ku # 643 / man & nature # 255-57 ~ I've had enough of this crap
Friday, October 30, 2009 at 08:25AM 
Tree trunk with lichen • click to embiggen
Weed + lamp pole • click to embiggen
Damp trees • click to embiggen
Weed + grass • click to embiggenThere's an entry over at TOP - a site that I don't read much anymore since it went to really focusing on gear - that addresses the fact that in the digital age ...
... mastery itself has become more fugitive. Where computer photography is concerned, everything has a time-stamp, a sell-by date. No matter what it is, everything seems to march past on a steady progression from cutting edge to mainstream to obsolescent to unsupported. As soon as you're used to something and begin to master it, it changes. It hardly matters what it is: sensor, file type, color characteristics, image editor, calibration issues, printer models, even papers and inks.
It's no surprise that, with TOP's increased emphasis on gear (which started, not coincidently,when the site started linking to camera stores), the entry has garnered responses along the order of:
... I find it a wonderful challenge ... it keeps changing, so I have to constantly be upgrading my skills. This massages my aging brain cells and keeps my thinking tack sharp.
A true gear-head response to which I would respond - hey moron, all that time you're spending to "constantly be upgrading your skills" in order to "keep your thinking tack sharp" could be spent making pictures. How about upgrading that challenge, asshole. You and your type - those who keep feeding the upgrade machine - are fucking it up for the rest of us.
It's a real shame that so many of the Johnny(s)-come-recently to the picturing making dance will never know the utter joy that can be had from having a long-term dependable camera (and a few lenses) that you know like the back of your hand with which to make pictures. And having a dependable process (both MO-wise and processing / darkroom-wise) that you know like the back of your hand with which to make prints. All of which allows one to just make pictures.
If I were to leave a comment it would be more along the lines of:
For the most part, the only people who are en-rich-ed by the constant stream of hardware/software upgrades are the makers and purveyors of such things. And most brain-dead, pavlovian, and slavish consumers (goods Americans all) lap it all up at the trough of piggish and wretched excess thus encouraging and rewarding the never-ending stream of "upgrades".
A pox on all their houses.
The most recent and egregious example is Adobe's latest Lightroom upgrade that will only work on Intel-chip Macs. Gone are the days of backwards compatibility. Now you need to drop $4-5k on a new computer/memory and other related software upgrades (Intel compatible). To which I have just a few words - FUCK THEM and/or KISS MY HAIRY ASS.
What I wouldn't give for a massive consumer boycott against some of these companies - a significant number of people who just stop buying this shit for a year or two in order to send them a message along the line of, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comment: "Honeybadger" wrote: "I'm a gear head and a darn good photographer. I love the improvements in technology, computers, and software. What the hell are you complaining about. If it weren't for people wanting to improve things, you'd still be stepping in horse shit or walking everywhere you needed to go. Forget about flying, forget about phones, forget about electricity, let alone fine grain films and a Nikon F5. Funny you should be writing your sour grape rant on a computer......and the WORLD WIDE WEB!
my response: Honeybdadger seems to think that I'm against progress or "people wanting to improve things". That simply is not so and nowhere in my "sourgrape rant" did I state so.
What I am against is as Greg H states, "upgrade addition" that is fed by constant incremental "upgrades" by camera / hardware / software makers primarily (not solely) for the benefit of their bottom line. And I would totally agree with Svein-Frode that "the world is heading for environmental armageddon as a result of all the useless shit we produce."
BTW, Honeybadger, where's the "sourgrapes"? - I lust for nothing camera / hardware / software-wise and, even if I did, there is very little out there that I can't afford to acquire. And, why no link to your darn good pictures? Come on, let us all have a look.
And, to answer Brian Willman's question - If ... some people to change more than they need to, so be it ... [W]hy do you care?
I care because in the name of "progress" and being good consumers, we are burying the planet in a sea of environmental shit. Svein-Frode is right on the money. There absolutely no sustainability in a lifestyle based upon excessive consumption and growth.
Hey people, it not only matters what you do, but also what others do as well that will "much affect your / (our) circumstances". It's all connected, folks. It ALL matters.
Reader Comments (16)
What I don't get is why people feel they have to upgrade. The camera I bought 5 years ago still takes pretty good pictures, even though Canon have brought out 3 or 4 new revisions for it.
A couple of years back I was taking pictures at the falls on the Yellowstone. Several guys, gals don't seem to be such gearheads, asked about my camera. One guy, I could tell, asked not to start a tech conversation but a lecture. He became very angry when I told him I had no interest in cameras, only photographs. He stormed away when I told him I wouldn't own a camera if there was some way to take a photograph without one.
One of my favorite shots from that session has lecture guy lecturing in it.
I'm a gear head and a darn good photographer. I love the improvements in technology, computers, and software. What the hell are you complaining about. If it weren't for people wanting to improve things, you'd still be stepping in horse shit or walking everywhere you needed to go. Forget about flying, forget about phones, forget about electricity, let alone fine grain films and a Nikon F5. Funny you should be writing your sour grape rant on a computer......and the WORLD WIDE WEB!
An interesting point, tho imho the bad language just makes you look unimaginative. I loved the comment about not using a camera if you didn't have to! I think what happened here is Apple just got blindsided by the Intel superiority and had to switch; even they can't support unlimted versions when changing processors.
As far as upgrades go; the key is that software mfrs don't create upgrades to improve the product, they do it to make money.
