Frank, I'm very glad you enjoyed this and got the same messages from it that I did. I was very surprised at the generally negative reception to it here.
On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 9:10 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > I went into it thinking I would dislike it, but surprisingly I didn't. > > I didn't hear him say not to look at other photographs, especially great > ones. What I heard was him saying that when he's shooting he's not > specifically thinking about other photos. > > Just as he's not thinking about equipment, he's just shooting. > > He didn't say that equipment isn't important, just that he doesn't obsess > over it. > > I didn't hear him say he's a font of creativity, just that he wants to get > his creative ideas from within. > > I thought he made some valid points. > > Cheers, > frank > > --- Original Message --- > > From: Darren Addy <[email protected]> > Sent: January 17, 2013 1/17/13 > To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: OT - on gear, technique and inspiration > > Yes, I tended to agree with Larry. He was very good as speaking in > metaphor (I tend to think that same way, so I appreciated that). > > But I guess specifically, what I disliked about his attitude was that > he came across as presenting himself as font of creativity and he > can't contaminate that by looking at what others have done. Well, I > hate to break it to you, but that's how you learn. In fact, if he was > honest, that's how HE learned. > > That's why cooking shows are so popular, for example. You see the > ingredients (and equipment) that they use and you get inspired to try > it yourself. Now an experienced cook is going to be able to get as > good (or better) results even if they don't use exactly the same > ingredients or equipment because they know what they are doing. A true > kitchen artist can just be thrown into a room with a set number of > ingredients and create something great. But they are fooling > themselves if they think they got to that point without "standing on > the shoulders" of other who came before them, learning their ways and > copying their recipes. > > I think it is similar with learning anything, like portraiture. You > have to learn some basics with regards to flattering lighting for > different facial types, etc. You have to learn how/why setting > shoulders and slight head tilts towards either the lower or higher > shoulder makes one look masculine or rather feminine. You didn't > invent that. You didn't discover that. It just IS. But when you are > starting out you need to learn to see that. > > In time, I think we tend to start taking what we have learned and > thinking that we always knew it (or worse, that we originated it) when > we did no such thing. This guy is just "further down the tunnel" than > most and so now he wants to establish that fact with his audience and > belittle the approach of learning from tear sheets? Please. > > His basic point regarding how your success or creativity is not > completely dependent upon a particular piece of equipment? Yeah, I > think most of us already know that. But that doesn't mean that we > don't still accumulate equipment for whatever reason - if only out of > curiousity/experience with something we haven't worked with before. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
