My Expensive Hobby

For a few years now I have embraced photography as my hobby. It is something I truly enjoy, being behind the camera, framing a shot and capturing the world on the other side of the lens, immortalizing that moment in time. I am still very much an amateur, as a matter of fact I haven't even began to walk yet in the world of photography, just an infant trying to learn how to creep. But I have com a long way, both in my skill level and also in the photography equipment I use to get that shot.

I started out with on of those Olympus point and shoot film cameras a few years ago, I can't quite remember the model, but that was my first camera. I wasn't that snap happy back then though, because as you know, film was very expensive and processing was even more expensive. So I took a few photos, mostly at events such as trips, weddings, etc. Then I entered the digital world with my first digital camera, a KODAK CX7330 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA, which was about a little under US$200. It wasn't much, but at the time it was the best thing since sliced bread. I could take as much pictures as I wanted, I could review the photo, I could discard what I didn't want an shoot again, it was great. And so began my affair with photography.

However, after about a year or so, my camera suffered an untimely accident which rendered it useless. This paved the way for me to purchase my next camera. It was an improvement over the first camera, even though it was still a point and shoot. I bought myself the KODAK Z650 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA, which cost me a little over US$300 at the time. With this new camera, my skills improved and my love for photography grew exponentially. Withing a few years I found that I had outgrew my point and shoot and was ;looking for more flexibility to experiment. And so I discovered the Digital Single Reflex Lens (DSLR) cameras. A DSLR was what I needed to take my photography to another level and so I bought my first DSLR, the NIKON D60.

Since the D60, I have been able to experiment more, learn more, improve my skills, my love for photography has grown and of course so have my photography expenses! Since I have bought that Nikon D60 kit which only came with the camera body and a 18-55mm lens, I have found the need for several other accessories. Hmm, let me see how far back financially I have set myself back:

Lowepro Camera Bag
4G Ultra SDHC memory card
UV lens filter
Lens cleaning pen
55-200mm lens
Nikon Spare battery
Tamrac camera bag
SB-600 Speed light

That's the list of things I have acquired since I bought the D60 kit. Totalling all the accessories plus the D60 Kit, I have gone over US$1000, which works out to be about JM$90000. The worse thing is that I still need quite a few more equipment to grow in this hobby. One thing is for sure this is one expensive hobby to take up. But as they say, love makes you do strange things, and that is so true, because I must love photography to be forking out so much money! But I have enjoyed using my photography equipment and I enjoy photography, so it's worth the money. What's the point of life if you can't at least enjoy even a few things? My acquisition of photography equipment has come to a halt for now as I am now tightening my belt, in light of the recent developments. Nonetheless, I will continue to use what I have so far to improve in my photography skills and to continue capturing the people and the world around me. Hopefully one day I will be able to bring in some money from this hobby, then it would be complete. Yes doing something i love and making money from it. Ahhh, some day...

As usual, you can see my photos at: My World My Lens and http://www.flickr.com/photos/stunnerj/