Quote:
Originally Posted by rustystill
Definitely an interesting thread. Discussion of philosophy runs parallel to discussions about religion and politics, tough to see how differing viewpoints overlap. Interpretation of philosophy in the physical world can take many shapes depending on perspective. Perfection on one level is a human defined condition. On one level, everything can be considered perfect. On one level, everything can be considered the same. On one level everything can be considered imperfect......on another level everything can be considered different.
Some people obsess about perfection, exactness, neatness etc etc to the extreme of OCD behavior that can interfere with functional usefulness. Heading toward the other extreme people tend to rationalize mistakes either because of laziness or fear of entering the world of the hard work demanded by exacting attention to detail. Wabi-sabi should not be a rationalization for mistakes or lack of skill...
-Jim
|
This reminded me of an article Ron Wisner wrote years ago on real world sharpness in camera lenses and the final print made from them. Sometime people get overly obsessive over small details that don't really matter to the big picture, so to speak, photographically. Go to an art museum or gallery and you can tell which viewers of photographic art are photographers, themselves. They will be the ones with their eyeballs and inch away from the print (guilty!
) I love photography due to it being both an aesthetic and highly technical art form. Over the years I gravitated from a 35mm camera up through large format view cameras, partly as the bigger camera offered better real world sharpness in the final image, and because it slowed me down, making my work more contemplative, and deliberate. No delete buttons on black & white film, and it takes longer to make a great photograph, not point-n-shooting here. But another thing about photography as an art form (nature/landscape/architecture for me, primarily) is that I had to accept what the world was offering me to photograph. I may find the "perfect" landscape to make a photograph of, but, shoot!!!, there's a power line running through the upper background, or a beer can among the fallen leaves next to the waterfall. I have learned to accept that as what the world is really like. Is that wabi-sabi?