Creative Activities

Photography has been a big focus for me but it brings up more questions than answers. A lot of people seem to focus on the tool. And since the tools have some non-trivial degree of complexity, people also obsess about the techniques. There are also a lot of utility to photographs for daily life and events. In this sense, the aesthetics is the verisimilitude of the image to the eyes’ perception and the extend it conjures up memories, thoughts, and feelings. This involves creative efforts in the same way cooking a meal could benefit from technical precision and to be within range of the desired effects. The same way computer programming and cooking requires a formulation of steps and components. The desired effects are more the result of the science than the art.

What if you were to draw a portrait instead of taking a photo of the person? It starts with a blank page. The desired degree of realism dictates techniques and tools beyond using a pencil, but the desired effects dictate what will be drawn: is it a caricature? is it a cartoon? is it going to show certain emotions? etc. The creative efforts involved here are arbitrary, less structured, and fundamentally different.

I want to delineate the difference between the aesthetic of algorithmic or highly technical activities, as appreciated by the creator, and the aesthetic of ideas expressed through those activities, experienced by the viewer. What about the viewer of the former and the creator of the latter? The viewer could identify with the creator of the former; but the creator of the latter can only hope to be effective in their expression. This asymmetry categorizes a lot of photography as distinctively different than what I want to make.