#754. The Monday Post – refusing to let go

jean pierre (pete) guaron says:

Hmm. Controversy spreads. First it’s 1600 Pennsy. Now the rest of us.

Paul, FWIW I have a deep seated aversion to “opinions”. People who have them “argue”, instead of “discussing” or “conversing”. And if you don’t submit, they chop your head off.

Nicely brought up people, like the members of this group, have to ignore them – bite our tongues, and get on with our lives. Perhaps Mr Wenders should be told to write it all down, fold it over twice, and put it somewhere out of the sun. Where opinions belong.

Getting back to photography. There was an interesting comment on Ming Thein’s blog the other day, about lusting after “perfection” and ending up with sterile images – flat and bland. Another “ouch!”

It reminded me of my aunt racing into the house after one meeting, having to bake a cake for the following one, just throwing all together and giving it a quick flick with a spoon before she poured the mix into the moulds to bake it, while she showered and changed. Grabbed the cake on the way out (after dousing it with icing). And came home again a couple of hours later, brandishing the trophy for “best cake” at the meeting.

The explanation the judges gave was that all the other cakes were too perfect – the textures were totally even – and it resulted in a flavourless effect. Whereas aunt’s cake had “subtle variations”, throughout, because it wasn’t “overmixed”. (Actually, it was barely mixed at all 🙂 It took her three minutes to get it into the oven, before she went off to change.)

Another example is “the beauty spot”. Ladies of fashion who were denied the right to a freckle on their cheek, somewhere, used to stick a self adhesive “beauty spot” on, instead. The underlying theory was that one tiny blemish drew attention to the absolute perfection of the rest of their face. (Not suggesting anything here – we’d all get into trouble, if we started sticking beauty spots all over the landscapes we want to photograph. 🙂 )

Creativity and perfection are unhappy bedfellows. They CAN do it together – but it doesn’t always work. As always, it is a though provoking article, lavishly illustrated with shots that aren’t doomed to live on a digital phone for a short period before their premature death.

Tell me – is Coca Cola now the mandatory bicycle/cat/whatever motif? Ghastly substance – most useful for murderers who managed to rid the world of the rest of the corpse of their victim and were left wondering how to dispose of the teeth, because teeth are a nuisance to murderers, they help the cops to identify the victim and work back to the murderer. But dear old “Coke” to the rescue, vanishes the teeth faster than most other substances on the planet – cheaply and without fuss.