Feelings vs. Technique
I got invited to join a Flickr group called “Feelings Not Technique.” No doubt I am over-analyzing this, but having the time to really think about things in depth and do things like that is one of the benefits of being one of the elders of society and retired from having to go do a job each day.
The real masters, whether the renaissance painters and sculptors, or the greatest photographers, have been good at BOTH parts. The creative-artistic part is certainly essential, but equally important is the technical aspect. If the painter gets his angles, depth perception, colors, and shadows wrong, his feelings are overlooked. The same goes with a photographer who does not master the technical concepts like focus, exposure, depth of field, lens distortion, color saturation, sharpness, etc.
I have always admired artists and their creativity, probably because this is not my strong area. My interests and abilities lie more in the technical part. The geek or nerd part. Discovering a really sharp new lens is downright exciting to me. And the details of CCD and CMOS light-to-electricity conversion chips is so neat that I sometimes dream about it. Computer software which helps my technician kind of person increase our creativity is also enjoyable.
It is wonderful when I manage to create something that is both artistic and beautiful, but also has very with deep vibrant colors and is sharply in focus. But much of the time the creative part of it is just luck with me. I seem to get this creativity and quality through quantity.
I consider the technical part to be nose-to-the-grindstone stuff. Read that technical manual one more time and maybe you will get it. Hard work, long hours, and dedication.
There is one other part that I hesitate to mention. Artistic people have a tendency towards lunacy and unhappiness. The Vincent Van Gogh phenomenon. And us not so creative (many would say not-so-bright) technical and nerdy types are far less afflicted with these terrors. But by forgoing the lows we also give up enjoying the extreme pleasures that beauty and creativity can give. It used to be called Manic/Depressive. The most recent politically correct words to describe the phenomenom is bi-polar disorder.
Stephen Fry is afflicted with this phenomenon. When interviewed in depth he had to admit though that as bad as the depression can be, that to overcome the depression he would absolutely not be willing to give up the wonderful pleasurable aspects of the manic portion of the cycle.
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