I did not get that, the forums appear to be advertisement for particular processing, religious wars and bragging about expensive microphones.
Well, it's no different in photography. Take the two links you posted to that Oriental gentleman with his 8"x10": OOf images writ large. Why bother with large format? Shoot the damned things on 120 roll, either unfocussed in camera or, better yet, sharply focussed in camera but printed OOF in the darkroom. That way, he could even print to suit different clients. Hell, he could even try printing through a Softar held below the enlarger lens. Unexpected look you can get from that too, spreading not what you thought you were going to spread.
I watched in disbelief as his architect friend spoke about the works... may be that something got lost in translation.
I pointed out that there was only ONE piano, it was right in front of the audience and, in a concert, the sound indeed came from a single point: the piano. There. Right in front of you. Of course it sounds “almost monophonic”, because there is only ONE piano.
So everybody recognised the parallel with photography. It is just that Rob picked the part about the art market, Justin about forums, Andrew is trying to find a solution for me and Bart to prove that it is not quite the same.
Of course there is a parallel with photography.
We have the crowd with resolution charts, dynamic range and an X-rite target in the corner of each picture. We also have the instagram crowd and people producing landscapes which are the equivalent of Thomas Kinkade on acid. And, just as the people listening to CDs are interested in the music, the people watching the picture of the pretty girl, news event or landscape are only interested about who is that girl, what happened at the event and where is the landscape. Not in how you took it.
Now my next question is the following. I don't want to end up in an audiophile forum discussing the properties of golden cables. What hobbies do you suggest I take to replace sound recording?
At the end of the day we all want to be king of whichever island we alight upon. This is all well and good and we can march around our little terrain, marking it out with our unsavoury glands while admitting to the fact that there are other islands, the furthest away being the bigger and worthy of our praise while the closer are the smaller and deserving of our contempt. It's a grand life until another fellow is washed up on the beach who we fear may also wish to be the monarch of what we have come to think of our own, and that means war, for our superiority has to be asserted and proven, to not only ourselves but the all the kings on their islands to reaffirm our place in the great scheme of life.
There is no substitute for mixing with real people face to face, learning to get on together and having fun with your shared interest. Camera clubs are good. Start one up. Open mike nights for musicians are fun. Use your skills and start one up. We all need to get out of our chairs more and make eye contact.
That depends on where you live.
It didn't go so well for me joining a camera club in an old German town where I live between Austin and San Antonio, Texas. Quite a few of the members are WWII vets over 60 years of age and I raised concerns over safety and developing a contingency plan in case of an emergency having a large group driving long distances out to remote areas to photograph when there was so many untapped opportunities in our beautiful town. I mean our town's one art gallery has only a few photos of the area.
I got a troubling, stern reply by one of the stone faced quiet tough guy types who said if I was someone who has a dark cloud over my head that it's best I don't go with them. He didn't offer any other constructive answer than that. And in fact the leader of the club, a rather unhealthy looking, obese elderly woman who had to walk with a cane, added that if she ever has a heart attach out in those remote areas she wants to be left to die with no attempts at resuscitation.
I left quite shortly after that looking for the nearest happy place.
I will say this about music: if I were to listen to, say, The Beatles in order to savor the micing techniques of Geoff Emerick or the tape machine manipulation skills of Ken Townsend I'd be seriously missing the point. The techniques & skills are means to an end, but the end is the music itself. To put it another way: I record to document (sometimes "accurately," sometimes not so much) what I've played, not the other way 'round.
I've found the best way to keep enjoying my favorite pursuits is to talk/type about them as little as possible while doing them as much as possible. Here I comment on this or that aspect of photography while saying very little about, and showing virtually none of, what I actually do with cameras & lenses. Same goes elsewhere regarding playing & recording music (I do both). This is how I keep my enjoyment of taking photos alive. YMMV.
I'm in sympathy with Telecaster.
Photography is my hobby, and while I may share some of my vision with others, it's the satisfaction I get from my own work that keeps me motivated. If I didn't enjoy what I was doing, then why would I want to spend time doing it?
Certainly I appreciate other's enjoyment when they look at what I've done, but that's the cream. Many photographers that I talk to are very interested in landscapes, flowers, and wildlife, but the kind of photographs I enjoy making speak to my own interests and don't fit into any of those categories. Seriously, I live in Colorado near the mountains and don't have a single photograph of an aspen grove in fall glory. I have two photographs of flowers, one of which is a dying sunflower. And I jokingly tell other photographers that my only wildlife shots are one of my cat and one of a dragonfly.
