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Author Topic: How good exactly were the good old days?  (Read 30301 times)

feppe

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How good exactly were the good old days?
« on: December 15, 2010, 02:02:31 pm »

Since there has been quite a bit of discussion here recently about the good old days and I'm frankly tired of the whining; this should put things into stark perspective on a global level better than I ever can. Longer TED talk here, and Prof. Rosling's Gapminder site with much more data here.

aduke

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2010, 02:26:27 pm »

I don't know what was more interesting, the numbers or the presentation.

Thanks for posting this.

Alan
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RSL

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2010, 04:01:59 pm »

Grerat presentation Harri. You're right. It's like when someone tells you that cars aren't built like they used to be. The only reasonable response to that is "thank heaven." I can tell you from personal experience that the "good old days" had a lot of downsides. But they also had some upsides. I guess you have to have been there to understand that.
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John McDermott

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2010, 09:09:03 pm »

Anyone who talks of the "good old days" has either a faulty memory or an overactive imagination.
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bill t.

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2010, 02:42:29 am »

Well I just yesterday digitally reprocessed a 6 x 11 cm image shot on Tri-X.  OMG, the grain!  OMG, it's nowhere near as sharp and good looking as my 21MP Canon shots at 4 times the ISO!  Sometimes the good old days just let you down.

Of course, those of us who were around for the g.o.d.'s were much better photographers than the kids today, goes without saying.

Interesting to see how the data points animate when you scrub the slider on this page.

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RSL

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2010, 02:31:28 pm »

Bill. How many good old days can you remember?  For a nine-year-old like you to talk about "kids today" seems a bit over the top.
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BenjaminKanarek

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2010, 02:48:26 pm »

Anyone who talks of the "good old days" has either a faulty memory or an overactive imagination.

Hear Hear...ditto!

bill t.

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2010, 04:27:56 pm »

Bill. How many good old days can you remember?  For a nine-year-old like you to talk about "kids today" seems a bit over the top.

Well I don't how "9" got inserted in my age record, but after careful consideration it seems appropriate.  However, I was PHYSICALLY nine in 1954, definitely the good old days if you can forget a lot of stuff.

Anybody who thinks the old days were better never owned a 1957 Plymouth Savoy.  You just have no idea what a dreadful piece of garbage that was!

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feppe

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2010, 08:21:49 pm »

Anyone who talks of the "good old days" has either a faulty memory or an overactive imagination.

Indeed. It's mostly that we forget all the bad stuff and retain only the good stuff. For every Rolling Stones there are a hundred forgettable bands which have been... forgotten. Just like in fourty years people will have forgotten about Justin Bieber but will remember Lady Gaga (taking bets :) ).

hjulenissen

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2010, 03:44:43 am »

When equipment was expensive and exclusive, it probably meant that those few who had access to it was talented and genuinely interested. Not all of them, but a large percentage.

When The Beatles did their recordings, record companies and making a record was still a major thing, and you could not do it unless the people in power really believed in your work. Today, anyone with a CD-burner can make a record, and anyone with an internet connection can spread it to the world. There might be a few geniuses that benefit from the increased availablility of good gear to make fantastic art that they would never have been able to 50 years ago. But I subscribe to the idea that the number of geniuses in each generation is fairly constant, and when you increase the number of artists, most of that increase will be "noise".

-h
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bill t.

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2010, 12:05:33 pm »

But I subscribe to the idea that the number of geniuses in each generation is fairly constant, and when you increase the number of artists, most of that increase will be "noise".

Excellent points in your post.  There was much less "noise" in the good old days, that's really the difference.  There were formidable economic and technical hurdles to getting anything done.  Now, the price of admission to creating technically excellent media products has dropped to almost nothing.

I won't bore people with how hard and expensive it was to get any kind of large color print made in ye olden tymes, but man it sure was!  My Epson would have seemed right out of over-the-top science fiction back then.

You kids today have it too easy!   So try to keep the noise down, OK?  :)
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PeterAit

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2010, 12:59:39 pm »

One undeniable truth about the good old days - we were all young, or at least younger!
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Riaan van Wyk

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2010, 01:08:29 pm »

I can unfortunately not watch the video in the link provided Harry, but none the less feel like adding a garbled thought. I don't think anyone will dispute that equipment/ technology wise ( whether it be cars or ball pens and anything inbetween) we have it rather good at present, and it can only get better.

It is the change in "humanity" that I find makes me think of previous times. The constant quest/ demand for instant gratification, if I can call it that, irritates me. Real friendship seems to not exist anymore, manners and respect are "old fashioned" and everyone seems to be on a road to nowhere, as fast as possible, treading on all and sundry along the way. No one really lives anymore, they just exist.

