And how's your spousal support?

Daniel Grenier · Feb 3, 2005

Not the alimony kind of spousal support but, rather, the "I'm with you all the way" kind.

My wife, who is not a photographer but knows photography very well, has been my biggest fan, supporter (emotional and financial) and motivator. Never has she objected to my going out photographing; questioned my wherabouts or opposed anything having to do with my photography. In fact, she is a most positive influence all around.

So I'm taking a minute here to take my hat off to my wife for her unconditional support.

And how's your support system?

TPPhotog · Feb 3, 2005

Good to hear you have a supporting and understanding wife. Is she as happy when the monthly bank statement arrives though?

I find a broomstick down the back of my jacket keeps me upright just fine. Sorry I couldn't resist

BWGirl · Feb 3, 2005

Well, I have to say that I really lucked out in the "spousal support" area! My wonderful hubby is actually the one who said "hey! Let's get this Hasselblad...it's really cool!" When I would have settled for something a little more 'frugal'. He's also the one who gave me about 40 rolls of film and darkroom chemicals for Christmas!
So... lucky me...on many different fronts! Supporter, friend, fan and hubby all rolled into one nice package!

mark · Feb 3, 2005

Very little support, she does not understand the need to create. She sees it as a complete waste of money time and resources. But it is my passion not hers.

Daniel Grenier · Feb 3, 2005

mark said:
Very little support, she no understanding of the need to create. She sees it as a complete waste of money time and resources.

Geez, Mark, sounds like you might be better off with the alimony kind of support.

modafoto · Feb 3, 2005

Well, my wife is supporting my photography and she likes a lot of my portraits. But she is not really a fan, as lots of my work she thinks is boring because the subject isn't of her liking. But she thinks it is cool that I am getting a darkroom working in the bath room. This way I can be more at home instead of being in the rented darkroom.
She helps me out deciding what to print and wants to see all my contact sheets to look at what I am shooting. Sometimes she likes it, sometimes she doesn't.

Morten

John Bartley · Feb 3, 2005

Same here - 2000% support - after 27 years together and 23 years of marriage, I understand less and less how I got so lucky!

Dave Parker · Feb 3, 2005

Unconditional support, 100% and also chips in on the Ground Glass business as well, I am very lucky and tell her thanks every single day for her support of the photography business as well as other hair brained ventures I have done.

Thanks again! here's to our Wife's!

Dave

BruceN · Feb 3, 2005

All the support I could ask for, but I'm shooting more and more B&W these days and she's not much of a fan of B&W. I guess it's not so bad - all I really have to do to keep her happy with my photography is to get out to the woods occasionally and shoot a few rolls of velvia, then put on a little slide show for her and my daughter.

matt miller · Feb 3, 2005

Photography is a fairly new found passion for me. We were married for about 12 years before I really got into it, so my involvement in photography is fairly new to her as well. At first I think she was a bit jealous of the time I spent on it. I have reached a balance now that works well for myself, my wife, & my daughters. She is very supportive & shares my excitement when I come to her with new prints. Her taste in subject matter is quite different from mine though & she doesn't always understand why I shoot what I do. I get a lot of "where are the people?". I think she's got a good point & am trying to include people in my photos more often. I recently purchased a photograph from George Provost of ice & water. The water is blurred due to long exposure. It is very very beautiful. I showed it to her & she just said "it's blurry". What?

The money I spend on photography is a whole different story. It's expensive, much more expensive than she thinks it should be. She is not as supportive in this area. I only tell her about half of what I spend on it, although I'm sure she knows exactly how much I spend.

jimgalli · Feb 3, 2005

My bride of 30 years is very supportive although she is bemused at the road I have gone down. That said, the hobby gets paid for with "other" $ generated by horsetrading at Ebay so there's no financial strain. We have a 16 foot solid white wall of black and white photos at the end of "her" family room with track lighting that she is always proud to show off. And she realizes that all of the thinking, scheming, work, and focus is a healthy end in itself. I've asked if she would rather have a husband sitting in a recliner with 4 empty beer cans next to him and she resoundingly says no. Beyond that she is not engaged in the process and does not have much interest. Her family is very conservative regarding what is and is not art. Her parents generation certainly does not consider photography as art. She'd be more pleased with a wall of color photos but ce la vie.

