Is effectiveness important?
Well, okay, the short answer is “yes”... Without the effectiveness of industrialisation, we would not have the 4-century long economic boom and gains in health and peace which we are enjoying.
But I’m suspecting it can be taken too far. I’ve been a total addict to effectiveness, for example always wanting the smallest possible camera with sufficient image quality. But sometimes I find that the super-ease of image-making in the digital era almost makes it *less* fun to make pictures than it was when you had to stand in the darkroom for hours to make a couple of good prints. Or at least more satisfying. Why are we only satisfied with an achievement if it was hard to do?
I really don’t know.
I quite enjoyed making black and white prints. But the business of trying to get the colour right on Cibachrome (chosen because I already had lots of slides) was so long-winded and expensive that I just gave up.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think Cibachrome was difficult, I saw some bad ones. (And very contrasty it was.)
ReplyDeleteWe want our technology to be effective, but we also need to feel effective ourselves. The darkroom allowed us to use our specialized skills, resulting in that satisfying sense of achievement. I think that developing and applying our skills is key to personal satisfaction, and our own sense of effectiveness is critically important to our sense of well-being.
ReplyDeleteFor me, activities that draw on my own abilities seem more satisfying than those depending on effective technologies. For example, woodworking with a sharp chisel and hand-plane vs. power tools (but I still want all the power goodies in my workshop!). The final product needs to have beauty or utility to draw out that sense of accomplishment.
Thank you, Russ, that’s actually a very good point!
ReplyDelete