{"id":9954,"date":"2014-10-16T19:03:34","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T01:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jbhphoto.com\/blog\/?p=9954"},"modified":"2018-08-22T14:08:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T20:08:34","slug":"the-ew-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/16\/the-ew-test\/","title":{"rendered":"THE EW TEST"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I am fascinated with all of the deeply technical discussions on some of the photography chat sites.\u00a0 Seems there are those that want to dissect every minute detail of the process.\u00a0 They want to over-analyze everything from camera focus, to lens sharpness, to even how a shutter works.\u00a0 We have those that argue about filter factors, meter calibration, and one instance of bellows extension being calculated to one eighth of a stop.\u00a0 All fine and dandy if you are into engineering.\u00a0 But my question is, what does this have to do with the finished print?\u00a0 That photo mounted and hanging on the wall either does it, or it fails.\u00a0 If it fails, is it some technical problem?\u00a0 If so, do you need to do some more math? If it is successful, does it matter what the technical details really entail?<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nI come from an engineering background.\u00a0 I love photography because it is an escape from all of the numbers and rigid thinking involved in engineering.\u00a0 Creating art is strictly a right brain experience. . . if you try to inject engineering, you kill the process.\u00a0 Sort of like having to explain a joke.\u00a0 It does not work!<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nIt is true that I do engineer certain aspects of my photography.\u00a0 But I do it for the purpose of eliminating the engineering from the creative process.\u00a0 I want the act of making a photograph to be completely transparent with respect to all distractions of the mechanical process.\u00a0 In other words, I do the engineering in the shop and when I go out to make images, I leave all that technical chatter behind.<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nAs I said, I find all of the extreme dissection of the mechanics somewhat fascinating, but I believe it is totally unnecessary.\u00a0 In fact I find it extremely detrimental to the process of creative art.\u00a0 Yet, there are those times I just have to read the deeply technical discussions, mainly for my entertainment. \u00a0<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThis is where I think of Edward Weston.\u00a0 If you have studied the man and his life work, you know of his dedication to the medium of the photographic art form.\u00a0 You also know that he was extremely limited in his comprehension of anything mechanical.\u00a0 He only drove a car once in his lifetime.\u00a0 If his camera broke, he had no idea of how to repair it.\u00a0 His darkroom was a place of extreme simplicity.\u00a0 He was all about making photographs.\u00a0 I really believe that for him, the mechanics was more of a hindrance than even a curiosity.\u00a0 He did not understand it, and he was not interested.<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nWhen it comes to the way I work and think about photography I have devised a test that helps me sort out what is really necessary and what is just a lot of distraction.\u00a0\u00a0 I use what I call \u201cThe EW Test.\u201d\u00a0 In keeping with the Weston simplicity in thinking, when I encounter some deeply technical aspect of photography, I simply ask myself;\u00a0 \u201cWould this matter to Edward?\u201d\u00a0 If I can answer YES, then maybe I should explore it in more detail.\u00a0 If the answer is NO, then I file it away as BS and not relevant.\u00a0 I believe that our lives are complicated enough as it is today.\u00a0 I have to borrow a quote that an old friend uses on his e-mail footer;<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\n“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”\u00a0 -Leonardo da Vinci-<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThink about it. . . you may find that more concentration on your art and less time studying the engineering just may be the ticket to more creativity and less time wasted engineering.<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nJB<\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am fascinated with all of the deeply technical discussions on some of the photography chat sites.\u00a0 Seems there are those that want to dissect every minute detail of the process.\u00a0 They want to over-analyze everything from camera focus, to lens sharpness, to even how a shutter works.\u00a0 We have those that argue about filterContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[16,17,18,20,41],"class_list":["post-9954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-photography","tag-film-photography","tag-fine-art-photography","tag-jb-susan-harlin","tag-ulf-photography","tag-view-camera","no-thumb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nTHE EW TEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am fascinated with all of the deeply technical discussions on some of the photography chat sites. 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