Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

I understand that. As I think about it part of the fun for me is what I do with the photos after I take them.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

I agree with what you say.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Thanks Bill. Another vote for Fun

smussler Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY

And what's wrong with collecting stamps? Seriously. I've been collecting stamps longer than I've owned cameras. Scan below my US #1 issued in 1847.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Thanks for responding Big Daddy. Another reason I can understand and appreciate.

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Me too 🆒🆒🆒🆒

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Thanks Ben. Someone who has a hobby and is focused in a direction to proceed

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Thanks for answering Chief. It's it's interesting the things we do and enjoy without ever wondering why we do them. I also believe that it is possible to "Overthink" things and run the risk of loosing the motivations that makes our lives enjoyable. Just a thought

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

The quicksand is possibly the hobby of reminiscing about the past sucked him into the hobby of photography now? I really didn't get it myself

Quixdraw Loc: x

Maybe it is collecting, I have been a serial collector of all sorts of things in my life. Much of it still surrounds me. I prefer to think of it as Striving. I was an athlete most of my younger years, Martial Arts, Bicycling, etc., etc. I can strive at those all I want, and will still inevitably slide backward to levels of lesser competence and fitness as I age. Photography, on the other hand still offers virtually boundless opportunity. I have a record or years of performance and can see results of what I have learned, of new techniques and equipment (yes, in some cases that enables advancement) actual improvement. I can continue to Strive, and be rewarded by visible results. Unless I start to loose my marbles, that train will continue to roll for a good while yet! Be of good cheer!

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

I remember my first camera that I bought at a Flea Market for a couple dollars and the flash bulbs it required as well.

It was in the early 1950's and along came the Polaroids and Instamatics until the war and I discovered SLR's in Japan. I haven't stopped since those days a half century ago. The military provided me with a dark room as well and the opportunity to learn photographic printing on my weekends and I was hooked from then,onto the current day digital world I now enjoy and love.

Except for Piano (1st love) & Firearms (2nd addiction) my camera has become the means by which I document my life's work and validate it's existence. My family members now expect me to records everything and share them with them on demand,more or less. I do it gladly as I have little else to do these days. My photos have become my greatest accomplishment and something I can relate to or demonstrate to a friend an historical event that matter only to us and no one else.

I have No Idea as to how many images I possess at this point in my life but I have Many Boxes of them in closets and 2 computers systems with files as yet unprinted and no telling how many I'll make before I croak.

No quick sand at all, just good living and celebrating what we had and not what we didn't.

Thanks man !

jblazar Loc: Sunnyvale, CA

I take pictures for several reasons. It gives me a good excuse to get out to places, both local and exotic, that I might otherwise not have gone to. Locally, I do hikes or go to local parks, gardens, arboretums, and they are more enjoyable for me when I'm doing photography. I SEE more that way, because I'm looking for image subjects. So I'm more connected to my environment, more childlike in my curiosity. I do a lot of Intentional Camera Movement photography as well as abstracts. These are fun just for the surprise of seeing or getting something unexpected. Landscape photography, which I enjoy, is in my view, more intentional and the results are often not unique. With more abstract images, the work is more mine, more artistic, hopefully. This is very satisfying. When I'm out doing photography, on a good day, I can be completely absorbed in it, and all my cares, all the world troubles, COVID, politics, etc., are gone. It is just me, my camera and what is in front of me. It is a joy when I can get to that state, and when I get an image I love.

My other hobby is music. With music, I don't particularly enjoy playing alone, in contrast to photography, where I can be quite happy going out on my own to do it. I prefer to play music with others. There, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When we click, something joyful can result. On rare occasions, if everything goes right, it is a high--something we all remember for years to come.

So I guess for me, hobbies are a way to find joy in life. Something that fulfills an artistic need in me. And they are a way to connect to other like-minded people, so there is the social aspect.

Stamp (and coin) collecting, which I did as a kid, doesn't have any appeal to me anymore. I don't see any artistic value to it, at least for me. It is just collecting--which I've done a lot of over the years, but for me, it is not something that gives me joy.

Thanks for asking the question!

jblazar Loc: Sunnyvale, CA

I should add that I find that learning something new makes life exciting for me. And in photography, there is no shortage of new things to learn, both camera techniques and processing.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I have multiple hobbies. Sometimes I even combine hobbies into a single project. I don't understand why some people believe that if they select photography as a hobby, they can't have other hobbies as well.