Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

Post by andrewrn » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

davenporten wrote: post #37

Animal tracking. I picked it up in college and it has been a real source of joy and a true challenge. It's also something you can do almost anywhere: urban, suburban, rural, out in "the wild." A lot of people think of it as looking for paw/hoof marks in the mud, but tracking can actually be quite involved, requiring you to understand the environment and ecology as a whole. For example, tracking birds is outrageously…

Post by cindyllm » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 11:12 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #359

EvanAnderson wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That gig is something I tried to do w/ my daughter's sports for the past 5-ish years. I loved shooting her games and distributing the photos both teams. It was so much fun. I had a nasty altercation with a parent last fall and now I can't pick up the camera w/o getting PTSD-like symptoms. I'd love to know how "pros" handle dealing with that kind of thing. I had a similar situation years ago w/ a guy who got in my fac…

In Munich in 1999 I almost got my ass kicked by some guy at a rave for taking a picture of his girlfriend with a frickin' Game Boy Camera . (Got GBC shots featured in Nintendo Power! ) My current style is centered around getting posed group portraits at events and is low risk. My act seems to disrupt people's patterns and drag them along with my script, I suspect a lot of people who might want to mess with a foxograp…

Post by jamiek88 » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 11:27 PM UTC

andrewhaupt wrote: post #257

biotinker wrote: post #181

I got myself involved with a nonprofit local group preserving local pioneer era apple trees. They've been DNA testing and cataloging the trees, and had all the info stashed away in google drive and onedrive folders. The founder was looking to step back so they asked me if I wanted to step up as project lead, which I did. I took the info and organized it into a nice wiki-style site with maps and descriptions so everyo…

Thats awesome! I'm doing apple stuff on the other side of the Cascades (Eugene), starting a cidery and trying to find rare varieties to graft. And doing little software projects like https://pomological.art/ . Would love to get in touch if you want people to propagate these varieties you're finding and would potentially be interested in sharing some scion wood!

Post by jakeydus » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 11:41 PM UTC

embwbam wrote: post #188

JimBlackwood wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really fun! I used to do it too, and I miss it. How do you combine it with work? Where I live in NL, there are few days where I’m able to go kiteboarding and I probably won’t know until the day off if it’s possible or not. Very hard to schedule!

I work remotely, and my schedule is flexible. I live in Squamish BC all summer which is great for wind. In the winter we are in UT but my friends take lots of kiting destination vacations. I’m fairly late in my career though (44yo), so I’ve opted for a lower salary, low stress and flexible job.

Post by sashank_1509 » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 11:47 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #174

If you like to work with your hands and have space, build something physical: big and complex, and actually finish it. I built a single engine two seat kit airplane in my garage, did all the flight testing, and now have an interesting way to travel/commute as a result. The "finish it" part is the most important bit. Computer people spend too much time working on projects that don't have a "done" state. Change that up…