But Not Always

My Hobby

Sometimes in life, what else you want to do will cause you a problem. Good day everyone. Before I start this story, I want to introduce myself to you. I am Jhun Melchor a hobbyist photographer. I have been in the field of photography for a long time. It is one of my favorite hobbies that help me financially because I can use my talent in photography to earn money. I am a freelance photographer at events, and even here in my house, I also receive rush id photo service and printing. I also like to participate in photo contests. I have already experienced winning twice as a second placer. Ever since I was young, I have loved cameras. But because our lives are so simple, we cannot afford to buy a camera.

My First Kodak Camera in the 1980s

And because of my desire to own a camera, I saved money little by little until I got my first Kodak camera in the 1980s, which was analog. It still uses film, and you have to save on pressing the camera trigger because the most shots you can buy are only 36 shots. And you also will not immediately see the photos because you still need to print them.

My First Camera upgrade

And when the digital camera became popular but still uses film, I sold my first camera to buy a new one, a Fuji Camera. It is just digital on the buttons, but unlike the latest cameras, which are digital and have LCD screens where you can see the results on the camera itself.

My First And Second DSLR Cameras

When I got married and started a family, my wife was able to go abroad as a domestic helper. She bought me a DSLR camera. And that was where my passion for photography and buying more accessories for my new camera came out. I was able to buy another model of camera and accessories with my earnings due to my efforts as an event photographer and other businesses in that I earned money.

A Gift From High School Batch'81

And when one of my cameras broke, my batchmates in high school gave me a second-hand, slightly used camera bought from a priest friend.

 The Main Topic.

Why did I say that my hobby makes me happy but not always? Because first of all, if you want the pictures you take to be even more beautiful, you will invest in expensive equipment such as lenses and other accessories. Most people know that the prices of camera accessories or camera lenses are too expensive. So, the next problem will come because you want to buy other camera equipment, you will forced to borrow money because you do not want to be bored to save money for a long time. And if you only owe the money to buy the equipment, probably the next thing there is your bill every month. And the next problem is if you are short on budget to pay the bills. During those due dates, you endured paying the bills for expensive equipment.

Then one day, a colleague in a group would borrow it and then would not be returned it immediately for several months. The worse, you will not get it back right away because you will still be embarrassed to ask this person if you need your camera lens back. The only reason what I didn't like from this person was we met very often, but there are no words that he wouldn't be able to return my equipment because he would still be using it. As the owner, you will lose patience because the borrower doesn't care if I will use it, or even he tells me that he won't return my equipment in the meantime. I just thought of telling him that I would sell the lens he borrowed so that I could get it back. But he became interested. He bought my lens on an installments basis and would only pay when he had money. So it also took a long time before he completed the payment. Then suddenly, you will notice be removed from a "church" facebook page because you have only been not active in one of the events once. I have been removed from the page by this person without any notice or warning. Most of my contents on the page has been deleted. The group page I mentioned is not his personal page. We are both social media ministry admins/photographers and he is our leader. We just do that to serve the church. I quit the position because of what happened. It's hard to tell the whole story because it's too long and complicated. I know you got the reason why. I'm not a stingy colleague. I only care for my equipment because it's not like a saw or a hammer that can use and abused as much as you want. That's it, guys. Thank you very much for reading.