Where's tikka gone?

[tikkathreebarrel]

Hi guys, I need to keep faith by checking in here today.
I keep this forum open in my intenet browser but it must be a month since I've even had a skim read, let alone sent you a post.

So where've I been? Well back in February my job relocated to my home town which created two issues for me. Firstly I'm no longer in the own where I get my 35mm film processed. Oh sure they have an agent in this town but it lacks the immediacy, it lacks the contact with the man who develops my film and his little team of jobbing pro photographers and has been replaced by a trip into a small town family-run jeweller/fancy goods/optical goods/swatch/camera outlet where handing a simple "B&W dev and cd and return the cassette please" request takes more than five minutes.
Also I've got a complete change of built environment which I've been struggling to find any creative interest in. That sounds pompous doesn't it? Well I've not been motivated to take a camera to work with me but have done a tiny, tiny bit of phone'cam stuff (sorry guys!).

This has made me think about the money I have invested in Mamiya 645 kit which isn't being used, particularly as I've had my last 4 or 5 120 films dev'd straight to CD. Right now I don't think I take a good MF photograph and I begrudge the costs involved in processing. Oh I know that competence grows out of what boat racers refer to as "time on the water, boy". But I've even been thinking about selling it all off.

Digital? Well my LX3 and mobile phone cameras have been a bit "go to" in the last few weeks and with a foreign holiday coming up with luggage space at a premium I'm already planning which digital kit to carry.

I have a few bob tied up in film 120 and 35mm, in Olympus OM System kit and Mamiya 645.

Can I get my mojo back? Do I even want to? I really don't know but let's see what this week and next brings...

 

[Asha]

Welcome back Tikka!

Can you get your mojo back ?.......Yes I believe you can but only if you want it to return.

Not unlike yourself i have seen / and am continuing to see a change in personal circumstances that means i have barely shown activity on here nor been out shooting other than a handful of digi shots which have given me very little satisfaction.

Understand fully your thoughts over the money with kit sat "doing nothing" BUT if you sell, are you going to regret??
I personally have no option to sell gear to reduce a large collection simply for practical purposes.
Some other gear may have to be moved on to raise some much needed funds but none of it is going because it's not going to be used.
If never to use again is definetly the case for you, then yes, let it go but while ever you have a gut feeling that you will miss the definitive mirror clunk of the Mamiya and the use of MF, then I suggest that you hold back for the moment.....a week or two really isn't a long time tbh, come the summer are you going to wish you still had what you sold??
So much easier to reconsider and sell at a later date than to find a replacement to the kit that you already possess.

Just my thoughts....probably a load of ****** and besides i'm most likely going to have some serious regrets myself!

Never mind, life is full of decissions, not always easy ones. Kind of strange how we become so "attached" to our kit though.

 

[steveo_mcg]

I feel your pain mate. I've moved from the center of Edinburgh, moments from the castle, where there is always something to point a camera at, to purgatory a commercial estate on the edge of civilization and I've tried but there really isn't anything for miles. So I've taken to leaving the camera at home now, I have missed some cracking sunsets and a nice fog, instead concentrating on making time at the weekend to go out. That usually involves getting up before the kids and being back to do family stuff but really all I'm missing is a lie in and the breakfast fight.

I think entering the POTY, crushing as it maybe, has helped force me to use my time better and use my camera gear.

Now if someone can help me find my cycling mojo that would be great. Another side effect of purgatory.

Much as I wouldn't sell my bikes just because I've barely used them in 6 months I wouldn't make any rash decisions about my camera gear.

 

[ChrisR]

Hey, tikka, sorry you're at a low. Shame you couldn't make it to the Suffolk meet last Saturday, which was fun. I know what you mean about local environment not helping; despite living in an interesting part of the world, too often I find it uninspiring. I've found it doesn't take long if I go out with a camera and a few hours on my own, though.

Low points come, and better times come. If the gear you have is gear you've loved, that supported your inspiration in the past, then it seems unwise to dump it when you're down. My suggestion, like the others, is to hang on to the core part of it, unless you really need the money.

There are people though, some here on F&C, who get inspiration back from changing gear. So that path might work as well.

You mention that the experience of handing in your B&W film to uninterested agents is part of the problem. Have you thought of setting up to dev and scan your own? I'm warming to the idea myself, and it could support some inspiration, or at least motivation to shoot off a test film or two?

 

[excalibur2]

What's the hurry, as the way I look at it is:- there are background hobbies and temporary hobbies......a background hobby will stay with you for your rest of your life, so if film is in your blood then you would come back to it sometime and if you don't need the money keep the camera equipment.

 

[tikkathreebarrel]

Hey, tikka, sorry you're at a low. Shame you couldn't make it to the Suffolk meet last Saturday, which was fun. I know what you mean about local environment not helping; despite living in an interesting part of the world, too often I find it uninspiring. I've found it doesn't take long if I go out with a camera and a few hours on my own, though.

Low points come, and better times come. If the gear you have is gear you've loved, that supported your inspiration in the past, then it seems unwise to dump it when you're down. My suggestion, like the others, is to hang on to the core part of it, unless you really need the money.

There are people though, some here on F&C, who get inspiration back from changing gear. So that path might work as well.

You mention that the experience of handing in your B&W film to uninterested agents is part of the problem. Have you thought of setting up to dev and scan your own? I'm warming to the idea myself, and it could support some inspiration, or at least motivation to shoot off a test film or two?

Home dev? Thought about it long time ago and acknowledged that I have neither time nor inclination. Shortage of hobbies is not my problem but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[tikkathreebarrel]

Guys, thanks for the support and encouragement.

Do I need to free up funds? Well I don't need to sell my MF gear but if I did the money would go into the bank.

With MF I really enjoy the ergonomics of WLF but of course that is unmetered so means that I need to use a light meter of some kind and/or learn what works. THat being so I much prefer the old metal 645 body which I have set up with crank and WLF to the polymer body 645 which I have set up with battery grip/power wind and metered eye-level viewer.

Maybe I'll go WLF for a while...