As an example, I've got some damned good photographs of rodeo events. The landscape/flower/wildlife folks aren't all that interested--indeed, some are animal rights activists ready to string me up. That doesn't bother me, because the folks who participate in the sport appreciate what I did. And their approval means more to me.
Someone mentioned camera clubs. My experience with the local clubs has been uniformly bad, primarily because the ones I've visited seem to have been co-opted by the "competition crazed." I've always believed that it's better to concentrate on better communicating what one saw and felt than worry about how many points or ribbons or awards you could get. There are of course other clubs that aren't so much into competition, but they concentrate on wildlife or landscapes. Not quite what I care about.
I guess the bottom line is this: for my hobby I absolutely refuse to depend upon other's approbation. My photographs may--probably do--suck, but it doesn't matter to me. They're my creation for my pleasure, and that's enough for me.
Aircraft.
I know two guys out here who are into 'planes and especially anything that flew during WW2.
There are magazines to buy, all manner of stuff, and the beauty is, you don't have to produce a thing - just talk about it!
Perfect. If you dig aircraft.
Photo clubs. Waste of time today, when anyone can have a virtual darkroom right there on the monitor. You learn more about photography (if you feel like it) from looking at books from the past, or even at Internet collections of old snappers' efforts, than any bloody club has either the wish or ability to offer. As for techie books - why bother? It's all freely available here on LuLa, with so many people perfectly happy to help out with technical problems. I have sometimes been referred to books for advice, but, however, I have the mentality that learns best from demonstration, by simple example of steps performed on a single image. This seems more likely to be found person-to-person online than from any book I have bought. I had an original Photoshop book and it was so opaque I stopped trying. I bought the Photographer's Guide to Photoshop by Barrie Thomas and that remains as opaque as did the Adobe.
To learn, I need: Step 1. > Step 2. > Step 3. > Etc. That works! Once understood it can be applied as required. Maybe it makes digital look too easy, so there's no future in writing books if you actually make it easy too.
Then again, there's the side tophotographydigital theory beloved in other sections of this site, where they constantly talk way over my head about this graph or the other and the importance of so many things that, AFAIK, bear no relationship to my going click! at what I hope isn't a millisecond too late.
So, for me, clubs would offer nothing, not even drinking clubs, unfortunately. But even those are not democratic: there's always the richer guy who feels obliged to pick up the tab more often that he should. Interesting the many ways of saying thanks, but you really shouldn't, I'll get them next time!
Aircraft seems safer.
Rob C
You always hated camera clubs, I don't know what they did to upset you but Like everything in life there are the good, the bad and the indifferent. I happened to fall in with a very good one, plenty of professional people in it (opticians, doctors, business managers and so on) who all took a keen and intelligent interest in the craft and, what's more, were willing to share their knowledge, very often on a one to one basis. Another club I knew didn't quite have that bank of expertise but were a cheerful bunch who just enjoyed their cameras and there is one around here who I believe are probably best avoided. Yes, there will always be prima donnas and know it alls who know little, that again is true of life generally. You have to take them as you find them.
Photography is a solitary art or it's nothing.
Rob C
I find this to be true as well. Other people are great for answering technical questions beforehand. And of course it's nice if they like the things afterwards.
But at the moment it's just you and the stuff in front of the camera. Nobody can help you here. You either feel it or you don't.
Photography is a solitary art or it's nothing.
Rob C
Just a small comment: the hobby I want to replace is recording, not photography. True, there are parallels, especially with the kind of photography which tries to reproduce reality (hence the title).
I don't plan to stop photography, even if it is a rather solitary activity, as noted by others. I like to be alone with my camera trying to find angles, etc... even if the pictures I produce do not interest many people.
So you are producing photographs and music recording that you show to nobody and that nobody listens to? Do I understand correctly?
Woodworking ;)
Woodworking ;)
Photography is a solitary art or it's nothing.
Rob C
Now my next question is the following. I don't want to end up in an audiophile forum discussing the properties of golden cables. What hobbies do you suggest I take to replace sound recording?
I think what Rob is saying, and what I am saying, is that photography is something that you do alone.
I think what Rob is saying, and what I am saying, is that photography is something that you do alone.
I think what Rob is saying, and what I am saying, is that photography is something that you do alone.
Motorcycle racing has the advantage that after everyone has given their opinion on what works, the final opinion is given by the stopwatch.
I think what Rob is saying, and what I am saying, is that photography is something that you do alone.
I think what Rob is saying, and what I am saying, is that photography is something that you do alone.