Photography reminded me of a story...

[jsbn]

Probably I will earn the ire of most people around with this story. But still, I feel that it might serve as an inspiration to all, esp those inflicted with a dangerous virus known commonly as BBB.

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A renowned writer was churning out the world's bestseller by scratching on paper with a very old quill pen. At an appreciation dinner that was meant to celebrate his launch of his 100th bestseller, a group of devoted fans (which was from a renowned pen company) gave him a pen that costs the company a few million bucks in research and its the first off the production lines. The writer need not suffer sore hands from gripping his pen for too long, the smooth flow of the ink and the never jamming ball-point nip made out of pure titanium and gold, would guarantee smooth writing everytime and it comes with a free lifetime (the writer's lifetime) supply of ink by the company.

With this new pen (that costs potentially millions of bucks), the writer churned out even more bestsellers in double-quick time with readers devouring the essays and writings earning inspiration from it and finding new ways in life.

At a 2nd appreciation dinner, this renowned writer met many potential writers who were around to toss around new ideas and exchange thoughts that would earn them inspiration. Amongst those is a young man full of admiration for the renowned writer, asked the writer what was his secret behind his writings.

The writer smiled and brought out his pen. Yes, that few million bucks pen.

The young man ran home after the appreciation dinner, sold all his property to seek out that pen that the particular writer used. In the meantime, the renowned writer continued to churn out more and better writings.

After the young man found the pen, he declared that he had found "The Perfect Pen For Him" and started writing. Unfortunately for him, the more he wrote, the more rotten eggs and rotten tomatoes he received.

At yet another appreciation dinner, the young man met up with the renowned writer again. His spirit broken. When he asked the renowned writer what was his secret yet again, the writer smiled, showed him the million-dollar pen and asked him a single question.

"Did my readers get their direction in life from my writings and ideas or my pen?"

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Hope it serves as a light to all. "Equipment complements the idea to a person. Equipment alone does not make the idea."

 

[night86mare]

Poo, I like this story better:

From Amateur Photography, by Kaz Diller

I once heard a story, apocryphal I presume, about a photography teacher who divided his class into two groups. Both groups undertook the same course work and they were given the same project - namely, to produce some monochrome prints. However, he told the students in the first group that their grades would be based on a single piece of work, while the grades for those in the second groups would be solely based on the amount of work they produced - literally, its weight.

The students in the first group worked to produce a single print. They sought to make it perfect. They wanted to use the finest camera. They agonised over whether this should be a film or digital model. They compared camera specifications. They read all the available reviews from magazines. If they were to choose the traditional route, they then had to decide which film to use, what speed would be best and which had the finest resolution. Then came the problem of which developer to use. Here again, was a vast amount of literature advocating various approaches. Then there was the decision about what photographic paper would be best: surely fibre-based would be better than resin-coated, but what make, what surface texture?

And then there was the whole developer and processing thing to consider all over again. Archival processing would surely improve the end product and make the work perfect. On the other hand, perhaps they should have gone down the digital route. Here again, camera specifications come to the fore with sensor types, file formats and compression ratios. What computer to choose, what software? What printer, what paper and what ink set? Would uncertainty about permanence prove a disadvantage?

The questions kept on coming. Each question needed more research and each answer suggested a different approach that in turn gave rise to more questions and more research - and time was marching on. Having agonised about the perfect equipment and technique, there was so little time left to produce the perfect print on which the grade would be based. They ended up producing an average piece of work and they received an average grade.

In the second group, striving for perfection wasn't an issue. It was quantity that mattered. So the students started producing work - lots of it. They didn't dwell on cameras or materials or processes, they just got on with doing stuff. Their work got better and better, with larger quantity came better quality. In fact the quality of the work began to surpass that of the first group. At the end of the term, it far exceeded that of the students in the first group. Therefore, not only did they get a high grade for the sheer quantity of output, but they also achieved a high grade for the quality of the work.

Like many others, I read equipment reviews. I keep up with emerging technology (well, kind of). The nerdy side of my character loves to wallow in comparative tests, performance graphs and resolution charts. I stive for better equipment and materials. I have, in theory, the perfect equipment. All this perfectionist behaviour is reminiscent of the first group of students. This perfectionism leads to procrastination and then in turn to stagnation. However, I already have everything I need to produce quality work - I just need to get on with it.

Less ire than you think, then. The moral of the story? Get out there and shoot, whether you have a P&S, or a DSLR, or what not. Sitting on your ass claiming that you can't shoot properly because you don't have a good enough camera is just an excuse. Every camera can produce good images - as people here have proven time and time again - it's just how you use it.

 

[Harry Potter]

BBB Virus is found not only in photography. It is everywhere because of human's greed! Having a usable TV is not good enough, the moments they bought a 32" flat panel TV, they wanted a 42". After buying a good car, they started eyeing other better and larger cars. Same for flats, bigger flats, condo, landed. Buy buy buy everywhere!

