Here's a fun article reminiscing about hard old days of making pictures in a darkroom.
It's a continuing puzzle about the human condition, why do we appreciate things that are hard to do, just because they are hard to do? It makes no sense at all.
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My most intense darkroom work was done when I was a teenager. I'd set it up in my family's "workshop" room, which had piles of tools and old unfinished hobby projects (like a crossbow my father had started to make, but only ever half finished). The room was filthy. I think the only way I achieved relatively dust-free pictures was by moving sluggishly so I didn't stir up the dust.
... why do we appreciate things that are hard to do, just because they are hard to do? It makes no sense at all.
ReplyDeleteI think, it makes sense, very deeply:
I see it as the "breakthrough game" of yang = male energy, the driving energy of creativity and evolution.
Once you see the pattern, you will see it nearly everywhere. Often in a kind of perversion, I have to admit.
Nobody has to agree with me ...;-)
I think we tend to appreciate things that are hard to do because we take great care to do those things well.
ReplyDeleteWonderful as digital photography is, it encourages a very casual attitude toward photography. That's great for snapshots -- you capture a lot more moments -- but not so good for artistic photography, in my opinion. The great photographs are not the result of luck, but of skill and care, both of which are devalued when the technology makes it too easy.
Don't get me wrong: I'm thrilled when technology makes things accessible to more people, but I do think there's something lost, too.
The harder things are to do, the more room for the gifted among us to excel. If you have ever seen a print actually made, by hand, by Ansel Adams (I have), your jaw will drop. He was a master of the Camera, but even more a master in the darkroom. Nothing else I have seen comes even close the the quality, depth of black and brightness of white than in his prints. Reproductions, no matter how good, are poor representations of the real thing.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen Ansel Adams working in the darkroom, but I have seen some of his original prints, and Bruce is right -- they are spectacular. The closer you get, the more amazing they look.
ReplyDelete... why do we appreciate things that are hard to do, just because they are hard to do? It makes no sense at all.
ReplyDeleteAnything that is not used will decay. Tasks that are hard (but not too hard) make us exercise our bodies and brains, and thus maintain their condition.
Just like a Stradivari violin, which needs to be played in order to retain its tone, the human body and mind is designed to be used. For this reason, we find challenges pleasurable. Perhaps not always during the exercise, for it consumes our attention, but certainly immediately after.
It is because of this that humans come up with whimsical projects just to create some challenge for ourselves. For example, let's say you need a toaster. You could go to the mal, buy one and bring it home. Or you could do it the hard way.