Photography screws with your head....

[Ezookiel]

When I first took up 4wding (and ever since still) I see "tracks" everywhere - actual tracks on far distant hillsides and wonder how I could get to them - as well as potential "tracks" as I'm driving through a simple road cutting, and look at the sloped sides, and think "I could drive up that!"

Now that I've taken a serious jump into photography, my head has been further screwed with, because now I see everything around me: I see much more than I did before, I notice more details, and even more so, I now imagine how I'd go about taking a photo of it - where I'd set up, what angle I'd use, what settings ! ! !
It's so bad, that even just driving down the road, I'm thinking where I'd set up to take a long exposure of the taillights of the cars.
I think it's a mental illness of some sort. Should I seek help to overcome this affliction before I actually DO start taking photos of everything I see? Is there any hope for me?

[ricktas]

Yep, get help and sell your gear cheaply!:D

I do the same thing, driving around thinking how I could frame the scene out the car window. Seriously, it isn't a problem, and the more experience you get as a photographer, the more you will learn to deal with seeing the world differently to most.

[yummymummy]

no, I'm sorry... there is no cure, and no you shouldn't seek a cure.. go with the flow ;) :th3:

[Kym]

Welcome to a higher form of existence !!

One (old) definition of a photographer: you get the latest lingerie catalogue in the post and you browse through it... thinking... 'Ah! I know how they did the lighting in that shot!'

[arthurking83]

LOL! you are the opposite of me.

I took up 4WDing, and then started noticing everything.. every nook cranny and wayside, and just got more and more and more detailed maps . so that I didn't miss out on anything as I aimlessly drove around the country.

Photography subsequently came about, because 9 times out of 9.. i used to think to myself, damned! I would have loved a picture of this weird looking thing, or of that place.

And Kirsty is right.
There is no cure, because there is nothing wrong with you.
You need to find a cure for the other folks that you know that don't think/see/do the same way as you! :D


The other question is, have you discovered OziExplorer and the GDT map set yet? :p

[Xenedis]

I am reminded of the following famous quotation:


A camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.

-- Dorothea Lange

[bushbikie]

There is no cure, however, retail therapy may ease the pain ( more likely transfer it to your wallet :lol:).

[yummymummy]

There is no cure, however, retail therapy may ease the pain ( more likely transfer it to your wallet :lol:).

This is also true... but can lead to another condition, commonly known as " nicelenslustitis" .. good luck trying to cure that one! ;) :lol:

[peterking]

There is no cure :lol2:.

Don't waste your time seeking help :efelant:, there isn't any.

"Use the force Ezookiel." :lol:

I am similarly afflicted only for me the camera caused me to buy the Jeep so I could get to those places to get those shots.

Relax. Breathe deeply and focus on the shot!

[CAP]

Don't listen to the others, I think you should give up photography right away and give you gear to me...:D

[ricktas]

I am less concerned about how photography screws with my head, and more concerned how it screws with my wallet:lol:

[Nikkie]

Absolutely no cure for this one I do the same. But now I have dabbled and fell in love with emotive photography I find myself looking at peoples face's and saying there is a face I would just love to shoot. I see image's all the time even still life that I have also just started to touch on things I need and if I don't have find a way of getting them one way or another even if its just borrowed long enough for me to do my clicking. So nope no cure for it and I am glad because I don't want it cured I want it to keep happening more and more.

[dbax]

Embrace it I say, consider yourself one of the lucky ones that get to see and appreciate your surroundings in a way the unwashed masses ( wink ) don't.
Just try and keep the wallet in the pocket.

[Ezookiel]

There's a huge new arboretum being planted over a massive grassed area a few miles north of where I live, and at the moment there are thousands of brand new plants that have been put in. To protect them from animals eating them, they all have bright red plastic guards around them, so for as far as the eye can see, over hill and dale, and then all the way up to the top of the biggest hill nearby, are row upon row of these bright red (and some areas with really pale pink) vertical plastic tubes that light up when the sun shines through them. I can't help but drive past and try to work out where and what time of day I'm going out there with my camera. I know that there just HAS to be a photo there somewhere. The problem is, the road past it is 100km/h zone, and everyone else is looking at the road and the traffic, and I'm there doing 100km/h and trying to keep one eye on the road, and the other on the best vantage points for a photography trip out there. Photography doesn't just screw with my head, it's going to get me killed ! LOL

[Mark L]

......... Photography doesn't just screw with my head, it's going to get me killed ! LOL
Well CAP got in first, so I hope your will says he gets all your photography gear. :D

[Ezookiel]

Well, my wife sure won't want it.
Alas, my daughter will. She can take a better picture with a phone camera than I can with much better gear, so I'm guessing she'll take it and show my ghost what could have been done with her great eye for composition, and massive artistic streak she has.

[ameerat42]

The foregoing says it all! (I just wanted to say that.)
Sounds pretty n:scrtch:rmal to me. It doesn't matter if your pictures don't quite "make it". That's practice.

[reflect]

Welcome to the "Madness", it just gets worse :scrtch:

[hdn177]

Well, I have the exact same problem, and agree with the desire for the tracks and the want and guess for the better image. I like expensive hobbies:eek:. I was into comp 4wding, I now even manager a particular brand of 4wd store and have spent "HEAPS" on the hobby (and still do):D But if it was not for 4wding I don't think I would have got involved in photography so much. The desire to capture the 4wd events, led to my spending on photography. My wife hates both these topics :angry0: