Appreciation

[Jussi M.]

Originally Posted by Bill M

A photographer is always updating his portfolio. I was very good at my work, but I realized that I wanted to have spectacular, beautiful photos of, well, spectacular buildings. In short I wanted a perfect beautiful photo of a building whether the architect was paying me to photograph that building or not.

So I began a search for the perfect photographs for my portfolio. The most beautiful buildings photographed perfectly. I drove streets, studied buildings, waited for the sun to strike the building perfectly while I chose the right film, the right lens, the right angle.

I worked very hard, but the "right" picture, the "beautiful picture" eluded me. Something was always off! I took no pictures, none. My search for perfection created a log jam in my head that went so far as to effectively stop me from taking ANY pictures -- even the work for which I had been commissioned.

Stymied, angry, frustrated, I remember sitting on my camera case staring at a huge parking garage an architect wanted photographed. I thought, "A damn parking garage! Frank Lloyd Wright would never do anything like that!"

A moment, an epiphany struck me. I had it backwards. I had set up an impossible no-win situation -- find and take the perfect, beautiful picture? No, doesn't work that way! Find the beauty inherent in whatever you are seeing.

The parking garage seemed to change, huge, dramatic sweeping lines, massive white concrete punctuated by brilliantly colored automobiles, and much, much more. I felt a bond between me, my camera and the magnificent building.

The architects were thrilled! From that moment, from that perspective I did some of my best work. My portfolio glowed with beautiful photographs.

The point is that when we first seek beauty, that connection, the world gives it. From the right frame of reference, there is beauty everywhere.

I must say the above write up from Bill truly rang a bell on my head.

It actually hit it pretty hard. A knockout of Sorts? – Yes, or maybe a epiphany would be a better term.

Please let me ramble a bit – I will get to the point soon... So, lets speak about something else first... Lets talk about watches and audio: I´ve been always enamored with watches and within the past 10 years or so I´ve managed to get somewhat deep onto the watch-collecting game and all that comes along with it: trading, socializing on hobbyists forums with fellow collectors and photographing them tickers - you cannot play the game of show & tell on the forums unless you take pictures of ´em timepieces.

Many matured watch-collectors have a pretty good set of photographic equipment at their disposal. - Many feel that it is not sufficient to have neat tickers - you have to be able to take cool pics of them too. So, the cameras become upgraded regularly as does the rest of the equipment. - They use light tents, filters, macro-lenses... you name it. I however take my pictures (and I take them daily) with a 6 year old mobile phone camera having learnt a valuable lesson from the time I leaned heavily towards high-end audio.

This is where we loop back to Bill´s posting, please bear me. So... twenty-odd years ago when I was a freshman in the university I bought a new set of speakers for my stereo-equipment. I was astonished with the effect it had on the sound!

I was astounded, and, when I learnt out that playing romantic music for visiting girls with a good sounding rig was not a bad tactic from my part I became even more interested on the secrets of audio reproduction...

So... I went back to the audio store to see what else could be done... I soon learnt what differentiates an integrated amplifier from a separate pre- and power-amp combo, what are the pros and cons of them, how does room acoustics apply to the equation, what are the differences between solid state vrs. tube vrs. hybrid designs... why is a short signal path important, how does cabling affect the sound... Etc. Soon I had tons of Audio magazines all around the house and a rig that costed more than I could afford and which was always somewhat OK but still "wrong" sonically - there was always something that could be bettered... After years of enthusiastic upgrading and finally finding a setup in which all the components complemented each other on an almost perfect way... I decided to sell the equipment (save for the loudspeaker- and signal cabling which I still have... Just could not sell them as it took me bloody ages and countless hours of trial and error to find the "perfect" cabling ).

Why I sold?

Because somewhere along the line I had lost the spark that initiated my interest towards High-End Audio in the first place - the love for music. Instead of enjoying the music I had reached a learnt state in which I was listening to the setup instead of the actual music, trying to pinpoint the systems weaknesses looking already forward to the next upgrade. To put it frankly I lost the appetite for music for years. Even today I never concentrate to listen to it per se whilst I have learnt to enjoy it again. - Good music is good never mind the media it is reproduced via.

This is why I refuse to upgrade my watch-photographing rig beyond my six year old mobile phone. I much prefer to wait for a good light and hope some of the pics got out OK than start fiddling with light tents and be afraid of getting infected with a "gotta get a better camera-bug".

You may now ask what does any of the above has to do with what Bill wrote and the appreciation theme this thread is about? In my opinion appreciation is purest when it is not clouded by knowledge. A novice may appreciate a thing based on feeling only as much as a seasoned expert can but for different reasons and a different frame of mind. Which is the purer form of appreciation - appreciating something whilst not knowing anything about it ("cool" or "awesome") or appreciating something knowingly ("yes, this is a very rare specimen from the late Ming Dynasty")? In my personal opinion the innocence and clumsiness associated with novice amateurism is somehow admirably pure and spiritually elevating compared to professionalism and expertise for what is an expert but a novice who has lost his innocence (and with it the capability of wonderment?)? – I think what Bill found with that parking garage experience of his hence was renewed ability to see things through novices eyes past acquired technical skills and experience?

Not a good pic but good enough – yes, I also appreciate this old Seiko of mine




Thanks for taking the time to read this.

J.