The GSS is here! :lovegrin: Time to dump old shoes, clothes, bags and buy buy buy :devil:

 

[josho]

Poo, I like this story better:



Less ire than you think, then. The moral of the story? Get out there and shoot, whether you have a P&S, or a DSLR, or what not. Sitting on your ass claiming that you can't shoot properly because you don't have a good enough camera is just an excuse. Every camera can produce good images - as people here have proven time and time again - it's just how you use it.

Nice. I like the story... every quantity amt of work is the experience of getting more knowledgeable. :thumbsup:

 

[NeTHaCk]

both stories are inspiring.

i agree with the first and second story.

you dont have to depend on the equipment. 2nd hand or 3rd hand can still do the job. your kit lens can still bring you a long way..

2nd story also..

theres no point in complaining my shots are lousy. go out and shoot . shoot and shoot.

i bought my camera 2nd hand with shutter count 29k. just 2 months of use, its reached 32k. all this due to the fact i was experimenting with the camera.

just yesterday, was my cousins big day, guy side came to melamar(propose) and took shots of it. it was my first time using my sb-24 in a long time as i felt that i couldnt TTL with that flash rendering it bad.

best part? yesterday i shot using manual settings and even the sb-24 was fired manual. i felt good that the shots werent so overexposed or underexposed.

i was always ranting about the sb-24 and how much i needed a new flash as i couldnt TTL. Im not complaining now. Its getting to know your equipment better that makes you shoot better.

 

[satay16]

gee, i write very nice stories, but my computer always hangs and restarts, causing my unsaved half-written work to be gone. so, equipment is still important. here's a story:

In the year 2020, the science of eternal living has been discovered. Cloning of human beings was mastered too. One fine day, philosophers throughout the world decided to discuss the topic, the topic of Photography and its equipments. It has been a decades-long question of whether good photographic equipment makes a better photographer. So, they decided to carry out the perfect ideal experiment.

They abducted the famous photographer, Ansel Adams, who surprisingly is still alive, and cloned him, twice. All three clones have the same exact intelligence, brains, physique, everything. The testers then gave a Canon 0.00231DS Mark 3.14159 DSLR to Adam 1, and a Peacock Super Digi-Cam P&S to Adam 2, and gave a C4 bomb to Adam 3.

All the Adams were then placed in the same shooting place at the same time to take photos for one hour.

After one hour, Adam 1 gave superior pictures. Nicely shot birds in flight, photos were tack sharp, framing was perfect, and the colours look nice. Adam 2 gave pictures that looked quite nice, but due to slow respond of the P&S, some pictures were missed, the slow lens gave blurry pictures and bad bokehs, noise was high too. The only compliments were the compositions, which were the same exact quality as Adam 1.

So, the philosophers decided that equipment is indeed important as two equal subjects given different cameras indeed produced different quality.

In order to finalize that equipment is indeed important, the testers asked Adam 3 to take a photo too. He tried his best, but he came out with no photos, only a hand and a leg.

Moral of the story: Better equipment do make better photographers, but only on the technical aspect of the photos, not the artistic aspect.

 

[waileong]

You forget the reason for buying. It's not just because the buyer hopes to make better pictures. Sometimes the pleasure of buying and owning is enough, esp. if the item is a well-made piece of industrial art.

 

[satay16]

You forget the reason for buying. It's not just because the buyer hopes to make better pictures. Sometimes the pleasure of buying and owning is enough, esp. if the item is a well-made piece of industrial art.

industrial art........ i love that word:thumbsup:

 

[waileong]

industrial art........ i love that word:thumbsup:

The point is that people are not stupid. They know that buying a Porsche 911 won't make them a better driver or win a race, but the thrill of driving a 911, the smell, the feel, the sound, the prestige, the snob factor, the design-- that's what they're buying.

Ditto for our BBB CS-ers.

 

[eikin]

gee, i write very nice stories, but my computer always hangs and restarts, causing my unsaved half-written work to be gone. so, equipment is still important. here's a story:

In the year 2020, the science of eternal living has been discovered. Cloning of human beings was mastered too. One fine day, philosophers throughout the world decided to discuss the topic, the topic of Photography and its equipments. It has been a decades-long question of whether good photographic equipment makes a better photographer. So, they decided to carry out the perfect ideal experiment.

They abducted the famous photographer, Ansel Adams, who surprisingly is still alive, and cloned him, twice. All three clones have the same exact intelligence, brains, physique, everything. The testers then gave a Canon 0.00231DS Mark 3.14159 DSLR to Adam 1, and a Peacock Super Digi-Cam P&S to Adam 2, and gave a C4 bomb to Adam 3.

All the Adams were then placed in the same shooting place at the same time to take photos for one hour.

After one hour, Adam 1 gave superior pictures. Nicely shot birds in flight, photos were tack sharp, framing was perfect, and the colours look nice. Adam 2 gave pictures that looked quite nice, but due to slow respond of the P&S, some pictures were missed, the slow lens gave blurry pictures and bad bokehs, noise was high too. The only compliments were the compositions, which were the same exact quality as Adam 1.

