The question:
Why are so many people in the photography space so miserable?
Now mind you it may not actually be that many out there that are. But the ones that do seem miserable are vocal about it. When I write these little ramble fests housed on this website, and occasionally elsewhere, I find it very therapeutic. A large part of keeping it that way is qualifying the mess out of my posts as personal preference. But even with that in spaces where commenting is part of the equation, even that is not enough.
Exhibit A:
A person was polite but responded to a qualified statement including an explanation for the statement with a, “What did you mean by xyz?”.
I checked the post again and yep there it was. Had a qualifier, stated that it was a personal opinion, included an explanation, and said no offense intended. And that was not enough. Since they were polite about it I replied stating again that it was personal opinion and even cut and paste the information above contained in the post. To which they politely responded that they get it and even went on to provide further validation for my take. Nice. Ended up being a nice back and forth, but I could easily see it going in different direction.
Exhibit B:
In another post I had given my justification for choosing a certain camera over others that one company had produced. Short version is was that it sat at the cross roads of my minimum requirements and acceptable price point. Included “personal preference” once again and even threw in an “I would not question anyone’s decision if they chose another option.” since all were valid choices. Result? Someone wrote a comment reiterating the shortcomings of my choice that I had pointed out and the option they chose and why…
Ok. So I wrote back a sincere “Yay you.” great choice reply. Glad he found an option that worked for him. Seemed unnecessary though.
Reminded me of how back in my early twenties I chose not to drink but did not volunteer this information. Was not motivated by pious performative Puritanism. Just not my bag. Personal choice. Unintended but often inevitable medical and legal risks aside the main drivers were:
- After seeing some elders you love blow themselves up, why would I then voluntarily play with dynamite and matches?
- My folks did not really imbibe socially so it was not normalized in my universe.
That being said, that was my choice. But inevitably, when others found out 9 times out of 10, I would hear this next, “Well the reason I drink is…” and I would stop them. You owe me no explanation. I am in no place to judge. You do you. In the end, it would be seen as a perk. I was an LDD or Lifetime Designated Driver at their service. On a number of occasions, I accepted the keys of others and provided next day rides to their vehicles. Back to the task at hand.
I have said this many times before but I do not understand why so many are so defensive or even combative regarding anyone’s choice of gear. Why does it matter? I hear the battle cries of Team Nikon, Team Canon, and so on. Some swear by a high-end brands and declare that they will accept no less. Some even debate what model to choose within a brand… Me? I am team gear agnostic. I sit on the sidelines thinking to myself that I would buy them all if I ever located my misplaced money tree. As a result, I have tried just about every brand out there and have enjoyed documenting the gear churn process in this space.
So as far as the question as to why so many seem intent on being miserable about such frivolous things I have no answer.
This is why this space does not have a comment section. This is a dumping ground for my random neural firings. Period. I have no answers as to why some seem intent on manufacturing disagreements. Read. Do not read. I spend as little time as possible concerning myself with such things.
But some positive folks have reached out to me in other spaces and it has been great interacting with them. Writing in this space is mainly a therapeutic exercise. And I like to keep it light and breezy. Photography is also therapeutic for me. Especially analog photography. Hence posts like this one here. Speaking of which let me get on with it.
Not legendary nor does it have Zeiss written across its lens, but a fine tool. Can easily be used fully manually also, but bring autofocus, auto exposure, and TTL flash to the party making for a fine medium format point and shoot. If there are any unpredictable elements I will reach for this Pentax all day.
Add in things like great ergonomics, intuitive controls, and consistently squeezing 16 exposures out of a usually 15 exposure 120 roll over the 12 with 6×6 and the Pentax is a pleasure to use. When quizzed by Wilson what film camera would I have if I could only have one it was the first one that came to mind with little hesitation. Not a perfect film camera. No such thing exists. But one of many great options. To the film.
An old favorite, Lomography 400, developed at home with Cinestill CS41. Nothing special. Documenting my weekly chorus rehearsal and related travels. Here are my favorite frames.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 