Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
It's 3 in the morning and I can't sleep, so here's a rant, a rant for the OP, for myself and for anybody else who can be bothered to spend time reading my sleepless ramblings:
Henri Cartier-Bresson is supposed to have said "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept" or something along those lines. As much as I admire his photographic work, I've never agreed with that claim. I like sharpness. But sharpness is just an element that can be used, or not used, as part of a photograph. It's not in my view the objective of photography. The same thing goes for accuracy.
Is accuracy the target? In that case, we don't need photographers, but something along the lines of a technically perfected version of Google's street view photography. Would I have admired David Burnett's photos more if they were more accurate, taken with the latest, greatest in MFDB technology instead of that old Speed Graphic that he keeps schlepping around?.
Of course not.
There's a reason why Instagram is the new photographic "thing". Photography has become so accurate that any halfway skilled camera owner can make photos that look technically good or even great. So people "create" with Instagram or Art Filters or other cool software. Still, we are on this more or less pointless search for something even cleaner, better, more detailed, more colourful... and more accurate.
But where's the creativity in all that? By all means, it's no problem making creative photos with an "accurate" camera, but good photographers have created art with Instamatics and Brownies as well. For paid work and stock photography, the D800 or any other super-duper-top-of-the-line-DSLR is probably the perfect machinery, and in a few years, there will be something even more perfect for that. That's why we need those machines; to make a living.
Great art, on the other hand, rarely had much to do with accuracy. Not even Rembrandt painted reality. He painted his perception of reality. So why look for accuracy? Look for the tool that fits your work flow and that renders photos according to your perception of reality. That may be an Instamatic, an iPhone or the Hasselblad Ferrari Edition, but I suspect you've already found that in your Mamiya.
End of rant. Now: The Bed :lecture:
Henri Cartier-Bresson is supposed to have said "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept" or something along those lines. As much as I admire his photographic work, I've never agreed with that claim. I like sharpness. But sharpness is just an element that can be used, or not used, as part of a photograph. It's not in my view the objective of photography. The same thing goes for accuracy.
Is accuracy the target? In that case, we don't need photographers, but something along the lines of a technically perfected version of Google's street view photography. Would I have admired David Burnett's photos more if they were more accurate, taken with the latest, greatest in MFDB technology instead of that old Speed Graphic that he keeps schlepping around?.
Of course not.
There's a reason why Instagram is the new photographic "thing". Photography has become so accurate that any halfway skilled camera owner can make photos that look technically good or even great. So people "create" with Instagram or Art Filters or other cool software. Still, we are on this more or less pointless search for something even cleaner, better, more detailed, more colourful... and more accurate.
But where's the creativity in all that? By all means, it's no problem making creative photos with an "accurate" camera, but good photographers have created art with Instamatics and Brownies as well. For paid work and stock photography, the D800 or any other super-duper-top-of-the-line-DSLR is probably the perfect machinery, and in a few years, there will be something even more perfect for that. That's why we need those machines; to make a living.
Great art, on the other hand, rarely had much to do with accuracy. Not even Rembrandt painted reality. He painted his perception of reality. So why look for accuracy? Look for the tool that fits your work flow and that renders photos according to your perception of reality. That may be an Instamatic, an iPhone or the Hasselblad Ferrari Edition, but I suspect you've already found that in your Mamiya.
End of rant. Now: The Bed :lecture: