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Henry
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 29, 2005 - 11:30 am: | 
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It never really occured to me until WernerJB mentioned D Mitchel's words "a spiritual exercise" in another thread. But we really are writing this book: "Zen and the Art of Camera Maintenance". It has no one author. We each are continually passing the baton. Sometimes it is passed way the other side of the world.
The way we conduct ourselves here says a lot. We are an international community brought together on common cyber ground to accomplish a shared goal. What is that shared goal? To fix cameras? Well, on the surface, yes. But I get the feeling we are fixing more than that. We are a small, little forum so mountains will not be moved...but...
A Palestinian was here and got his camera fixed. An Israeli was here for the same purpose. Likewise people from Pakistan and India. Earlier this year I sent a part (actually a whole sub-assy) of a Minolta XE to an Iraqi...and my country was/is fighting his. This list could go on and on. If each of us thinks really hard, we can probably remember helping someone we don't even know, who lives some place we'll never go, fix their camera. That is a very special thing to accomplish.
It is special because cameras are special. A camera freezes a moment of our lives and preserves it until we are really ready to appreciate the memory. We, in essence, are helping to fix peoples memories. And that is a very, VERY special thing to accomplish.
Maybe it is time a few of the authors become known.
Henry |
Glenn Middleton
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 29, 2005 - 04:07 pm: |
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Within this Forum, unfettered by dogmas of Religion or State we treat each questioner for what they really are; a fellow enthusiast who has a problem or is in need of advice. We see no ethnic or religious barriers and this will hold true if the 'members/contributors' actually met to discuss the problems. We have a common interest which is basically the same the world over. Normally the question of which make is best does not arise, it is more a question of which repair method is best. Common ground on which good friendships can be built, no matter how our respective States or Governments are posturing at that particular moment.
The question is (I have alluded to this before on another thread) why this Forum is special, because special it is. I am a new comer compared with many and in one sense prescribe to writer Roger Hicks' view of forums. He would rather discuss problems and swap ideas over a pint. So would I, but here my argument shoots itself in the foot. How would I have 'met' all the people on this Forum if I followed the 'over a drink' path?
I have looked at many forums, not only photography in its many forms but others on other topics of interest. This is the only one that I have contributed to.
I do not really care for the computer, still prefer the printed page, but can use them as well as anybody. So it is not this aspect that puts me off many sites. Perhaps it is the cluttered look and tone of the postings. This Forum has a friendly and competent look about it. Well that is what drew me to it, and is I suspect why an awful lot of people with broken digital point and shoot cameras ask for help. The sites that should help them are just too off putting, for whatever reason.
I gather from a Swedish gent, who contacted me via this Forum that there is a Swedish proverb that goes something like 'Whilst one lives one learns'. To borrow my contact's words, 'I must be alive because I learn something every day from the Forum'. |
WernerJB
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 30, 2005 - 02:48 am: |
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This, Glenn, is exactly what I like about this place, and why I appreciate this forum: I feel I am in good hands so to speak, and even if there is no immidiate or direct response to the question in my posting I am being cared about when I have a problem I cannot solve on my own. Because then I know that either nobody has ever had the same question or knows that type of camera from the inside.
A fireside chat or any other face-to-face communication would of course be what everybody preferred, but the nature of things demands we have to admit our limitations, so using the computer as a means of communication is bridging a lot of otherwise irreconcilable gaps or differences between "Us" & "Them" (Henry's examples positively speak for themselves), if you like.
I would never have got into contact with people from almost half around the globe, if things weren't what they are. In my understanding this compassionately helping each other (no business or other such interests!) can help people reduce xenophobia, camera repair is a peaceful activity, as it requires and fosters rational skills, patience and human understanding. |
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