On 2/4/2016 11:24 AM, Ken Norton wrote:
I do like the Jack White quote:
"Convenience is the enemy of creativity"
Moose probably disagrees, though.
Yes, I do, but perhaps in a different way than you think. That's one of those simplistic adages that contains both truth
and falsehood at once.
A significant part of St. Ansel's creativity happened in the darkroom. Another significant part lay in seeing the
decisive time, more than a moment, ahead, and managing to be there, ready, at an appointed time and place often weeks or
months away. Then if the weather didn't cooperate, trying again next year.
St. Henri and Peter Turnley didn't/don't do their own printing. Their creativity lies mostly in capturing the (decisive)
moment, spontaneously. The convenience of using someone else, likely someone better at it, to print their images allows
full attention to be focused (pun ...) on creating the original capture.
What might Edward Weston have found and photographed more than 500 yards from
the car, if he'd had a Sherpa or two?
How did eschewing the convenience of a different support contribute to the quality of his images of nautilus shells? He
takes an hours long exposure with the shell resting on the top of an old oil drum. He lives next to a road with some
heavy truck traffic. The head of the drum vibrates to that, and perhaps to the activities of his kids. The shot is too
blurry to be useful. So what does he do? Tries again with exactly the same set-up, tries to keep the house quiet, and
hopes for the best.
So that 's one kind of artist. What would have happened if he bothered to put a sturdy plank across the drum in either
the first or second place? Good shot the first or second time, and time then to do other work? Perhaps another timeless
image for us to enjoy? Ignoring convenience may have a cost, too.
Shortcuts may or may not affect the end result. If the artist has a clear vision of what he/she is heading to create, a
convenience that makes it easier to do so is no enemy to creation.
A shortcut taken to make the process of creation quicker, easier, cheaper, etc. and that compromises the result is
indeed its enemy.
Another, more contemporary and personal example ... I see a subject, and the image I'd like to create of it in my mind.
The end I envision requires more DoF than I can get with conventional equipment/technique. Conventional focus stacking,
the very epitome of inconvenience, will give the DoF. But the subject is evanescent, or moves, so that's out. But lo, I
have , or can now get, a camera that does focus stacking internally, and so much more quickly that it suits the subject.
Voila, convenience allows an otherwise impossible capture. I'm able to create in material form something that existed in
my mind, through the convenience of a technical development.
Is Image Stabilization a convenient enemy of creativity, or a tool that enhances it? Depends on the situation, subject
and artist, no?
Eschewing Intellectual Laziness Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|