TP: Your greatest regret in photography - the one

My biggest regret is laziness.

Im a college student, and work full time to put myself through college, and when I have free time I dont make the best of it.

I wish I had gone out, planned more "photography days" whatever. That being said, Im 22, and its not like Im too old to make up for lost time.

Regret increases exponentially with age so I think I should suggest you guys either :

- shut down you computer and get out of the house now !

or,

- buy a macro lens and learn to photograph the stuff in your house !

Gonna take my own advice now...

To think gear comes first than photography itself.

I lost too many time thinking what lenses would fit my needs. But I mean too many TIME. And, after buying, to think my photography would improve just because I have that gear.
Sometimes I think I lost the *magic of art* to become a gear fanatic.

I am another member of the 'Lazy 22' club. I have a box of lenses, a car to transport them with and money for petrol to put in it.

So I sit around the house.

I don't like going places by myself and I'm conscious that anyone I take with me will be bored, even if they tell me to forget about them and take as long as I like. I guess either way is a confidence thing.

stripestripe wrote: My motto: You Buy Cheap - You Buy Twice

Yes, but that is not always a bad thing. There are clearly cases where buying cheap, buying twice is something you are going to regret (lenses, bags would come into mind)

On the other hand, there are a few items where I advice everyone who's asking me advice to buy a cheap one first, because waiting until you can afford the good one means wasting a lot of opportunities (the same as waiting for the camera price to go down). Particularly:
- tripods
- strobes
- photography classes (your $75 community college class now teaches you a lot more than that NYIP class five years from now)

Regards,
Bart

I regret the gap in my photography of a few years that occurred - not sure for what reason actually. In any case I travelled for many years with a camera without which much of what was seen or experienced would otherwise be lost to time.

@ Turerkan

Many times I go out with the camera for the purpose of finding new things to shoot. Once I can see an opportunity for a good picture then it is time to plan and go back. Three years it took to get half decent fall foliage shots at a particular location owing to the weather, light and variation in the seasons from year to year.

Other times, the opportunity is there and gone in moments, no time to set up or contemplate it needs to be shot right now. So now again I always carry a camera so even if I don't get the most excellent shot, I at least stand a chance of capturing the moment.

Young guys hanging around the house, get out there, shoot everything and don't worry about what others think. Enjoy.

I've two things i wish i had done differently -


1) Shooting too fast for too long (as in too many years). Kinda like Brettania's anaology - until recently, it has taken more time to walk across the road than to take the shot.

2) Learning what type of pictures i really want to look at later. I'm still trying to learn this!