Perfection is Overrated

Lauren in Chicago

There are three types of photography sites: those that concentrate on gear, those that concentrate on technique, and those that concentrate on photos.  The technique and photo sites are generally a wash as they often overlap but the gear sites greatly outnumber the other two, unfortunately.  I say this all somewhat sheepishly as I tend to frequent the gear sites much more than the photo sites even though I think that the photo sites are without question more worthwhile, at least in an artistic sense. 

I think this is partly because photography is almost unique in the arts that it requires both some artistic ability and technical/mechanical ability too.  This attracts lots of people who obsess over measuring results in order to seek technical perfection.   The Canon 5D3 has 23 megapixels but the Nikon D800 has 36 so the Nikon has to be better, at least for now.  Is this lens sharp enough? Don't know if it is?  Well, then get a sturdy tripod and photograph a brick wall.  Yup, do it again at all apertures and focal lengths and then look at them at full magnification in Photoshop.  Keep doing this because it'll make your pictures more technically perfect.  Yup, corner-to-corner, edge-to-edge sharpness in all its 36 megapixel glory, or 23 if you're a fanboy. [continued after the break]



Seriously, if you read these sites you'll come away thinking that dumping $5,000 to pick up the next CaNikon 5D800Pro will be just the thing you need in order to be a "real" photographer.  Well, don't believe the hype because technical perfection is way, way overrated.

Beauty in photos, just as in people, often is a result of imperfections.  The motion blur, the high-contrast lack of dynamic range, the ordinary person caught in an extraordinary way, all these are imperfect and all can be beautiful.

My favorite album cover of all time, after Dark Side of the Moon, is London Calling, by The Clash.  "The album's front cover features a photograph of (Paul) Simonon smashing his Fender Precision Bass against the stage at The Palladium in New York City on 21 September 1979 during the Clash Take the Fifth US tour.  Pennie Smith, who photographed the band for the album, originally did not want the photograph to be used. She thought that it was too out of focus, . . . In 2002, Smith's photograph was named the best rock and roll photograph of all time by Q magazine, commenting that 'it captures the ultimate rock'n'roll moment - total loss of control'".  So much for perfect focus.

^{The photo above is of my daughter, Lauren, caught in a moment of happiness in Chicago just north of Millennium Park.  I had just gotten my Leica M8 the previous month and really wasn't to adept at focusing by hand.  Still, I love it as it captures her expression perfectly even if (and maybe because) it's technically imperfect.  Perfection is overrated.}