Is photography fun?

Yes, overall I enjoy it but there are many, many times when I wouldn't say it was fun. Not everything has to be fun in life though does it, it is nice if it was but I have to do all sorts of things that are no fun at all.
It helps to be a bit of a self flagellationist...
 
But with stuff you do as a hobby... overall, you probably enjoy it. No one voluntarily does stuff they don't enjoy. Not everything in life is fun, no... but we're talking about things we voluntarily decide to do.
 
just a hobby for me, so usually having fun when i'm doing it. hth mike. i drive a truck for a living and enjoy that too if i stopped liking it i'd quit!!!!
 
StephenM said:
For the satisfaction and the pleasure that comes when you've achieved it? Like learning a language, or learning anything that stretches you. I don't find it fun learning word lists, declensions and conjugations; but I do find it fun being able to understand (however imperfectly) a Latin or Greek text.

Same with photography. I've attempted to learn a lot of things that frankly bored me to tears (figuratively) in the learning but have paid dividends in the subsequent application.

So, for me, photography isn't always fun - there are parts I don't enjoy doing or learning - but for me they are necessary to go through to reach the enjoyable bits. Without them, the pleasure would be diminished.
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Fair point. but as I am one of those people who actually enjoys the learning process as well as the act of putting that learning in to practice so I would classify it all as ' fun '
I am also the sort of person that has managed to avoid learning a foreign language as a hobby :) well apart from ' une Bière à la pression si vous plait "
 
Surely no one does anything they don't enjoy unless there is some motivation. In that case the reward or end product is the enjoyable motivation that justifies undertaking the activity.

But why would you undertake any activity you didn't enjoy if there wasn't an enjoyable motivation for it?
 
I just bought a nice canon AE-1 on a whim and so have been looking into all things film and I have to say that yes, it now looks as if my photography will be fun. Digital has p***ed me off from day one, so many settings, so many menues so many... everything. Not to mention poxy photoshop. How can digital be fun, everything is out of date as soon as its out of the box, might be fun for the sellers but the bloke buying the gear is just a confused sheep herded from one upgrade to another. I am done with dslr cameras and pp except for my product stuff but even then I will have a go at that with film too.

For the first time since i started, I feel that I can master photography and not some marketing upgrade nonsence that I don't understand. No hobby should be so complex as ours is, or expensive. I bet I can get better pictures with the dozen or so film cameras I am bound to buy than I have out of my 1000D, 5D, 50D.

Seriously, for me, you can stick all things digital as a means of having fun! just makes me feel thick and stupid which I most certainly am not.:)
 
ernesto said:
Loads of people voluntarily do stuff they don't enjoy, but get your point.
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Nope. They volunteer for things that may not be enjoyable, but they enjoy volunteering.

No one does anything without motivation and reward unless it's vital for survival.
 
Pookeyhead said:
No one does anything without motivation and reward unless it's vital for survival.
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I would agree with that statement, but the motivation doesn't have to be enjoyment, though often is.
 
Bythesea said:
I would agree with that statement, but the motivation doesn't have to be enjoyment, though often is.
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Not it doesn't... but it has to be a reward... a goal... and measurable explanation for doing it.
 
So if I don't put my bins out I die?
If I don't mow the law I die?

Where is the goal or the reward in either of those activities? I do them because I feel they need to be done but am no motivated about it nor do I get a reward from it.

Sometimes we just do things because they need to be done. Realise this shouldn't apply to hobbies and has nothing to do with whether photography is fun or not...
 
ernesto said:
So if I don't put my bins out I die?
If I don't mow the law I die?

Where is the goal or the reward in either of those activities? I do them because I feel they need to be done but am no motivated about it nor do I get a reward from it.

Sometimes we just do things because they need to be done. Realise this shouldn't apply to hobbies and has nothing to do with whether photography is fun or not...
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The reward for putting the bins out is that you dont have a house full of rubbish/rats. The reward for mowing the lawn is the satisfaction that it looks so much better than if you had a messy jungle outside your house.
 
The 'fun' element of photography for me is the need to get out there and do something/think differently to my normal day. Plenty of times I've set myself a challenge based around photography that I just wouldn't do without a camera.

For example, RHS Wisley has a series of early morning openings for 'togs during the Spring to Autumn months, which made me think about a simple series of shots of the same view from the same position over the months to see how the gardens change.

'Fun'? Possibly. Enjoyable? Yes! Would I be up early on Saturday mornings and at Wisley by 8 otherwise? No!
 
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ernesto said:
So if I don't put my bins out I die?
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Not immediately... but I'm sure you'll contract something that will finish you off once you're sitting, eating and sleeping in rotting garbage after a while.


ernesto said:
If I don't mow the law I die?
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Now you're just being silly :) No.. you won't, but it's something you still have to do whether you enjoy it or not... and if you genuinely hate it enough, you can always pay someone to do it.


ernesto said:
Where is the goal or the reward in either of those activities?
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A clean house, and a nice lawn?


ernesto said:
I do them because I feel they need to be done but am no motivated about it nor do I get a reward from it.
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..but it's not a hobby either... just something you have to do if you want to live in a house that doesn't get your neighbours calling in the environmental health people :)


ernesto said:
Sometimes we just do things because they need to be done. Realise this shouldn't apply to hobbies and has nothing to do with whether photography is fun or not...
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Exactly.. this doesn't relate to hobbies. If anyone feels they HAVE to do something and don't enjoy it, then it can't possibly be a hobby.
 
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