Why do we love old things so much?

40oz said:
As has been said, the satisfaction comes from the creating, not the having. The exciting part of a trip for me is the journey, not the destination.
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But is there no satisfaction or worth in the creation itself? Once you have taken a great picture, do you not enjoy looking at it and sharing it?

If it's all about the creating, why even bother keeping the results around?
 
cmedin said:
But is there no satisfaction or worth in the creation itself? Once you have taken a great picture, do you not enjoy looking at it and sharing it?

If it's all about the creating, why even bother keeping the results around?
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It's not that deep. I enjoy making pictures. It's not because I really need a nice picture. :)
 
FrankS said:
I'm glad you asked that because I was just thinking of it as I was making a potato salad for tonight's dinner. I do think that the amount of satisfaction obtained during, and at the end of a task, is proportional to the amount of responsibility and effort put into achieving it. Using an all manual camera is more satisfying to me than using an auto-everything film and especially digital camera.

(I've said it before and I need to say it again here: I fully understand the need for pros to go digital. For my own hobby (and limited amount of paid) photography though, I find film and wet darkroom to be the most satisfying for me.)

Imagine for a moment that every picture you took came out wonderfully perfect with no effort on your part but composing and pressing the button. How long before the photography becomes meaningless to you? Sure, you may do it to pay the bills and save a nest egg, but I'm sure the pleasure of creating would disappear. Satisfaction comes from striving, persevering, and being successful.

Tonight's potato salad is going to be great. It took over an hour to make. It is in the style my grandmother and mother made/make with celery, onion, pickle, carrot, peas, and apple. (I add red chilli pepper powder to make it spicy.) It will be very satisfying to eat with my family tonight, instead of a store-bought pre-made salad that I simply need to remove the plastic lid from.

My opinion only, and only in reference to myself.
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Bold - Absolutely, persevering is key to life. Successes are great, but so are the failures and all things in between. Like musical notes, successful as they are, they could be no more than noise without the nothingness between them. We need failures and perseverance.

Frank, I love your description of the potato salad...hey, does RFF have a recipe-sharing forum?:D
 
Dave, thanks. And I agree with you about how not just success is important. There can be no wave crest without a trough.
 
I have to agree that any device that's designed to be used manually is easier to use manually - compared to a device that has the "option" of manual control. I also like the immediacy of manual focus cameras - nothing annoys me more about modern AF cameras (digi or film, doesn't matter) is that delay between pushing the button and getting the shot. That said, there's times I'd like the convenience of a good modern DSLR - especially for sports events, but they're a small part of my photography.

Besides, I just like old stuff. The designs of the 50's and 60's really appeal, from cameras to cars to planes and trains. Can anyone tell me of a better looking camera than a Canon P, a better looking car than a Ferrari 250 SWB, or a better looking train than an early diesel electric? :)

Cheers,
Steve
(People just don't do nostalgia like they used to...)
 
I have to disagree with regard to the 'manual control' comments. I require manual control of my vintage cameras as well as my modern dSLRs. I have it, and easily so, with them.

Despite the lack of a knob to turn, it is astoundingly easy for me to set the f-stop and shutter speed on my Pentax *ist DS. I have plenty of manual-focus lenses, some from the M42 era and some from the P/K or P/KA era - all work fine. I have the added benefit of focus indication and ISO adjustment without changing a roll of film midway through. I have added a split-ring focus screen to increase my ability to focus manually.

No knobs, and no menus to traverse. It's quite easy. If I can do it, so can anyone who can use a camera.
 
I do not like old cameras because they are old. I like old cameras because they are shiny. :)

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I thought about a theory of design. There would be 4 era to design : pre-industrial before the 1920s : the object shows its inside, its function
1920s - end of 1970s Bauhaus : it gets a status of piece of art, and is thus treated as such : invention of design. Question of material isn't up to date yet. Bronze, brass, aluminium, titanium.
1980s : modernist, launched with the Canon T90. The camera behaves by itself, except for focusing, but it only a question of time. The link is being cut between the camera and the photographer. Also, plastic is cheaper and lighter than plain metal. It's not that heavy nor nice to hold.

1990s : age of individualism. Your camera (or car) is getting bigger and bigger : Nikon F5, Dynax 9 ; VW Golf II to Golf III... and you don't have any more link with the camera, that whizzes and shakes whitout much comment, you don't understand its mechanism anymore becausee it's so electronic.
The differences between a mechanical shutter and an electronic shutter are :
-the electronic shutter has a better accuracy
-you know that your the mechanism will close on the mechanical one since the clockwork has stopped whizzing.
End of the story : you get back to your M2 because you can understand it, because it is made so that it looks really beautiful (the chroming), and it's unobstrusive, so don't need to show what your camera is potentially capable of to take good photos.
Same for cars : the difference between a Mustang 1968 and a Mustang 2004 is that the Mustang 68 has a human feeling. It's a box with something inside, on which you have a controle - and you can understand.

Any comment?
 
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