However, if they didn't make money we would be without computers - that has simply proved to be the way the world works. If you think not, reflect on the fact that money is quite literally as old as civilization and apparently an integral part of it.
I do get peeved about this kind of thing, but just accept it as an inevitable part of the game.
Bill
Ignore it. Use the tools you like to achieve the ends you desire. If it's a view camera with hand-coated glass plates, so be it. Just quit whining.
Hi Mark,
As someone who has been working in the software industry for over a decade, let me say that the primary reason for dropping support for older generation hardware is the cost of quality assurance. The time and resources (both manpower and equipment) it takes to verify new features on older lines can become so expensive that it ends up hurting the timely release of upgrades. Therefore, at some point every software company has to make a decision to drop support for older hardware. I can understand your pain, but I hope you realize that this isn't done with the intention of deliberately screwing the consumer. I have myself been part of such decisions, both in my pervious jobs and also in my current one, and in all cases we felt that we had made the right choice.
Best regards.
-Anil
There is a new social problem in American and Western societies, and while I'm not a psychotherapist, I'll name it now: "Upgrade addiction". No, really, it's actually an ADDICTION for a certain number of people. A desire to buy the next newest thing that is SO strong, it's just as strong as the addictions held by those addicted to smoking, drugs, gambling, and more.
There are addicts groups for just about everything now. I think we need to start one for upgrade addicts so they can just realax with what they already have and enjoy it, rather than constantly thinking about "what's next"?
An additional tragedy to the upgrade mania is that most people will just keep buying minute variations of the same thing. When a post on nextgreatcamera.com makes their SLR feel inadequate, they get another SLR. They'd never get a compact camera, videocam, panorama camera etc.
They never switch their mode of operation. No new skills, just different button configurations to do the same thing. When all you do is bang one tin drum after another, you'll never end up with a saxophone solo.
I feel that it is very important to try different approaches and different media in the formative years of any artist. The resulting eclectic bag of experiences and skills will later help to perfect the method you settle down on. Or maybe I'm just terrified of painting myself into a corner.
With regards to digital, there were very good reasons to upgrade on a regular basis up until recently. It wasn't until 2-3 years ago that Digital really started to become mature and where upgrades stopped netting you large increases in camera performance, usability and image quality.
That said, unless you need HD video or very high speed AF or framerates, upgrading regularly has lost its value. This years crop of cameras is essentially last years crop with minor improvements. And the same goes for last years cameras.
And due to that I've gone from someone who changed cameras on average every 6 months to someone who has pretty much settled on a pair of cameras that work well and intends to work with that pair for the forseeable future. Even if a massive increase in camera performance hits the market it would be hard to justify paying for since my current cameras handle all my needs quite well and in fact are mild downgrades from my previous camera (which was a superb performer, but too large and heavy for regular use in my current circumstances).
Some upgrades are good, some aren't. With the Panasonic GF1 there is finally a digital camera that is both easy and fun to use and has decent image quality. But I dig what you say. One of my favourite philosphers, Georg Henrik von Wright, wrote an essay called the Myth of Progress which says it all really. Making things better ain't the problem, it's the speed at which it happens. The world is heading for environmental armageddon as a result of all the useless shit we produce.
Why such hostility? You don't like the new stuff, don't buy it.
It's a fundamental of the market that mfgs. must update their products to compete for whatever buyers are in the market. So product lines will change, or die.
If this causes some people to change more than they need to, so be it.
Why do you care? So people stop running after the upgrade treadmill - there would still be upgrades of all living product lines just to win the business of people buying 1st products, or replacing worn out ones. Whether other people spend too much money on upgrades or not won't much affect your circumstance.
And if people get a bigger kick from buying and playing with cameras than from attempts at making "Art" - so what? If they all gave up photography entirerly, so what?
Are you just made because you'd like the new lightroom but have to buy a new computer to run it?
I'm in the "upgrade every 3rd or 4th product cycle" group... when you do upgrade make sure that it is for something that fixes a major problem you have been experiencing... in between just watch the boobs throw money away ... and get a grip...
"It's a fundamental of the market that mfgs. must update their products to compete for whatever buyers are in the market."
And that is the flaw in capitialism, constant expansion which is in fact unsustainalbe.
As far as camera's go I doubt that half the "upgraders" have mastered all that their current cameras are capable of, let alone what they are capable of. It's the infinite and futile search for the one-button pefect photo machine.
While I normally enjoy your writing and occasionally ranting, this entry struck me as pure curmudgeonly whining. Anyone who thinks software manufacturers make upgrades just to make money missed the boat by a mile -- improvements in software make our job as photographers so much more interesting and creative. Unless, of course, you're a film dinosaur (I had to say that) and prefer smelly chemicals. Your diatribe reminds me uncomfortably of right-wing religious nutcases and the Taliban, for whom their way of thinking is the only correct way, divinely sanctioned, unquestionably ideal. Wrong in all cases. Stick with what you know and like if you want, but don't begrudge the rest of us upgrades and new, and better, equipment. We have one shot at life—let us enjoy it.
Honeybadger, you have to realize that this is a Anti Capitalist blog. A lot of folks here believe that big government is the answer to everything. If the government would just make us a camera, it would be the best and last for 20 years. Plus they would give one to everyone for free.
Mark, I find it quite funny and ironic that a post about equipment gets you five to six times more responses than your normal "art of photography" type posts! :)
And Ron, I'm one of those anti-capitalist folks, but I'm anti-gouvernment too - in the sense that we need less of both. Go figure that out!