Post by Brad Nelson on May 13, 2020 17:15:21 GMT -8
Anyone who tells you they are unbiased and objective, run for the hills. Fundamental to bias is not seeing one’s own biases. But I do try.
And while spending some time in the last week or so doing self-training on Affinity Photo (which I purchased recently for half-off at $24.99), I ran into a plethora of helpful training videos — both by Affinity itself and by third parties. Many of the third party ones might not be as polished, but some did a great job showing real-world uses.
And what I’m about to say won’t shock you but it surprised me a bit. Yes, I’m well aware that Ansel Adams slaved away in the darkroom, spending hours trying to get his images just as he wanted them. And I’m aware of the inherent nature of photography that there is going to be creative input — starting, of course, with what you decide to frame inside the camera lens.
But what I was surprised to see is that there exists almost zero impetus to capture the world more or less as it is. Most photographers seem to want to capture an image and then manipulate it into something the I could only call a creative lie.
I really shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, the “Progressive/atheistic” Zeitgeist is that nothing is eternal, there is no objective meaning, and everything is up for interpretation. And while delving deep into various how-to videos, many of these how-to videos I just had to give up on because I was interested in capturing the world (enhancing and clarifying where necessary), not in fabricating the world.
But it would seem most photographers are all about fabricating the world. I was just watching this video by some hifalutin “expert.” And what’s he start doing? He starts by painting out a lot of detail because it is “distracting.”
Anyway, I doubt I convey the down-the-rabbit-hole feeling I got from watching some of these guys (and gals) over the last few days. No wonder people are so screwed up. Everything (at least in their own minds) is just an opportunity to paint in their own fantasy.
And that’s not that I don’t regard creative aspects of photography as often producing some wondrous results. But what I garnered is that the Zeitgeist out there is that if you’re not significantly painting-out reality, you’re not a “real” photographer.
And while spending some time in the last week or so doing self-training on Affinity Photo (which I purchased recently for half-off at $24.99), I ran into a plethora of helpful training videos — both by Affinity itself and by third parties. Many of the third party ones might not be as polished, but some did a great job showing real-world uses.
And what I’m about to say won’t shock you but it surprised me a bit. Yes, I’m well aware that Ansel Adams slaved away in the darkroom, spending hours trying to get his images just as he wanted them. And I’m aware of the inherent nature of photography that there is going to be creative input — starting, of course, with what you decide to frame inside the camera lens.
But what I was surprised to see is that there exists almost zero impetus to capture the world more or less as it is. Most photographers seem to want to capture an image and then manipulate it into something the I could only call a creative lie.
I really shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, the “Progressive/atheistic” Zeitgeist is that nothing is eternal, there is no objective meaning, and everything is up for interpretation. And while delving deep into various how-to videos, many of these how-to videos I just had to give up on because I was interested in capturing the world (enhancing and clarifying where necessary), not in fabricating the world.
But it would seem most photographers are all about fabricating the world. I was just watching this video by some hifalutin “expert.” And what’s he start doing? He starts by painting out a lot of detail because it is “distracting.”
Anyway, I doubt I convey the down-the-rabbit-hole feeling I got from watching some of these guys (and gals) over the last few days. No wonder people are so screwed up. Everything (at least in their own minds) is just an opportunity to paint in their own fantasy.
And that’s not that I don’t regard creative aspects of photography as often producing some wondrous results. But what I garnered is that the Zeitgeist out there is that if you’re not significantly painting-out reality, you’re not a “real” photographer.