Monday, August 9, 2010

Forums and why I'm leaving all of them

There are any number of forums out there for internet using photographers to indulge in and I've decided to drop out of all of them. Why?

Because I'm an argument addict. I cant help myself, I have to put my 2 cents into every argument and this stops me thinking clearly, forming whole thoughts and articulating my ideas even remotely sensibly. I have tried to step way from the gear oriented talk and focus on the images but good intentions are often swamped by realities and before I know it I'm feeding the gear talk addiction. So thats it, I'm getting out. I say 'getting' because right now I'm trying going cold turkey and making sure I can survive before actually cancelling my membership.

So what am I hoping to achieve by getting away from compulsive forum sponsored gear talk? Really I'm hoping for three things, one immediate, one medium term, one longer lasting acting:

The first, immediate, effect I'm hoping for is that by passing on participating on every petty little speculative debate on the past, present and future I'll spend less time, thinking more about far reaching issues and actually keep my blogs running.

The medium term effect I'm hoping for is that by staying away from the froth and bubble of camera talk I will focus more on images. I suspect this is the modern photographers lament, or perhaps the modern enthusiastic amateurs lament, and that I am just another voice in the chorus but so be it, I'll add my voice.

Finally, in the longer term I simply hope to recapture the wonderful, positive feelings I had when I started this journey into photography. I'm no Sony fanboy, I shoot Sony, I hope for the best but I am also painfully aware of the limitations of the system and the errors Sony has made along the way. However, I recently posted on one forum that I felt it was becoming a "sinkhole of negativity" and that has rubbed off on me. So thats it, I'm out.
I dont advocate others to follow my lead. I cant know if you share my problem and therefore whether my fix is your fix. But I'll keep you tuned on how my withdrawal goes.

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