Ever feel like quiting?

lightwisps · Aug 3, 2013

Ever feel like selling all your gear and just forgetting about it completely? I am at that point. Maybe it is fleeting, maybe it is lasting. Considering selling all my stuff and moving on. Anyone else ever get like this? Don

BrianShaw · Aug 3, 2013

No, never. I have set my gear aside for periods of time when I get that kind of feeling.

Jesper · Aug 3, 2013

Not yet, but I've only been doing it for 30 years.

Ken Nadvornick · Aug 3, 2013

What equipment do you have?

:devil:

Ken

Tom1956 · Aug 3, 2013

lightwisps said:
Ever feel like selling all your gear and just forgetting about it completely? I am at that point. Maybe it is fleeting, maybe it is lasting. Considering selling all my stuff and moving on. Anyone else ever get like this? Don

I feel like quitting just about every day--quitting everything. Then I think about the men in the Apollo 13 LEM. I once heard Jim Lovell say they had gotten to the point they could have flipped out and started bouncing off the walls, but when it was over they would have been been right where they were in the first place.

lightwisps · Aug 3, 2013

A couple of mint F5s 3 lenses, Saunders/LPL 4450 and 3 lenses and all the rest of the darkroom equipment for up to 20X24, arkay dual dryer and all the regular junk.

eddie · Aug 3, 2013

Why are you thinking of quitting? Time? Money? Inspiration? Results?

railwayman3 · Aug 3, 2013

I have one-or-two hobbies apart from photography, and I occasionally put one or the other (including photography) "on hold" for a while. Then something stirs my interest again, and I come back feeling refreshed and with a new enthusiasm. I don't get too worried...my choice, my time, my money, so long as it doesn't affect my work/wife/family/friends.

Sirius Glass · Aug 3, 2013

NDKodak · Aug 3, 2013

lightwisps said:
A couple of mint F5s 3 lenses, Saunders/LPL 4450 and 3 lenses and all the rest of the darkroom equipment for up to 20X24, arkay dual dryer and all the regular junk.

I agree darkroom work can be a drag sometimes.
But I never get tired of photographing things. I enjoy observing,discovering and composing so much, alot of times I do not even care if I get prints made or if anyone else even sees what I shot.

Maybe you should try and switch things up and shoot with 2 1/4 TLR? You get a new format to challenge your composition skills with, a new way view your subject matter with waist level viewfinder, larger negative to work with, etc.

lightwisps · Aug 3, 2013

Disgusted with everything for no reason I can put my finger on

omaha · Aug 3, 2013

I've spent 30 years going from one thing to another, but photography is the one thing I've always come back to.

There's nothing wrong with stepping away for a while and waiting for the muse to re-awaken.

lightwisps · Aug 3, 2013

Might try that

BradleyK · Aug 3, 2013

Never! On my worst days, when even the sight of another human being disgusts me, photography often times has been my saving grace. A change or two of clothes, the Blad with a couple of lenses and a brick of Panf/FP4, a trusty tripod...and a ferry ride to the Island for a couple of days of communing with nature (Tofino, Cathedral Grove, trails on Pacific Rim...the list is extensive); and when I return to "civilization," my mood has improved by several orders of magnitude and I can deal with whatever comes my way...

lightwisps · Aug 3, 2013

Omaha, good point and I have done the same. Maybe it is just "my time of the month"?

lightwisps · Aug 3, 2013

I think the fact that a model for a book backed out of our agreement and wants lots of money soured me today. Sorry to all for being a bummer

Jeff Kubach · Aug 3, 2013

Once in a while I think about it. I never want to sell my camera stuff. Because since it is all film it is not worth much.

Jeff

TheFlyingCamera · Aug 3, 2013

lightwisps said:
I think the fact that a model for a book backed out of our agreement and wants lots of money soured me today. Sorry to all for being a bummer

Getting screwed over by a model is not only painful, it's frequent. If you feel this bad now, think about how it would be to have three or four models in succession back out, flake and just not show, or start asking for stupid stuff like "buy me this outfit and I'll pose for you - and you have to bring it with you to the session or I won't work".

DWThomas · Aug 3, 2013

Damn --- aging eyes -- I thought this said "Ever feel like QUILTING!" (My Faire Spouse is a "fabric fondler.")

I've never considered stopping altogether, but I certainly travel in fits and starts as ideas come and go. Taking a break, even for months, is not a major sin in my book. Or perhaps it's time to tackle a whole different genre [insert "think outside the box" and other handy cliches].

I myself have had some nasty thoughts lately (having hit 72 this summer) that there may be other reasons, such as house downsizing or any of too many medical possibilities, to quit or vastly alter what I'm doing. It would figure I should face that just as I get most of the gear and setups I have coveted available to me. But so far all is well, so I just keep blundering along and try not to think too much about it!

clayne · Aug 3, 2013

lightwisps said:
Disgusted with everything for no reason I can put my finger on

We've all been there. This is a sign of over saturation and you need to just take a break for a while. If you do anything in the darkroom try to do new things like playing with different toners, etc. otherwise put it aside for a while. Just don't do anything rash.

Ken Nadvornick · Aug 3, 2013

clayne said:
Just don't do anything rash.

Yes, the true point of my earlier response.

Once it's gone, it's gone. Then a month or two later when you feel better...

Ken

John Koehrer · Aug 3, 2013

DWThomas said:
Damn --- aging eyes -- I thought this said "Ever feel like QUILTING!"

Me too.

ann · Aug 3, 2013

See if you can find "The Creative Fire" by Estes. SHe talks a lot about the cycle of the creative artist. It always ebes and flows.

Have been doing this for over 65 years and in my mid 30's i put everything away and thought about selling it off when a friend offered to buy it and when I came to my sense sell it back .

I didn't take her offer, but I did have a period of several years where I just didn't care about working. However, since that time, the "down" time varies but I never think of selling it all and walking away.

Try to find something totally different to work on, something that makes your heart sing (certainly not models )

darkosaric · Aug 3, 2013

lightwisps said:
Disgusted with everything for no reason I can put my finger on

Hi Don,

if you can afford it - go for a long trip, somewhere on another continent if possible.

cheers,

benjiboy · Aug 3, 2013

I've never once thought of quitting in more than sixty years, because it's part of my D.N.A, it's who I am.

Ever feel like quiting?

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