There is no paradox. Although it's impractical to fully record any event as experienced (sight, sound, smell, temperature, cultural connections, emotional connections, etc.), an acceptable approximation would be a video or film record (with stereo binaural sound) made with a movie camera (digital or film) with a field of view matching the angle of view of your eyes (disregarding the binocular/stereo vision aspect). To match the experience of looking around to see the scene in its entirety, the camera would be attached to your head or, with a small videocam (lipstick camera), attached to your eyeglass frames. If it ran continuously during the event, and wasn't large or weird-looking enough to distract bystanders, you'd have a fair record of the event. If the camera was light enough and quiet enough, it wouldn't intrude on your reality.
Photography, however, is quite different, in that it captures an instant selection of part of the scene, possibly with a visual or temporal perspective unavailable to naked human eyes, and reproduces that selection on a piece of paper or film, possibly with altered or reduced (b&w) colors. It may even be a scene that only existed in the photographer's mind, his inner reality. A photograph is not reality, just as a statue of a person is not a person, nor is a painting of a person. Photography is a skill, an art, and a craft, and very enjoyable, which is why we're all here. Pat White - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