So, the philosophers decided that equipment is indeed important as two equal subjects given different cameras indeed produced different quality.

In order to finalize that equipment is indeed important, the testers asked Adam 3 to take a photo too. He tried his best, but he came out with no photos, only a hand and a leg.

Moral of the story: Better equipment do make better photographers, but only on the technical aspect of the photos, not the artistic aspect.

i cannot agree with this story. what you're saying here is that things stop at the limitations of equipment (and therefore equipment is important) i'll rather propose that one works with the limitations of equipment, knowing what the equipment can do and capitalise on these capabilities to create one's art.

i think it's ridiculous to do a test with 3 entirely different systems with different capabilities, with a fixed end product in mind already as the point of reference. such tests are quite meaningless if you're talking about artistic production.

 

[fv18m]

Bro, I tend to disagree... It is our Heavy reliance on technology that makes it seem that equipment is important. If you're in the business of writing stories, perhaps you may want to adopt what Ms Rowling, Mr Kipling, and their likes do - write on paper with pen.

Come one day, if we're stick on a deserted island with a manual cam, and a DSLR, with both mem cards and films. What would we do? We have the equipment, but would we be able to take pics that's just as nice? Maybe not, cos there's no preview, and we may just not be confident enough to click the shutter... Worse still, there may be some of us who does not even know how to load a film.

I dare not imagine that our continual reliance on technology will one day give us kids/ grand kids who no longer know how to use a pen and paper, and tell us that they cannot do their homework, cos their laptop has konk out...

gee, i write very nice stories, but my computer always hangs and restarts, causing my unsaved half-written work to be gone. so, equipment is still important. here's a story:

In the year 2020, the science of eternal living has been discovered. Cloning of human beings was mastered too. One fine day, philosophers throughout the world decided to discuss the topic, the topic of Photography and its equipments. It has been a decades-long question of whether good photographic equipment makes a better photographer. So, they decided to carry out the perfect ideal experiment.

They abducted the famous photographer, Ansel Adams, who surprisingly is still alive, and cloned him, twice. All three clones have the same exact intelligence, brains, physique, everything. The testers then gave a Canon 0.00231DS Mark 3.14159 DSLR to Adam 1, and a Peacock Super Digi-Cam P&S to Adam 2, and gave a C4 bomb to Adam 3.

All the Adams were then placed in the same shooting place at the same time to take photos for one hour.

After one hour, Adam 1 gave superior pictures. Nicely shot birds in flight, photos were tack sharp, framing was perfect, and the colours look nice. Adam 2 gave pictures that looked quite nice, but due to slow respond of the P&S, some pictures were missed, the slow lens gave blurry pictures and bad bokehs, noise was high too. The only compliments were the compositions, which were the same exact quality as Adam 1.

So, the philosophers decided that equipment is indeed important as two equal subjects given different cameras indeed produced different quality.

In order to finalize that equipment is indeed important, the testers asked Adam 3 to take a photo too. He tried his best, but he came out with no photos, only a hand and a leg.

Moral of the story: Better equipment do make better photographers, but only on the technical aspect of the photos, not the artistic aspect.

 

[NeTHaCk]

Bro, I tend to disagree... It is our Heavy reliance on technology that makes it seem that equipment is important. If you're in the business of writing stories, perhaps you may want to adopt what Ms Rowling, Mr Kipling, and their likes do - write on paper with pen.

Come one day, if we're stick on a deserted island with a manual cam, and a DSLR, with both mem cards and films. What would we do? We have the equipment, but would we be able to take pics that's just as nice? Maybe not, cos there's no preview, and we may just not be confident enough to click the shutter... Worse still, there may be some of us who does not even know how to load a film.

I dare not imagine that our continual reliance on technology will one day give us kids/ grand kids who no longer know how to use a pen and paper, and tell us that they cannot do their homework, cos their laptop has konk out...

this totally came a shock to me. I do realise that we've really relied on technology too much.

gone were the days of loading the film, firing the shots by experimenting and following what people say of which ISO/shutter speed/aperture on this days and trying it out .. developing it to see what went wrong...

this reminds me.. I miss my film days. though im still young, i miss shooting with a film camera. it was something i learnt slowly..

i have to agree.. there will be a day where pen and paper will be extinct..

Just look at things now : Tablet PCs. Tablet computers.. or schools introducing more to technology to be tech savvy..

heres this question : how many of us can shoot using film and shoot important events and load the next film as fast as possible with the least screw up( film not loaded properly etc) in time to shoot the next things happening ?

with digital, we just have to wait for next frame to fire , making continuous shots like 5fps, not having to load the next film(you're using memory, it can hold so much shots)

i really have to agree with fv18m.

 

[catchlights]

one reason being many resort to BBB is the "instant noodle syndrome", want instant results by getting XXXX, and the industry is endorse the kind of thinking and making huge profit from it, you see it everywhere.