[EnglishBob]

We all have one thing in common, Photography!

What other hobbies do we all have? Mine has been web design for a long time, as well as hiking before i moved to the US. Well 3 weeks ago I started a enw one, Golf. After 3 sessions at the Driving range and over 550 balls hit I am beginning to realise just how hard this sport is, as well as how much fun!

What else do you like to do when not pointing your camera?

[matthew]

I've had a lot of hobbies over the years, and I still have most of the gear from each.

In my youth, I was quite enthusiastic about radio controlled cars, and then got into RC sailplanes. I made a half-decent pilot for them, too, but the weather in Toronto isn't the most conducive. My summers in California was where I learned.

In my mid to late teens, I took up archery, and still have my crossbow. (It's packed in a trunk that I'm using as a table while I write this.) I was never interested in hunting, though, and used it only for target practice. I used to live near a public archery range, but moved away at the end of high school.

When I had moved farther out of the city, I took up cycling out of self-defense. (I don't drive.) This is perhaps my longest-running hobby, having been active for about ten years. I think I'm going to be selling my bikes soon, though; I haven't ridden in a couple of years and I just don't look as good in spandex as I used to.

I bought the material and books to build a model train set after I bought my first house. A series of never-ending moves thwarted my plans to build a big layout, but now I'm thinking of a small 2x4' N-scale layout for the coffee table. This was something my father and I did together (he did, I watched) when I was a child, and it's something I'd like to get back to.

I have a long-standing ambition to learn to paddle, and love kayaks. I'm going to be pretty busy again this coming summer, but learning the basics of kayaking is an important goal of mine. If I enjoy it, and my life circumstances are suitable, I may look to get a boat next year.

I also have a radio-controlled sailboat, but nowhere to sail it. It may also get sold soon, and if I really miss it, I can buy one that's better suited for my transportation options. More likely I'll just become a photographer groupie at the model sailing club.

I also spend a lot of time on the internet...

[Pat]

My other interest is in family history which evolved into providing a website for others whose families settled in the Hunter Valley in NSW Australia. It’s a one stop ‘shop’ for information about the Hunter and there is also a Forum for discussion. There is also a photo gallery, I use Coppermine.

The website has been running for about 10 years and attracts around 125,000 hits a month. I learnt html from books, however my skills are falling behind modern website design. MySQL and a smattering of PHP was a nightmare to learn but easy once it was mastered.

Am also about to publish a book/CD, ‘The Pre 1900 Hunter Valley Pioneer Directory’ for which I am now receiving submissions from other descendants of pioneers of the Hunter. The closing date of submissions is the end of September ’07 so think I will be pretty busy after that date.

I have visited most of the towns in the Hunter and taken photographs of places of interest to add interest to the website – that’s when my interest in photography began. BTW the photographs are not good, I need to do it all again ....sigh!

The website is at http://www.huntervalleygenealogy.com if you would like to visit and comment.

[Keith Alan]

NScale model trains, I collect and restore WWII US rifles, build and fly high power model rockets--the really BIG ones, I collect die-cast model cars--Shelby Cobras and Olds 442s only these days.
Other hobbies are cooking, hiking, target shooting, raising my own breed of fancy guppies, and drinking beer.

[Wedding Shooter]

This thread needs some pictures of all these cool collections - especially some of those rockets Keith

For myself - I love reading. I used to draw - but that has gone by the way with photography taking over that time. In terms of collecting stuff - does camera gear count?

Cheers

[Russt]

I like the outdoors camping, hiking, fishing boating and riding my mountain bike

I have a good sense fo humor and am looking for a........

opps wrong site.............

I lied I have a poor sense humor

[navis01]

Some interesting past times going on here. You mean you have time for other things apart from work, life and photography???

I agree we need to see some pictures of big rockets, spandex and old radio controlled objects.

For me I am in to making and listening to music, clubbing, exercising, hiking, playing Nintendo WII and spend way, way too much time on the Internet, seeing as I do it for my job, and my second job and then also most of my other hobbies (making music, coding, design etc). Geez sounds kinda sad when it's written out. I must get out more....

