There's more to Life than Work

My rants are getting rather irregular... I even thought about deleting this blog.

I mean, there's only so many things you can get upset about in our line of work. Poor pay, being treated as a glorified "secretary", having to do a meaningful translation from a patchwork of machine-combined texts, working with poorly designed proprietary software...

And I already wrote about the majority of my gripes.

The situation just goes worse. I'm being offered lower and lower rates, and being asked to do more of the impossible.

So, I thought I'd write about something else, for a change.

BTW, I also do other things in life besides translating. My main hobby is photography, and I do it the "old way" - using film. I also have a small permanent darkroom at home (actually, a converted storage under the stairs), and this hobby often keeps my "creative juices" flowing.

You know what a darkroom is? Like, what you see in Hollywood movies when a photographer goes to a kind of bathroom, and turns on a red light, and then does some magic involving trays with chemicals and stuff, and in the end hangs B&W photos to dry...

That's me, in a nutshell :)

I feel that the work I do for a living is meaningless. After all, translating mobile phone manuals isn't what you'd call artistic and fulfilling, isn't it?

So, my photography is a kind of "vent" I use when my "artistic urge" attacks... Traditional (film-based) photography is demanding. It does not have instant feedback - meaning you can't see the photo the instant after you press the shutter button. It requires discipline, and a lot of technical knowledge. And I do all the work myself. I develop the film, and later enlarge the photos myself in my darkroom. It's slow work, and sometimes it takes me several hours to get only 3-4 good B&W prints. But, it's relaxing in a way. I feel like an ancient alchemist sometimes. And, when I have a satisfactory print (which isn't that often), I can really say that it is my work - from the moment I pressed the shutter until the final print is framed (or stored away in a box, doesn't really matter).

A piece of ME is in that photo, and that photo wouldn't exist if it wasn't for me. There is no pressing of keyboard buttons, no computer screens, no hi-tech mumbo-jumbo involved. I could even do it without electricity. In a way, it's a craft, and like all good craftsmen, I'm proud of my craft. There's a piece of me in every one of my photos. And, unlike the work that I do for a living, it satisfies me on a much deeper level.

Besides, it is something tangible, something I can frame and hang on a wall, or simply put it away in a box with other photos.

So, without further ado, I present one of my photos. Not the best one, or the one I like the most. Just one I picked from my stash, almost randomly.

It's a photo taken in one of the most magical places you could ever hope to visit. And I've visited it earlier this year, in February, when I realized there's more to life than sitting in front of a computer screen :)

In case you can't guess from the photo, it's in Venice - in front of the entrance to Arsenale.

Several weeks after my visit to Venice, I decided I might as well visit Paris. :) Heck, you only live once!

So, I'll end this on a lighter, more optimistic note (which is quite unlike me): don't forget there's more to life than work. And if your work doesn't satisfy you, find a hobby that will :)