[pure-silver] It depends...

Just an observation and a few thoughts for the new year...

Sometimes, pure-silver newsgroup conversation (and others) happen similar to
the following example:

Q1:  What do you recommend for 'XYZ'?
A1:  I recommend you do 'A' and 'B' but never 'C'.
A2:  It depends. If 'XYZ' is really 'XyZ', you can do 'C' without a problem.

Besides Q1 being happy to have gotten detailed information, several other,
not so beneficial, events can take place.

1. Q1 is confused and doesn't know what to do.
2. A2 feels good about himself, because he finally got his 2-cents in.
3. A1 is upset with A2, because he feels disputed and fires off another
it-depends note, confusing Q1 even more.

Option 1 is unfortunate, option 2 is missing the point and option 3 is just
plain wrong. My thoughts on this are:

1. The one asking the question should do so with as much information as
possible but without any hesitation to ask. We all have learned by watching,
reading, trying and asking.
2. The one answering the question should do so in consideration of the root
cause for the question. If someone asks for the time, don't tell him how to
make a watch.
3. An addition to an already made statement is rarely meant as a personal
attack, and if it is, ignore it. It often help people who answered the
original question to learn something themselves.


Photography is a fantastic hobby and this is a great forum (Thanks to Jim
for keeping it alive). The combination of art, physics, optics chemistry,
mathematics and others make it so exciting and invite people from very
different backgrounds, education and experience to enter and communicate.
However, in photography, everything depends on everything, and today's
leading-edge science may only get you a pitiful shaking-of-the head
tomorrow. Silver-based photographic science is mature but not rigid, still
evolving but unfortunately slowed-down by the attention to digital issues.
Today's decisions have to be based on today's knowledge. Tomorrow is another
day, and I'll take the liberty to change my mind then.


Now, go and have a great 2005 and remember...

Make your images full of imagination and your paper rich in silver.





Regards



Ralph W. Lambrecht





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