Hobbies and Interests

[nudge+]

My "biggest" hobbies by far are photography (film) and astronomy. During the lockdowns, I took the next step by combining the two and started with astrophotography, at this point using other people's equipment, but I've decided to properly invest into it and get my own setup once I finally have a permanent place to stay. 

Another thing I took up in those last 18 months is hiking. Rediscovered it, more like, as it's something I did a lot in my teenage years, but then stopped for whatever reason. Especially interested in natural landscapes, historical sites and man-made abandoned places.

Also learned the basics of programming, always was interested in it but never actually committed to learning it before. At this point, I'm not as advanced as I'd like to be, but I'm comfortable enough to use it at work now, and I recently enrolled in a programme for learning the basics of artificial intelligence. It's something I'm very interested in, so I hope to pursue that in the future.

As for interests, motorsports and spaceflight are the main ones that take a lot of my time. I would like to make both a proper hobby instead of just an interest, so have joined a few clubs/societies of the like-minded people in the last few years.

Other things I like to do are reading, birdwatching, botany/wildlife watching and IDing, citizen science, cycling, model building (too seldom, unfortunately).

 

[Inverted]

On a day-to-day basis my easiest and most frequent ways of relaxing are reading and playing Football Manager.

When I have a bit more time I like to play guitar and piano. On the weekends I like to cook and go for hikes around the nearby hills.

[Toinho]

On 31/07/2021 at 20:16, nudge said:

My "biggest" hobbies by far are photography (film) and astronomy. During the lockdowns, I took the next step by combining the two and started with astrophotography, at this point using other people's equipment, but I've decided to properly invest into it and get my own setup once I finally have a permanent place to stay. 

Another thing I took up in those last 18 months is hiking. Rediscovered it, more like, as it's something I did a lot in my teenage years, but then stopped for whatever reason. Especially interested in natural landscapes, historical sites and man-made abandoned places.

Also learned the basics of programming, always was interested in it but never actually committed to learning it before. At this point, I'm not as advanced as I'd like to be, but I'm comfortable enough to use it at work now, and I recently enrolled in a programme for learning the basics of artificial intelligence. It's something I'm very interested in, so I hope to pursue that in the future.

As for interests, motorsports and spaceflight are the main ones that take a lot of my time. I would like to make both a proper hobby instead of just an interest, so have joined a few clubs/societies of the like-minded people in the last few years.

Other things I like to do are reading, birdwatching, botany/wildlife watching and IDing, citizen science, cycling, model building (too seldom, unfortunately).

 

I’ve always wanted to “get into” photography. I honestly think I can take a good picture (I think about angles and lighting)  know nothing around using a nice camera if that makes sense. Where is a good place to begin? Camera etc? Learning how to edit? 

[Eco]

9 minutes ago, Toinho said:

I’ve always wanted to “get into” photography. I honestly think I can take a good picture (I think about angles and lighting)  know nothing around using a nice camera if that makes sense. Where is a good place to begin? Camera etc? Learning how to edit? 

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but my brother-in-law is amazing at photography and editing, and for his camera, I know he bought a middle of the road camera, and then he rents different lens depending on the occasion. This allows him to try out and experiment, and he's told me a couple of times that there is significantly more value in the lens than the actual camera. 

[nudge+]

18 minutes ago, Toinho said:

I’ve always wanted to “get into” photography. I honestly think I can take a good picture (I think about angles and lighting)  know nothing around using a nice camera if that makes sense. Where is a good place to begin? Camera etc? Learning how to edit? 

The most important thing to start with in photography is  understanding aperture, shutter speed, ISO and the relationship between them - regardless if you choose film or digital. Plenty of free online resources, no need to buy expensive books. I wouldn't worry much about camera, either. It's just a tool, and as long as you understand the basic principles mentioned above and "have an eye" for composition, you'll learn using any camera fast. From there on, it's all about practice and improving. You'll learn as you go, as you'll definitely see when your knowledge isn't sufficient for some specific situation, and you'll learn from that. Then you'll discover and start using additional functions of your camera, and find new ways to make your photos better. It's all about light and it's properties, in the end. As for editing, I'm not that much into it, as I'm a bit old school and prefer film. Either way, l find Lightroom by far the best software for PC, and Snapseed is great for editing on Android. 

One piece of advice I'd give for someone getting into photography - don't waste your money on the newest, most expensive camera body and invest into good quality lenses instead. They make a world of difference.

[JoshBRFC+]

Snooker is a big hobbie. At my second home private room. One of the lads is my Best manc supporting cunt mate. 

[Tommy]

Let's see. I love walking/hiking. On a day off 20-30 km's are normal for me. Would love to go hiking properly one day. Like on one of those trails where you can hike for weeks. I just love being outside and being close to nature. I also quite enjoy observing other people. I can't block out noises like other people do, so I hear every conversation that is going around me in a big radius. There's always some amusing stuff to hear. I love cooking and nowadays also creating my own recipes. I love learning about countries and cultures. I like playing darts, football. Used to play hockey back in the day. Table tennis is another thing I used to do a lot when I was younger. Wouldn't mind getting back into it. I like taking pictures of beautiful things I see, but I wouldn't call it "photography". I do enjoy reading, although I have been terrible at maintaining that in the last few years. Oh and I love watching Quiz Shows. 

