How expensive is your hobby?

July 30, 2006

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I swear, being a geek has its downsides. You tend to spend a lot for your hobbies. I recently caught the photography bug after buying the 350D I’ve been wanting since December.

hondo portrait.JPG

After being able to save for it, I went ahead and bought several accessories such as a Velbon tripod, a Sumdex camera bag, and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. The last item is a portrait lens known as the “nifty fifty” which allows you to take really great portraits at an affordable price as seen in this really cute portrait of my doggie.

I’ve totalled my expenses for this new ~~cash black hole~~ hobby and the opportunity costs were basically a trip to Australia or a couple of trips to Singapore, Hong Kong, or Malaysia. Gawd. What next? I’ve to stop myself.

The only way I can justify spending more on photography is if I turn it into a profession, thus making the hobby pay for itself. I’ve done this for my iBook, which has been paid off many months ago by writing.

I used to have bug collecting as a hobby. Argh. Talk about spending. What about you? How expensive or cheap are your hobbies?

Comments

15 responses to “How expensive is your hobby?”

July 31, 2006

mitch

add photography to ur side jobs then! one day lang na raket, ok ka na! 🙂

see, this guy i met at landco (and coincidentally, has become my sis’ friend, too). i luuuuv his pics (and he makes his hobby his living. lucky bastard)
http://jakee.blogspot.com/

if I were to have a hobby — traveling!!

p.s. hondo looking lovable. i miss my dog 🙁
July 31, 2006

Jayvee

how did you meet jake in landco? hello, kilala ko din sya noh!
July 31, 2006

chris

hahaha! you’ve been infected by GAS! gear acquisition syndrome!

dahan-dahan! i suffered the same GAS when i acquired my 350D last year. happy shooting!
August 1, 2006

mitch

sorrrrrrry! 😛

he was with the stopover magazine pips, we went to both LF projects with them (i think). cool guy. luuuuv his gadgets.
August 1, 2006

minami

haha! well, my hobby is less expensive than yours, but considering how frequent it happens and how anal-retentive some of my friends and i are about detail, we can spend as much as 5k on a costume. it can go up to 10k because of certain accessories. wigs, especially, are expensive. short wigs in divisoria cost about a thousand. the really long ones (knee-length wigs) have to be bought on the internet. 😛
August 3, 2006

driver ng bayan

photography can be a black hole, or a pretty good source of income. and that nifty fifty is nice.
August 3, 2006

Jayvee

should i get a flash and call it quits for the next several months? 😀
August 3, 2006

Jayvee

@chris – we need to shoot soon! 😀
August 3, 2006

markku

Yes you need a flash. And when you read strobist you’ll want to learn shooting with a flash even more. 🙂
August 4, 2006

Rico

C’mon markku, don’t tempt my friend1 😛 He’s vigorously stated “enough” in front of me many times; don’t wanna see him renege on that.
August 5, 2006

driver ng bayan

markku is right. i’ve been itching to get my hands on a flash, thanks in part to strobist. i’ve got other things to take care of first though.

first off though, figure out what you’ll be shooting most of the time. i want a better lens ‘coz i’ll be shooting sports most of the time.

then again, i still want the flash for portraits and product shots.
August 6, 2006

chris

jayvee, anton’s organizing a culinary tour of pampanga… would that qualify for a good photo ops? i might go, ofcourse with my 350D!
August 6, 2006

markku

chris, pag wala akong naka-sked na, sama ako sa inyo! 🙂
August 8, 2006

Rico

Hey Jayvs, you might wanna try out this . It talks about taking great pictures of fireworks.
August 8, 2006

Rico

Sori for previous post, wrong use of tags.

Hey Jayvs, you might wanna try out this link. It talks about taking great pictures of fireworks.