Plan to step away for a while

wt21

Hall of Famer
I've never been one for those "goodbye" threads you see on forum boards from time to time. I am writing this one mainly to hold myself accountable, lol, and create some embarrassment should I break my own plans.

Any rate. It's winter. My GAS runs high this time of year. It's dark in the morning. It's dark at night. This fuels dissatisfaction with my gear. But you know what? No camera looks great at ISO 3200 or 6400! Noise may be better in cameras nowadays, but in low light, colors are all lacking. Everything's grey (or yellow when shooting indoors).

This leads me to endless on-line gear comparisons. Surfing the boards ceaslessly. And really just wasting time. If I was contributing more positively, that'd be one thing, but frankly I've made a couple of negative comments lately. Probably just a bit grumpy, with nothing new to share.

So, I think I'll step away until at least March. Try to take a break from photo boards, and on-line stuff. Honestly, I have a Canon 6D, RX100 and EOS-M. My photographic life is incredibly blessed, so I want to stop thinking about gear for a while, especially with so little to shoot. Time to go try something else for a while.

I'll likely still lurk for a bit, but I'm planning on not posting anything at least until March. Maybe by then I'll have broken some bad internet habits.

Maybe I'll see y'all in the spring.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year, and here's to a wonderful, healthy and blessed 2014 to all my friends on SeriousCompacts. And for the mods -- I hope you guys have an extra helping of holiday cheer, as you've given us a great gift of SC.com for several years now. May that goodness return back to you.

Cheers!
 
wt21;163571 It's winter. My GAS runs high this time of year. It's dark in the morning. It's dark at night. This fuels dissatisfaction with my gear. But you know what? No camera looks great at ISO 3200 or 6400! Noise may be better in cameras nowadays said:
I think many of us fall victim to this come winter - I know I certainly do. Thanks for posting and giving some perspective.
 
Yes, cabin fever happens. But if you think its bad on camera forums, you should see what it's like on bicycling forums! All of those endorphin junkies just dying for a fix that they have trouble getting for 2-3 months of the year. So they start arguing over trivial stuff and taking it all very personally. It's never a bad thing to pull back when you feel the need. OTOH, we all have hobbies and various levels of obsession about them, and sometimes you have to just give into them and let 'em take their course.

I almost never PLAN to take a break, but sometimes I look around and realize that for a couple of months I more or less HAVE been taking one - forum participation way down, photography way down, whatever it is. I've been laid pretty low for a couple of months with a bad back and have only managed a little and sporadic bit of shooting and that'll make a guy grumpy. But it happens and always comes back around... But good luck with however you choose to approach it and I'll still look forward to your participation whether it doesn't happen for a couple of months or a couple of days or a couple of hours... :cool:

-Ray
 
See to my way of thinking it should be about photography not on gear emphasis - admittedly its good to see variety & user reports from those here & I enjoy learning from them but its not the be all

there is light in winter & when there isn't it is a good opportunity to hone your lighting skills & get feed back on them - Btw Dec Day 23 & daylight is now getting longer
 
The January PAD will be re-editing old shots, but even so, I see where you're coming from. I know I go on Facebook sometimes "just to see if my husband messaged me about dinner" and come up for air an hour or two later, so your plan makes perfect sense to me!
Thanks for letting us know so we don't look up one day and say, "Where's wt21? I hope he's OK."

Happy holidays, and I hope to see you back in the Spring!
 
See to my way of thinking it should be about photography not on gear emphasis - admittedly its good to see variety & user reports from those here & I enjoy learning from them but its not the be all

there is light in winter & when there isn't it is a good opportunity to hone your lighting skills & get feed back on them - Btw Dec Day 23 & daylight is now getting longer

In my experience this site has always been as much or more about gear than photography. We have many places to go for whatever we are interested in at the time. Thanks for the reminder that the days begin to get longer now. Love to hear that.
 
Bill, I understand how the Internet can inhale time. I'm thinking of installing a timer on my husband's laptop connection. :D Me, I'm always prudent. :tomato2:

Taking a break is often good for what ails you. Just don't stays away forever.

Merry Christmas, peace, love and good health to you and yours - and see you down the line!
 
Thank you for letting me know that I'm not the only one who feel restless and helpless. ;-)
I feel the urge to buy something yet I know it won't make me a better photographer. So I'm waiting for inspiration. ;-)
Have a great cocooning period and looking forward to "seeing" you in March
 
I too, have not been so enthusiastic about photographing lately, and not entirely happy with my gear. (Winter here has been very color dead.) So, this morning My E-p3 and Pentax-M 50mm, f1.7 went into the mail, to my son in Alaska. He is taking a month long trip to Africa, and needed something a little easier to get Memory cards for. SD vs. CF. So my E-p3 to him, his E-420 and pancake 25mm to me. I've owned this pair before, and it's a bit dated, but a fun combo.

I check in every day, but don't spend much time here. Same at m43.

Enjoy the break! :)
 
I have a similar issue, and absolutely get what you're saying and doing, wt. down here, the temps are soaring and so we are as much restricted, those of us who don't "do" heat, as those in snowy and wintry climes. And the same end effect occurs. GAS. I'm weak though, can't pull back any more than I already have :)
 
I can understand. For me, it's the sheer amount of information available online that I'm finding overwhelming. So much of it and so much of it useless or temporary or uninteresting. I still like this forum though! It has a good mix of conversation about gear and photos and of course nice people. I'm always inspired by the people and conversations here to play nice and be friendly and helpful. Other forums we all know - cough, cough - inspire less disciplined behavior.

Where I'm backing down is in purchasing any new gear. 2013 was a big year for me and I found some great new tools and I've been using them as much as I can. But I have all I really need now and I'm tapped out. Time to slow down. That said, if Ricoh follows up the GR with anything new I'll pay attention to that.

I can understand the lack of ability to get out and take pictures!!! That can be frustrating and reading online can fill that void, but it often ends up empty again quickly. I find that studying photobooks is more pleasurable and often more valuable. The investment in new ones can be low through local libraries or by buying used books. The other alternative to taking pictures that is on my list is to make simple, short photobooks with the ones I already have. I've usually stressed about making photobooks, taking it too seriously. But I've seen some that are simple small books made almost from folded paper where folks assembled only a few images around a theme or outing or trip or whatnot. I'd like to do that too.

Good luck to you! But don't go away for long!
 
But if you think its bad on camera forums, you should see what it's like on bicycling forums!

Ha! So very true! While I certainly don't enjoy being relegated to the trainer over the winter, I at least find it therapeutic to clean and rebuild all my bikes as needed over the colder months so that they're all ready to go come spring.
 
Well, sorry to see you step away -- I've enjoyed the interactions here. But only you know what's best for you and heck, if it doesn't suit you then you can always return.

Have a great Christmas/Holiday Season and see you in the spring if not sooner.
 
GAS is not a disease.

GAS is not a medically diagnosable condition.

GAS is just an acronym created to justify an action that we feel guilty about.

The only "cure" for GAS is to not buy camera gear unless you really, really want it, or having the knowledge/confidence that the gear you currently have is "good enough" for your purposes.

...but that aside,

Merry Christmas! Come back soon!
 
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