Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2017/06/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Phil, we all struggle. I work literally 7 days a week, more than 12 hours each day on average. I won't go into the finance situation as it ain't pretty. However, I do know what poor is. I grew up in HK and your living, bad as it is, frankly would be a lot more than I had. I was born in a shanty town where it was burned down when I was 3 (look up fire in Hong Kong shanty towns in the 50s and 60s) and it went from there. Nevertheless, I apologize if my "poor" choice of words offends. First of all, I was literally asking people that "if they are going to throw things out, or let them sit in the closets until end of days, hey, I can and will use them." As for my photography, yes, I still have some equipment. A lot less Leica than before. I don't make money with photography (I have tried, but I don't have time to do commercial photography and my photos don't sell as arts), however, I do pursue it with all my passion. I bought a 4x5 4 years ago, trading this and that. For the past 3 years, I have been doing personal projects that mean something to me, and fortunately, some patrons, friends, and groups have given me grants and money. You know how I went to Pittsburgh to photograph 60+ sheets on the author's project a month ago? The group paid me $600 to take official photos, which almost covered the plane fare. A friend, whom I never met before, let me stay in her house (for free). I took the bus in every day to go to the convention center, and I ate every single meal for 4 days except one in the free "con suite". I have Patreon patrons that gift me enough to buy some film. As it is, I still have to pay for the equipment shipping plus others. On Sat, Jun 17, 2017 at 2:14 AM, photo.forrest1 at gmail.com < photo.forrest1 at gmail.com> wrote: > Apologies if I've seemed overly sensitive but I have a place I'm coming > from as well. I have struggled as a photographer, not with the craft but > the marketing and opportunity. For 12 years now since my Navy career I've > tried to make a meagre living (or sometimes make anything at all) doing > what I love. Photography, all different aspects of it. I finished a degree > in journalism and In 2012 I wound up homelessly couch surfing, again living > solely by the good grace of friends, while busting my ass in Philly and NYC > just to get a part time position that paid $10.75/hr + X per photo and Y > per word (I forgot the rates but they were LOW.) > I have finally given up on photography for anything other than my own > happy snaps and these last two years of this "transition" have been > horrible on my psyche. I gave up that struggle and am trying to come to > grips with giving up what I have called my identy for a few decades. I > guess my time passed when I was in the Navy and that is that. It was a good > run. > The whole "give me stuff" angle irked me a bit too because I saved up for > 5 months to buy an old wood field camera with a bellows that was swiss > cheese plus a half dozen old riteway holders. Saved up for three more > months to buy a lens and a replacement bellows. Then saved for another > month to buy a 50 sheet box of Arista film in spite of wanting 50 sheets of > TriX that was 3x as much. Maybe I just have more humility than to ask but > I'm very proud of my little kit I've put together over the past year. > My girlfriend and I live in a crappy neighborhood in Philly with some of > the worst rates of the city's heroin and meth ODs. Drug dealers in any > direction, occasional gunfire (weekly,) people along the streets cooking > various meats and veggies to both eat and sell; cooking on creosote treated > wood like old telephone poles and rail ties nonetheless. > We live paycheck to paycheck with just a tiny bit of savings. I'm > beginning grad school soon as is my girlfriend, we're both going to become > therapists. We'll still be low income as students but considering where we > live and how fortunate we are to have what we do, we don't have the > audacity to call ourselves poor. > Sorry to get on a high horse about this but it is a topic near and dear to > me. > > Phil Forrest > > > gallery.leica-users.org/v/philforrest/ > > ------ Original message------ > *From: *Richard Man > *Date: *Sat, Jun 17, 2017 04:45 > *To: *photo.forrest1 at gmail.com; > *Cc: *Leica Users Group; > *Subject:*Re: [Leica] Looking for 8x10 (and 4x5) "throwaways" > > Hmm... obviously I didn't mean to offend. Sorry my enthusiasm get in the > way. > > If people are hung up on the word, yes, in many level, I am not poor. > After all, I do live in where I am. However, I am literally mortgaging our > future for some new product development and there are lots of business and > personal stuff that I am not going to blah about on a forum. > > However, I try not to be mean to people, including sending people in need > money, drove 8 hours to see friends in need for 2 hours, and max out our > credit cards just so that a dying friend can have some good meals. > > But whatever. > > > On Sat, Jun 17, 2017 at 1:19 AM, photo.forrest1 at gmail.com < > photo.forrest1 at gmail.com> wrote: > >> Yeah, I find this just a bit offensive, on a few different levels. >> >> Phil Forrest >> >> gallery.leica-users.org/v/philforrest/ >> >> ------ Original message------ >> *From: *Richard Man >> *Date: *Fri, Jun 16, 2017 21:03 >> *To: *Leica Users Group; >> *Cc: * >> *Subject:*[Leica] Looking for 8x10 (and 4x5) "throwaways" >> >> I am poor, nice people gift me stuff. Now I have a Sinar P2 8x10 >> (Holymother of gods, what a beautiful piece of machine....) So if you any >> 8x10stuff (film, film holders, lens, loupe etc.) that are sitting around, >> Iwill probably take them. Same go with 4x5 stuff...Thanks-- // richard >> http://imagecraft.comBeyond Arduino - When you're ready to get >> serious...JumpStart C Tools for Atmel AVR and Cortex-M, The Better >> Alternative_______________________________________________Leica Users >> Group.See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> > > > -- > // richard http://imagecraft.com > Beyond Arduino - When you're ready to get serious... > JumpStart C Tools for Atmel AVR and Cortex-M, The Better Alternative > -- "Some People Drive, We Are Driven" // richard <http://www.richardmanphoto.com> richardmanphoto on Facebook and Instagram <https://instagram.com/richardmanphoto>