Daniel Grenier · Feb 3, 2005

matt miller said:
..... I recently purchased a photograph from George Provost of ice & water. The water is blurred due to long exposure. It is very very beautiful. I showed it to her & she just said "it's blurry". What?....

Matt;

You need to develop (no pun) your wife's visual concepts of what good b&w photography is. I now have 9 of George's prints. Beautiful work it is and my wife loves and appreciates them all.

Don't worry, she'll get is sooner or later.

matt miller · Feb 3, 2005

Daniel Grenier said:
You need to develop (no pun) your wife's visual concepts of what good b&w photography is. I now have 9 of George's prints. Beautiful work it is and my wife loves and appreciates them all.

Don't worry, she'll get is sooner or later.

She is slowly coming around. I've just got to be patient. I received a print exchange print from Leon yesterday. It's a great print & she loves it. There is hope for her yet.

juan · Feb 3, 2005

My ex-wife loved my photography. It gave her one more thing to complain, shriek, yell and cry about. (I'm assuming I can't use b**** on the forum.) I think the final straw that drove her out of my life was the constant ticking of the metronome in the darkroom.
juan

photomc · Feb 3, 2005

Fun thread, and guess I am one fo the lucky ones. Bride of 20 plus years has always been supportive and involved to some degree. She is a much better people shooter than I am, but like most likes color better. She has her sitting room, I have my gallery room that she said we needed. Does not mind the photo trips, as long as they are to different places..does not like going to the same place.

Would not trade her for anything...besides, I think she gets a kick out of telling people - 'my husband made that'

colrehogan · Feb 3, 2005

My husband has his cars (he's a mechanic) which he pays for and I have my photography (which I pay for).

eric · Feb 3, 2005

As long as I have pix of the kids, she likes it. As long as it doesn't take too much garage space as well. Oh, yah, she don't like all my toy cameras lying around.

How about pix of our spouses?!

Here's my significant other

http://www.yourchef.net/yourchef2.jpg

Modeling my custom made tank tops (she signed a release form I think)

medform-norm · Feb 3, 2005

We wake up in the morning and even before we're out of bed, we start discussing whether we should buy that Dallmeyer/Goerz/oddball lens on eBay, if the weather is good enough to shoot outdoors or rather indoors, who will use which camera today and if I thought the grey balance in the pic we digitized last night was good enough or do we need to rescan it.

We're in this together all the way. I suppose we're very boring people in the eyes of those who do not know about photography... my mother keeps asking me 'and what are you going to dó with all these photographs?'.

the medform-norm team

David Brown · Feb 3, 2005

This is not a problem for me, either.

Wife has BFA, MA and MFA in art; and would rather put my photos on the wall than her paintings. (Her reasons are for a whole other forum, but that's how it stands.) :rolleyes:

As for the $, she spends the same on her toys, so it's a wash. And let's not even mention her $1000 digithing... OK, she does use it in producing some of her art.

Some of us are indeed lucky!

Cheers y'all.

David

Eric Rose · Feb 3, 2005

I guess I would need a spouse to get some support. The last one was very supportive but a non photographer. The next one will have to be in it as much as I am or it's a non starter.

dschneller · Feb 3, 2005

So far, so good!

I'm still at the newly-wed stage, it helped that I printed off our B&W wedding photos, and as long as I take enough kitty pictures she's happy. She understands the need to create, she has her own hobbies. Although if I keep bringing home stray lenses I may be in trouble.

Dave

jd callow · Feb 3, 2005

Daniel Grenier said:
And how's your support system?

My wife supports all of my vocations and avocations fully as I fully support her pursuit of higher education.

We will grow old together happy, satisfied, but in all likelihood poor

noblebeast · Feb 3, 2005

mrcallow said:
My wife supports all of my vocations and avocations fully as I fully support her pursuit of higher education.

We will grow old together happy, satisfied, but in all likelihood poor

Not to get all goooshy, maudlin and trite, but it sounds as if you both are already rich beyond measure - congratulations!

Joe

Lee Shively · Feb 3, 2005

My wife really doesn't understand why I don't take "color snapshots". She really doesn't care for the type of photography I do or the time I devote to it. Too bad. I'm not giving up either her or the photography.

John Bartley · Feb 3, 2005

mrcallow [B said:
We will grow old together happy, satisfied, [/B]but in all likelihood poor

That's not poor - that's rich beyond counting !!

And how's your spousal support?

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