Jim Pascoe

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2010, 03:27:00 pm »

Whenever I hear the phrase 'the good old days' I always think of my grand-dad.  He always said "when people talk about the good old days, don't believe them".  My Grand-dad was born in London in 1898, he went to school with children who became ill and died, he spent four years in the army during the First World War, then struggled through the depression of the 1920's by going to sea as a steward between Southampton and the USA.  He saw mothers who could not afford to feed their children and unemployed men with no dignity left.  He lived till he was 96.  Lucky man, but he did survive the 'bad old days'.
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Rob C

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2010, 05:22:27 pm »

The good old days.

Sigh, roll your eyes or even those easier-to-roll substitute ones kindly provided for you by the management, but you are confusing many things: oranges and apples but backwards, as it were.

There most certainly were hellish old days, but what have they to do with the good ones?

Equipment was sooo expensive only the rich could start up in photography? Bullshit! I started up on next to friggin’ zero, with a second-hand Rollei T (the cheapest model you could get) and an Exakta I bought new as an apprentice engineer! I have often worked out that I could never have afforded to start up today. It isn’t even as simple a matter as buying cameras – how expensive has space become? During the last twenty years, even many of the leading London stars gave up (hardly willingly) their studios and had to hire as required!

Yes, making colour prints wasn’t easy and as with Fred and his flying, I too know of what I speak: I was the bleedin’ colour department in the in-house photo unit where I worked for a while, until I left. And no, it wasn’t cheap out in the commercial world either. But businesses could certainly afford colour prints, though most advertising wanted transparencies.

I remember that I was perfectly free to roam our local park with a simple Voiglander Vito B in hand, then the later ‘blads, and never even thought I’d be rolled. Today, I wouldn’t dream of it. Look at stamper’s moment on that Glasgow bridge: and he was lucky, it didn’t turn into anything. But the worry/fear that it easily can now lives with us all. Was a time you could pat an unknown but attractive kid on the head, or just smile at him; my wife could coo her heart out at some baby doll lying in a pram on the pavement whilst it’s mother was in the shop buying something. Today, any of those three, innocent, actions could get you arrested for assault, sex crimes or neglect!

Heysoos, it’s become better?

Think, for pity’s sake.

Rob C
« Last Edit: December 17, 2010, 05:24:23 pm by Rob C »
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Rob C

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #15 on: December 17, 2010, 05:26:14 pm »

Well I don't how "9" got inserted in my age record, but after careful consideration it seems appropriate.  However, I was PHYSICALLY nine in 1954, definitely the good old days if you can forget a lot of stuff.

Anybody who thinks the old days were better never owned a 1957 Plymouth Savoy.  You just have no idea what a dreadful piece of garbage that was!



Bill, there's a moral there: never buy the cheapest brand in the maker's range; shoulda bought a Chrysler.

EDIT: however much of a turkey your Plymouth may have been, you sure can't knock the shape! I also remember the days (automotive goode olde ones) when, from the driving seat, you could see where both front and rear of your car started and ended. Today, you either park by collision sound or doubling the insurance distance. And luxury car makers pretend parking warners are an accessory?

;-)

Rob C
« Last Edit: December 18, 2010, 04:55:19 am by Rob C »
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #16 on: December 17, 2010, 09:23:36 pm »

Equipment was sooo expensive only the rich could start up in photography?
I remember when I first moved up to the "big time", buying my own first brand new 4x5 view camera from Calumet for $89 (I think shipping cost me another buck or two). The big expense was a new Schneider Something-or-other 150mm lens, also new, which cost another $150. With a few used (and leaky) film holders I was ready to produce masterpieces!

Eric
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dseelig

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #17 on: December 17, 2010, 09:29:29 pm »

MY father used to say "the good old days were not so good."
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bill t.

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #18 on: December 17, 2010, 11:04:22 pm »

I remember when I first moved up to the "big time", buying my own first brand new 4x5 view camera from Calumet for $89 (I think shipping cost me another buck or two). The big expense was a new Schneider Something-or-other 150mm lens, also new, which cost another $150. With a few used (and leaky) film holders I was ready to produce masterpieces!

Not only did I also have a Calumet 4x5 in its gray case and 150mm f5.6 Symmar, but I also had a genuine SEI Spot Photometer complete with leather case, leaky D cell and flashlight bulb!  Let's see anybody top that combination!  And don't forget the black focusing cloth attached with diaper pins.  It all simply oozed Zone System mojo!
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: How good exactly were the good old days?
« Reply #19 on: December 17, 2010, 11:37:15 pm »

Not only did I also have a Calumet 4x5 in its gray case and 150mm f5.6 Symmar, but I also had a genuine SEI Spot Photometer complete with leather case, leaky D cell and flashlight bulb!  Let's see anybody top that combination!  And don't forget the black focusing cloth attached with diaper pins.  It all simply oozed Zone System mojo!
Wow! The SEI! I thought only Ansel knew how to use one of those. I got my self a lowly Pentax 1-degree spotmeter, and made my own dark cloth (major construction project  ;) ) Yes, my lens was also the Symmar. That was a great combination. The camera was so cheap because Calumet bought the dies from Kodak when K decided to stop selling the Kodak view camera. Can't get that much bang (or weight) for the buck these days.

Eric
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