Brand New Hobby You Shall Not Take Up. All hobbies can be divided into two groups: popular and unpopular. Collecting stamps and gardening can be qualified most likely as the examples of the second category. And what about the first one? I doubt that you don’t know anybody who goes in for photography. Maybe you even did it by yourself. And maybe your piccies were good enough to show them to your closest friends and parents. Anyway, personally I wouldn’t recommend you to choose photography as a hobby. There are at least three reasons why you should go in something different. Reason number one: it is enormously expensive. Do you know how much does professional camera cost? Ok, suppose, you are not going to become a second Terence Donovan and you just don’t need all that expensive equipment. But remember that besides camera itself you’ll have to provide yourself with a tripod as a minimum (say nothing of lenses). Anyway, if you are not ready to spend at least several hundreds of dollars for a more or less appropriate amateur camera, don’t even start. Reason number two: unfortunately (or luckily), there are too many people who can photograph better than you. I would say it is not very cool when your hobby is someone’s profession, especially if you are down-the-line perfectionist. You can take fairly decent photos and nevertheless be criticized by people who have been doing it longer than you, who have been taught it for several years, who make their bread by photography (nobody likes rivals) or even by people who are also amateurs but their cameras are more fussy than yours. They will recommend you to master a graphics editor, change camera lenses or just go in something else. And, finally, reason number three: if you take up photography as a hobby you should be prepare to endure endless requests from your friends to take their likeness. They will ask you to bring your camera every time you go out together because they want to update their userpics on Facebook. And yes, this is you, who will bleach their teeth in Adobe Photoshop. So, as you see, photography is not the best choice. Of course, if you feel like you can bring something new to this field of art – go ahead! But be aware that before it happens you’ll waste a lot of time, money and enthusiasm and realize that gardening could have been a better decision.