🙂
Yes, I think the way it is now is as good as it gets. I used to contribute regularly below the line at the Guardian newspaper — on Comment is Free or “CiF”, for short — which had one of the best communities ever: lots of professionals, all round sharp people would frequent and contribute. The comments were arranged in linear chronological order. It wasn’t perfect but it worked. Especially as conversation. in the real world you can’t have a non uni-directional [time] conversation. The bright young things at the Guardian changed it to nested comments — with only one level of nesting! — because that’s what teenagers with mobile phones like, and that’s what advertisers want. This move EMASCULTED the quality of comments, conversation and community.
You have nested comments too, Ming, which is fine — and you sensibly have more than single level nesting! — as we generally have brief exchanges with each other and put unrelated comments in a new post… but it might not be that way forever. All I’d suggest to preserve what you have here and maybe improve it, would be to have a toggle—display all comments in linear chronological order (see evolution of conversation); or display in nested view, with the option of collapsing individual nests (it’d just be some kind ‘+’ or ‘-‘ button on the first level of replies to a post).
A forum style set-up would kill what you have. Really. The architecture of forums is antithetical to any kind of conversation as I know it; and they separate, rather than aggregate, by design.
Your site is a lot more literary than other photo blogs. It’s got more in common with newspaper or magazine sites, I think. So having an article and then readers’ thoughts below the line of that article is the most organic and frictionless way to do it…
If it ain’t broke!
Just one guy’s opinion 🙂
Sorry for typos—doing this from iPhone 😦
No worries – ditto! If I didn’t if be nowhere near as productive.
Don’t you feel like the typing recognition just gets worse and worse Ming? I have the 4S, my first ever iPhone, and I got it before they’d switched out Google maps for Apple. The recognition was GREAT then. It’s awful now. Been getting ever worse since that big iOS switch when they changed the mapping utility. Infuriatingly obvious things don’t work. Like “I’ll”—I used to type “Ill” or “ill” and it’d get it. Doesn’t now. When I want the indefinite article, even if I correctly tap “a” it often corrects to “s” or even sometimes “d.” Highly frustrating 😦
Yes, actually. 5.x was pretty good. Now I find I’ve got to go back and correct very frequently – it’s definitely annoying. Or maybe it’s because I’ve been confusing it with too many odd camera names…
Haha 😀
I admit that’s a good way of looking at it. Putting the comments below the posts at least lets us keep track of the thought flow that precipitated them in the first place. However…I’m at the mercy of WordPress when it comes to the architecture, unfortunately. 🙂
hmm, it seems like you’re interesting in technical stuff, seeing that you love mechanical watches and cars, so how about continuing in that pattern? although time-consuming, I’d recommend taking a pilot’s license. fun, technical, and tons of great photo-opportunities! I got my license when I was 18 and I have been enjoying it ever since. however, if thats too much of a hassle I would recommend something involving sound and music. I work part-time as a sound engineer at a small venue and its really interesting. also, its easy to combine with a cigar or two 😉
I’d actually given that – flying – some serious thought at one point – maybe I should look into it again…
Hi Ming – Most of us appreciate ‘Photography’, as it does stimulate ones mind with the technical knowledge and imaginative creativity. But as counter balance, please consider something physical, such as road cycling & yoga (not at the same time, of course). Form personal experience I enjoy mechanical beauty of the road bicycles, with added health benefits. I also use cycling for spotting my future photo opportunities. Yes it is yet another expensive hobby, but I love the metal discipline it requires to in order to enjoy. As for Yoga? simply put, it offers philosophy of life and eternal happiness, with added health and metal benefit. Thanks for asking the question, for it shows your ability to absorb and learn… keep asking questions, and listen to answers as yet another one of your life’s hobbies. All Best, form New York. Elias.