In Tokyo, Longing for Old China.

This part was fascinating: "Back then, the Chinese didn't have the freedom of dress and everywhere I went, people wore just three colors: indigo, khaki and white," he said. "It was then that I discovered that uniformity can be beautiful, that a lack of choice actually contributed to beauty of design and the environment. The less colors people wore the more the landscape stood out and facial features became defined. It was a revelation for me."

A far cry from today I'd say.

Agreed. My last post was not meant in a negative way, simply that China has moved from one era to the next. In general, dress is a by product of the way people live.

As for your comment about how limits heighten creativity, I completely agree. Limits can be viewed as a type of stress or pressure and under these circumstances, amazing new things can come into being. While some people will be dominated by their boundaries, others will struggle to break out and explore simply because the boundary exists.

I think it's a really interesting topic, and it's one that I've discussed with my friend many times - usually in the form of digital SLRs vs. film SLRs. He believes that in the face of limitations, true creativity arises. The issue I take with this is that limitations always exist. Using technology, we're constantly trying to remove limitations, but the end result will never be that we've reached a limitless society, only that we have fewer, or differently perceived limitations than the generations before us. The article makes me imagine a crowd of people in indigo tunics and khaki pants working in a saturated green countryside, and it's a pleasing thought. But the image of thousands of people in indigo and khaki walking down the streets of Tokyo is somehow far less appealing. The visual pollution in big cities is overwhelming - non-uniform dress is one of the only ways to cope with it.

If Chinese are anything like Japanese, then the only things we going to see come out of China is more and cheaper of everything. Look at industrialized Japan and how much know-how are coming from there... I work with a lot of Chinese post grads , they are dominant work force in many research institutions and all I have to say : God save our research and development as they (Chinese) are incapable of independent thought.

Maybe independent thought is not necessary to develop/invent major things like the compass, sail boats, paper, chinese pottery, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Shades of Goethe: "In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister, Und das Gesetz nur kann uns Freiheit geben."

If you recall, in a pervious thread I asked about the quality of 35mm SLR vs. a Digital SLR. Since then, I've been thinking about it: I want a digital SLR to take pictures of models (work I do on the side), because digital makes it easier and more convenient; and cheaper as well.

Whereas when I shoot with my 35mm SLR, since I am more limited in the amount of pictures I can take, and because I then have to scan each photo and spend 2x + times editing them (when compared to digital SLR), I take my time more and come up with more creative and original shots.

I honestly think that limitations make one more creative.

Jon.

Since we've gone into DSLR vs Film, I have a couple of thoughts but no coherent arguments. I see these two as "mediums", each producing different results. To me, film is imperfection and imprecision but it has its place and because of its physical flaws, it is undoubtedly the more organic of the two mediums. However, I still prefer digital. When I first started photography, I cut my teeth on digital and I always went for the most perfect image possible with my equipment. However, as time went on I started experimenting with more idiosyncratic equipment like the Epson RD-1, vintage lenses and older fisheyes and found these to be much more interesting for me. ISO noise, significant vignetting, wonky white balance, soft corners but high contrast are perhaps limitations but I see them as features of the medium which I chose to embrace. Each person will react to the circumstances differently.

Where does creativity spring from? For me, awareness of limitations and how to interpret and live with them is where I consider myself being "creative". This is particularly in line with my view on men's clothing. Men's clothing is whole canon of limitations and rules but I see it more as a framework. I think: "I need to put on my shirt, tie, trousers, socks, jacket and it needs to fit in a certain way, such is the framework of men's clothing." and it evolves into "Why do I need to put on my shirt, tie, trousers, socks, jacket, pocket square, hat, bag, belt and tie clip in this way?" and so those limitations force me to think about it. I see it as a challenge and I want to explore but I still see the framework too and I want to see how I can do it my way.

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