How much $ have you spend on your camera, lens, gears, accessories, etc...

Winwin wrote in post #13896542
I've earned a few hundred dollars...but couldn't be bothered by it. I don't care if I don't make a cent. I enjoy this hobby Looking back at some family pictures, I realized that later on, regardless of how much money I have, I couldn't take those same pictures again...

We have them up in a photo frame in our living room. Brings back so many memories everytime I gaze back at the pictures.

And I'm a student- 18 yrs old. All I ever do is work, study, sleep. I don't play any video games, watch TV, party actively unless invited to do so, etc... Taking photos is the only thing I do for fun ...Well I do read in my spare time and enjoy it, but this is funner

Then it is a "winwin" situation!

Sorry but things seem to be getting a little heated , or perhaps its just my old English way<
so I thought I'd post this -- as it's almost true !!
When kicking off a few years ago I wondered , used Nissan 350 or take up photography which surely must be cheaper & more fun . Guess it is cheaper , more fun ? would be if I had the Nissan to cart me round the country, it really boils down to this , IMO , for us normal hard working individuals ,we cant afford all we want !
Besides, I would have never got the Nissan back off the missus

So I should sell all of this off and buy equipment worthy of (live)stock photography? :-/

shoenberg3 wrote in post #13896476
wuzzitoya, you don't need 10K to have a complete kit, especially for what you are shooting (pictures of chickens and stuff).

..I know this wasn't intended to be a joke, but i LOL'd

Hey at least I'm amusing I guess.

wuzzittoya wrote in post #13896809
So I should sell all of this off and buy equipment worthy of (live)stock photography? :-/

Not quite. You can keep all your goodies and enjoy them (because they are indeed nice toys to play with) but just acknowledge that your gear is no longer holding you back (that happened probably around 5K dollars ago) and only your skill as a photographer is.

And also that photography is not about buying newest and whitest gear. That is consumerism, which is fine by itself (you guys keep the economy going!). But it is irritating when people confuse the two.

Well thank you very much for your spanking and attitude adjustment. I guess I should thank you for your brutal biting honesty.

I think the message is: Nice gear is nice, but you do not NEED some of the nice gear, although it makes you happy.

shoenberg3 wrote in post #13896870
Not quite. You can keep all your goodies and enjoy them (because they are indeed nice toys to play with) but just acknowledge that your gear is no longer holding you back (that happened probably around 5K dollars ago) and only your skill as a photographer is.

And also that photography is not about buying newest and whitest gear. That is consumerism, which is fine by itself (you guys keep the economy going!). But it is irritating when people confuse the two.

I certainly don't agree 100% with your posts thats for sure. Sure with a "half decent" body + lens you can work magic, but please don't say that the magic doesn't get more "magical" if you will with a higher end body + lens/glass.

You definitely don't need to spend what "we" have though to get great quality images.

Not sure if you were being sarcastic there. But you do seem like a nice person and I just hate to see people misguided on what photography constitutes.

Winwin wrote in post #13896947
I think the message is: Nice gear is nice, but you do not NEED some of the nice gear, although it makes you happy.

..and with that said, if all he is what he "needs" in life, must lead a pretty boring life.

shoenberg3 wrote in post #13896956
Not sure if you were being sarcastic there. But you do seem like a nice person and I just hate to see people misguided on what photography constitutes.

Not totally sarcastic no, but I am a very nice person .

I just don't agree with the fact that better gear doesn't constitute better images. The photographer will always make a huge difference, but gear can and will restrict you.

So everyone back on topic and enjoy your gear......

328iGuy wrote in post #13896948
I certainly don't agree 100% with your posts thats for sure. Sure with a "half decent" body + lens you can work magic, but please don't say that the magic doesn't get more "magical" if you will with a higher end body + lens/glass.

You definitely don't need to spend what "we" have though to get great quality images.

That's a partially valid point. However, I would argue that if you invested that time and money in buying/researching that excessive gear into actually refining and thinking your photography, the image would have had more magic in the first place.

shoenberg3 wrote in post #13896968
That's a partially valid point. However, I would argue that if you invested that time and money in buying/researching that excessive gear into actually refining and thinking your photography, the image would have had more magic in the first place.

Believe what you will then and enjoy!

328iGuy wrote in post #13896967
Not totally sarcastic no, but I am a very nice person .

I just don't agree with the fact that better gear doesn't constitute better images. The photographer will always make a huge difference, but gear can and will restrict you.

So everyone back on topic and enjoy your gear......

My point was that it has been more than few thousands of dollars ago that her gear stopped restricting her in that kind of photography (at least not in a meaningful way).

Of course, she is going to get much nicer photos with a dSLR than a P&S but that threshold has been passed long ago.