39. And now I'm feeling old seeing all the #s in the 20s above. With age comes wisdom, more money, less time and more aches and pains. Right now, I'm professionally busier than ever in my life, but I try to shoot often. It's my therapeutic escape.
I am in southern Utah and most photographers are old. I go to our local camera club meetings every now and then and everybody has gray hair!
I'm 30. My day job as a lawyer keeps me pretty busy but I take great pains to make time to shoot. I often drive all night and hike in the dark to get to locations and I go for days at a time with little sleep when I am out shooting because I keep a very ambitious shooting schedule when I am out. I can see why it is so difficult for others our age to do it because it really does take a lot of time, money and dedication.
Daniel
I definitely don't think it's about the cost. My other hobby is mountain biking, and there are plenty of young guys with very expensive bikes. I'm leaning towards them not taking time to smell the roses, which if that is the case is a shame.
Most of the younger people I know have cheaper point and shoots. In fact everybody I know has at least one camera in one form or a another, just not serious gear. It's like everybody has an iPod or some such nowadays, but few have quality stereos anymore. I think the proliferation of cheaper, less quality items has made such types of items more available for everybody young and old, but with the skyrocketing cost of living these days has reduced the interest in investing in more expensive versions for those with less disposable income.
23 years old here, and been doing this for a few years now. But I too have noticed that most photographers are mid-30's and up. I guess that gives me a bit of a head start.
roberto1979 wrote:
I was out shooting in Utah this past week and I've come to notice that there is never anyone near my age(30) out shooting. I got to a few spots about 30 minutes before sunrise and there was always a crowd, but most of them were quite a bit older. I'm just curious as to how many of you are younger, and why more young people aren't out enjoying the hobby.
Because we old people need a hobby to keep our minds off our 401k balances and being upside down on the mortgage. Plus I was running marathons at 30.
Im 21, only beaten by a 13 y/o :-D. The only way I could afford my gear was to work 12 hours shifts in a factory / 6 days a week for a whole summer, and save almost every penny i earned. Sure I've added bits since then, but there's no way I could afford the gear I would really like (esp. seeing as i'm volunteering until next august).
I'm 19! And I've collected some nice gear over the past 2 years. I did have to work hard for it though and paid everything for it myself. It's really frustrating not to have the money. I'm really into sports photography and I really really want a 300 f/2.8 so bad, but I simply can't afford it! (Actually a 400 f/2.8, but that's just crazy of course).
I may qualify as the oldest geezer on the forum. I am 75 and heading to Yellowstone this January. I was trained at 19 in the army using a 4x5 Speed Graphic. In Japan, I was wary of that new company selling 35mm film cameras called "Nikon".
