On My Way To "Forum Zen".....

RT Panther

All-Pro
Achieving "Gear Zen" has now propelled me towards achievement of "Forum Zen". :)

Since I'm not there yet I can't completely define "Forum Zen"...;)
But what I've learned thus far is that the gear argument/discussion threads that you once participated now seem quite ridiculous & trivial....:D
 
What "gear zen" seems to result in with me is less need/desire to talk about gear. I'm just not nearly as interested in new gear as I used to be because I'm overwhelmingly satisfied with what I've got. I'm sure I'll find a reason to upgrade my DSLR body someday eventually, but once you start collecting Zeiss glass, where else are you gonna go?!?!?

Which means a lot less to talk about here. Yeah, I'll occasionally post photos and occasionally discuss some issue or technique. But my participation is way down lately from what it's been in the past and I have trouble seeing what's gonna turn that around. So gear zen just means I'm happy with my gear with no desire for new stuff. Forum zen means less and less participation. Gear zen is a good thing, but I don't necessarily see forum zen as a good thing, given the number of online friendships I've developed here. But topic specific forums are always driven by the topic and when that stops being of interest, you inevitably stop hanging there, or at least hanging nearly as much. I have a bicycle forum I used to hang out on a LOT, probably more than my busiest times here, but for many more years. I got to know a lot of folks there and rode with a lot of them and even did long weekend riding get-togethers all over the east coast. They were both online and real flesh and blood and sweat friends. Now I barely ride at all, and not at all in the manner I used to with the gear and type of riding discussed on that forum. I still hang out a little bit over there because of the relationships I built over the years (and it was probably close to 15 years, although the forum changed sponsors and hosts a couple of time during that time). But to say it's not the same thing would be the understatement of the decade. I fear the same thing happening here to some extent, but I've come to accept the inevitability of this sort of ebb and flow. It's zen, but zen with a downside...

-Ray
 
I agree. C'mon Ray, I can't believe if it isn't gear chat you have nothing to say. Put that creativity into snapping and showing and into encouraging others to do the same.

I still do a fair amount of that, but I have less and less to say about it. I'm terrible at critiquing and not much better at being critiqued. I can't do PAD types of exercises and almost never enter challenges or competitions. I love the process of shooting and I love the culling, editing, and processing. And then I'm mostly done with it. I throw stuff up on Flickr because sometimes the feedback (or lack thereof) surprises me in ways I find sort of informative and useful. The only thing I feel qualified to talk about is the technical side of street shooting and my philosophy of it, but even that stuff is so particular to me that I hesitate to impose it on others, who really have to figure it out for themselves anyway. And I've had that discussion so often already, here and elsewhere.

I'm sure I'll jump into discussions from time to time and probably get real involved in them every now and then too. But ultimately I'm better able to talk about gear and technical stuff than art, and I'm losing interest in talking about gear and tech stuff...

-Ray
 
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