[Spike]

I started brewing beer and painting recently

[Spike]

3 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Let's see. I love walking/hiking. On a day off 20-30 km's are normal for me. Would love to go hiking properly one day. Like on one of those trails where you can hike for weeks. I just love being outside and being close to nature. I also quite enjoy observing other people. I can't block out noises like other people do, so I hear every conversation that is going around me in a big radius. There's always some amusing stuff to hear. I love cooking and nowadays also creating my own recipes. I love learning about countries and cultures. I like playing darts, football. Used to play hockey back in the day. Table tennis is another thing I used to do a lot when I was younger. Wouldn't mind getting back into it. I like taking pictures of beautiful things I see, but I wouldn't call it "photography". I do enjoy reading, although I have been terrible at maintaining that in the last few years. Oh and I love watching Quiz Shows. 

How much wild nature is left in Europe? In my head everything is so close together with millions of people, with thousands of years of civilisation built on it, that’d it’d be hard to find a place that isn’t a stones throw from a major city or even town, or some sort of beacon of civilisation. 

[Eco]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

How much wild nature is left in Europe? In my head everything is so close together with millions of people, with thousands of years of civilisation built on it, that’d it’d be hard to find a place that isn’t a stones throw from a major city or even town, or some sort of beacon of civilisation. 

The Black Forest is absolutely brilliant and has miles of little touched land. 

[Spike]

Just now, Eco said:

The Black Forest is absolutely brilliant and has miles of little touched land. 

I thought it was a shadow of what it once was

[Tommy]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

How much wild nature is left in Europe? In my head everything is so close together with millions of people, with thousands of years of civilisation built on it, that’d it’d be hard to find a place that isn’t a stones throw from a major city or even town, or some sort of beacon of civilisation. 

Well, I don't know how to compare it to a sparsely populated area because I really haven't been to one? But we still have beautiful forests, lakes etc. 

There's beautiful mountain ranges like this in East Germany:

Or the Black Forest. 

Loads of examples really. Where I'm from it's more nature within or next to bigger cities, that is true. But it's still nature. 

[Eco]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

I thought it was a shadow of what it once was

Didn't saw it wasn't, but it's still an impressive area. 

Also around Lake Constance you have great areas with a lot of country 

[Tommy]

There's also a few animal species returning to Germany:

 

 

[nudge+]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

I like taking pictures of beautiful things I see, but I wouldn't call it "photography". 

I don't know, I'd say that's exactly what photography is

[Spike]

42 minutes ago, Tommy said:

There's also a few animal species returning to Germany:

 

 

Is this a federal effort or are private organisations petitioning the government to protected reintroduced species?

[nudge+]

1 hour ago, Spike said:

How much wild nature is left in Europe? In my head everything is so close together with millions of people, with thousands of years of civilisation built on it, that’d it’d be hard to find a place that isn’t a stones throw from a major city or even town, or some sort of beacon of civilisation. 

In quite a few Scandinavian, Baltic, and Eastern European countries the forests still cover more than 60% of the land area and there's plenty of wildlife. Even in countries like Germany, France, Spain or Italy it still covers over 30-40%, I think. It's definitely not a concrete jungle, thankfully

[nudge+]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

There's also a few animal species returning to Germany:

 

 

We have wolves in Lithuania, too! They've been living here permanently forever, were hunted too extensively, but now are rebounding and their population is growing recently, there have been a few confirmed spottings of the brown bear, so there's hoping they could make a return in the future, too. Last brown bear was hunted in the 19th century  

What I'm really happy about is the successful restoration of European bison to the wild. They were nearly extinct and only bred in captivity, but now we have some free-range herds in the wild again, with estimated 300 bisons in total

[CaaC (John)+]

5 hours ago, Tommy said:

Let's see. I love walking/hiking.

You would have loved walking with me in Australia many moons ago when we lived right in the heart of the bush area, it was called then 'Bush Walking'.

You had to be careful you did not get lost but my secret was taking our 2 dogs with me, penny & throopenny, I would never get lost with them two, just say "home girls' and follow them as they left their scents behind, a pee here and there from the 2 of them (and me lol) no bother.

We had a house in Daylesford, Victoria just outside of Bendigo & Ballarat famous old time Gold Mining towns in days gone by, I would walk along for miles, seeing old mine shafts that were used around the 1800's, all overgrown with bush so you had to be careful you did not fall down one.

It was eerie really looking down a deep black hole in the ground and picturing years gone by guys used to go down there digging for gold, the photos below are of the bush area where we lived in the late 70's, the b&w photo you can see Lake Daylesford, I have swam across that lake.

Daylesford

[Tommy]

8 hours ago, nudge said:

I don't know, I'd say that's exactly what photography is

Yea well, but it's more like a point and shoot kind of thing. Photography sounds more like what the pros do. 

[nudge+]

Has anyone tried geocaching? Find it a great fun, especially for those who love walking, hiking, and spending time outdoors. Adds a bit of extra motivation to explore and a sense of adventure.

[Eco]

55 minutes ago, nudge said:

Has anyone tried geocaching? Find it a great fun, especially for those who love walking, hiking, and spending time outdoors. Adds a bit of extra motivation to explore and a sense of adventure.

Did it with my daughter a few times, and it was fun. 

We haven't done it in awhile, but yeah, it's certainly interesting. 

[Beelzebub]

I hate when others lecture me on taking photos specially my sister. The angle, light blah blah I just want to take a photo with my phone. Every tom, dick, harry and spike is an expert these days. 

[MUFC]

On 15/08/2021 at 22:55, Eco said:

The Black Forest is absolutely brilliant and has miles of little touched land. 

The place looks brilliant.

 

[MUFC]

On 15/08/2021 at 22:55, Eco said:

The Black Forest is absolutely brilliant and has miles of little touched land.