[NT73]

Matthew....If you are learning to paddle, then I should keep the spandex and the ice hockey hat, as from what I have seen it is a rather wet hobby. If you think you look good, don't worry about what anyone else thinks.

[matthew]

NT, I think you're on the right track. There's a reason why I'm waiting for the water to warm up before I take any classes!

(I'm still not sure about the spandex...)

Getting ready for kayak season, I've already bought a half-dozen books, compasses, chart, dive knife... and a submersible camera. I expect to spend a lot of time up-side down.

[NT73]

Hobbies. Mmhh. I have always been mechanically minded, and also like maiking things with my hands.
So I suppose first 'hobby' was meccano then sort of creative crafts. Bought ones, not my own inventions I might add. An example 'Micromodels' Like a pack of printed postcards which you cut out and make into such as railway engines/carriages/ houses/ aeroplanes and ships. I made a model of the Cutty Sark (the one that has just caught fire in London) with sails of tissue paper (like cigarette papers) and moulded round a hot spoon. aproximately 100mm long with a few decks. As the money started to increase I went on to model aircraft, free flight first and then with a little diesel engine, followed by a 'Jetex' solid fuel pellet jet engine. Cycling. Girls for a while, and then Photography in the services. (More of a job than a hobby, but the ground work was there.) Then came the guitar and the bass. Bear in mind that this was in the days of Lonnie Donegan and Charlie Gracie. If you had a guitar, you were famous locally without needing to be able to play it. More girls. It continued from then to the point where my deafness became too much. I mean if you play by ear and you can't hear yourself let alone the rest of the band ...... Somewhere in the middle of the band jobs I took up flying. Got a license and flew Cessnas and Pipers for 15 years which was fun, This was around the time my deafness was minor. Kite flying followed and the camping came into its own as a cheap alternative to hotels. Windsurfing and sailing on holiday could be classed as hobbies. The early PC's when I was pushing numbers into memory locations, to make little programs which ran in page 6 on an Atari. ( I wanted to know what made it tick, but progress passed me.)
Motor bikes and cars. My first bike was a 1938 P&M panther 350cc and my first car was an Isetta bubble car. LOL I blew three engines on that.
Then a Ford anglia. My latest is a 2 1/2 yr old Vauxhall/Opel Astra Estate.
Golf for a few years. Knitting, Crochet, Diy. (Made kitchen units and fitted wardrobe units which are still in use.) Maybe a bit dated now. Oh, I'll give up now while I am winning.

[EnglishBob]

Well the similar topics thread brings us this:-

http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=786

Seems Jules asked this same question a couple of years back...and I responded LOL. Forgot all about it.

[Don Schaeffer]

I'm a poet and a bit of an artist--cheap equipment. I also love to walk as far as I can (carrying my camera of course).

[Pat]

I expect to spend a lot of time up-side down.

That's normal for us here!

[shuttertalk]

Interesting that a few of you maintain sites of your own..

Mine would have to be reading, playing music (guitar, keys, drums, etc), and a moderate dose of TV and computer games occasionally. Used to play basketball, but that's long gone and now replaced with the gym.

Pat - that Hunter Valley project sounds quite interesting - do let me know when it's published. I would be greatly interested in getting a copy...

[Banded Drake]

i really dont have to many hobbies right now except photography . Although i love to hunt and fish too , there were times before photos that all i did was hunt and fish, then i found that it was the love of being outdoors that kept me comeing back . I started shooting pics because of hunting and fishing , i really wanted to be able to share the great things that i saw out on the water . As a kid i loved volleyball , baseball , and skimboarding , and GIRLS ... I grew up on the beaches of Florida so i spent a lot of time in the water ( but i dont think that was a hobbie ) .
I dont have many other hobbies , i do love to canoe around the swamps here , but i dont get much time to do that anymore .

........ Shawn

[Pat]

. As a kid i loved volleyball , baseball , and skimboarding , and GIRLS ... I grew up on the beaches of Florida so i spent a lot of time in the water

This struck a note for me, I grew up on Bronte Beach (Sydney) spent as much time as poss on surfing, tennis, also loved dancing - and I also liked BOYS at that time.

Still live near a beach and husband and I walk along it nearly every day.