Exceptional | 940
My Author Journey, Friday, August 25, 2017
# 940 (countdown)
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It’s not so often that people can look at a photo that could have been taken anywhere in the world (with its 7,5 billion human inhabitants) and say See, that’s my leg. Tattoos, apart from being a yet another form of expression and art, really personalize the parts of our bodies that otherwise are not personal. By adding a tattoo they have a really good chance of becoming private.
To take this photo I had to position myself in front of those characters and pretend that I’m doing something else on my iPod Touch (the device I still use to shoot my photos!, although on Tuesday I will switch to iPhone SE with built-in 12-megapixel camera — a jump from 8-megapixel iSight camera). I took several shots. Could have taken me two, maybe three minutes until I got the shot I wanted.
I wonder how I would take this photo if I held a regular camera (especially a bulky DSLR camera with a bulky lens protruding from it). Would I ask them if they’ll let me take the photo? Would they become impatient that it is taking me so long? Would they spoil the moment by becoming aware of the fact that they (their legs) are being stared at and obsessing that they must look good on that photo?
I want to expand on yesterday’s topic, say more about Philippe Petit and his life philosophy.
With all I possess (material assets) I could bet that after reading my entry from yesterday the majority of people on this planet (concerned and anxious parents in particular) would go “Oh, but he is Philippe Petit. He can live like this because he is who he is. The majority of people, on the other hand, can’t. They have to play by the rules, so to speak. They have to live like all “normal” human beings.”
Sorry but that’s a yet another bullshit narrative in most people’s heads. A nice justification for following the flock / yielding to this herd mentality.
We can feel more at ease by being able to throw out other scenarios, by convincing ourselves that they’re available only to the few lucky characters among us. I think we can even eliminate the regret by telling ourselves one of those nice little stories how we couldn’t have had or how we can’t or how we will never be able. That’s something most of us do all the time. We tell ourselves bullshit stories in order to stay where we are (in our comfort zones) or to evade the responsibility.
I believe that it’s way more likely that Philippe Petit is who he is today because his choices were different than the choices of the majority and he wasn’t born this special snowflake or this superhuman with superhuman abilities.
My take, most people have it backwards (or rather prefer to have it backwards). The theory that he (or other weirdos like him) can live like this because he is Philippe Petit is a lie we tell ourselves. It’s a bullshit narrative we built in our heads to hide the fact that we lack courage. It’s because he chose differently, not because he is so freaking special (as most of us would like to have it because then we can be let of the hook). As a society we even came up with a catchy name for it — we call it ‘cherry picking’, meaning we can relax because clearly we are not cut from the same cloth.
It is most people’s first line of defence — accusing others of ‘cherry picking’ / showing them completely useless examples of people who accomplished exceptional things (they’re useless to them because they are not cut from the same cloth).
I can’t tell you enough how much the ‘cherry picking’ defence pisses me off. I would sentence all those people who use it for exile in space in a different galaxy (so that they can no longer pollute our minds with such bullshit stories). Those who use this ‘cherry picking’ defence only justify and sanction in their own heads their choice (mark my words — it’s a choice!) to be average and follow the flock. And this mindset is exactly what will prevent them from ever becoming exceptional.
We are not born exceptional. We become exceptional as a result of making exceptional (uncommon) choices.
Reading.
In the Shadow of the American Dream: The Diaries of David Wojnarowicz (20 min; on scribd app).
Listening to audio.
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly (25 min, on my scribd app).
As we’ve learned from the steady democratization of other arts, soon you’ll be able to make music without being a musician. One hundred years ago, the only people technically capable of taking a photograph were a few dedicated experimenters. It was an incredibly elaborate and fussy process. It took great technical skill and greater patience before you could coax a picture worth looking at. An expert photographer might take a dozen photos per year. Today anyone with a phone — which is everyone — can instantly take a photo that is a hundred times better in most dimensions than one taken by the average professional a century ago. We are all photographers.
So too it will be for music. With new tools accelerating the fluid flow of bits and copies, we will all become musicians.
As music goes, so goes the other media, and then other industries.
Movies repeated the pattern. A movie was once a rare event, one of the most expensive products to produce. It took highly paid guilds of professionals to make even a B-rated movie. Expensive projection equipment was need to view it, so it was troublesome and rare to see a particular one. Then video cameras came along with file sharing networks, and you could watch any film anytime you wanted. A hundred million people became film students, starting to make their own videos and uploading them to YouTube in the billions. We are all filmmakers now.
I beg to differ (as to who becomes what). It’s not enough that some form of expression becomes ubiquitous and that it’s available for almost everyone. I understand he doesn’t mean all people without exception — he means most people in developed countries with access to all this new technology. Bet it’s not possible for people in North Korea to make anything they want and share it. But that’s not my point here — I understand he didn’t mean all people (it would mean he is a complete ignorant and he’s not).
I mean taking photos sporadically and merely for fun without treating it as something you want to master, without daily deliberate practice and the hunger for learning this thing (because you can, it’s so easy nowadays) does not make anyone a photographer (same for making films or music or writing just about anything — like the e-mails or text messages one sends to his / her work colleagues or friends). It’s not enough. It takes daily deliberate practice, immersing yourself in this thing you create and striving to be better and better each day, learning and trying new things, experimenting, failing.
In other words you are not a writer because you write business and personal e-mails or text messages each day. C’mon Kev! It’s like saying that all women on earth are make-up artists. And believe me they’re not.
Movies
Harry Benson: Shoot First (on Netflix). Watching it now for the second time. It is so good!
Meditating: 10 minutes (before falling asleep, on Headspace). Seventh day in a row now.
My today’s answers on Quora:
Answer to Should we do what we love or take the more practical path for a safe and secured future?
Answer to Should I pursue my passion even though there’s a slim chance that I’ll succeed?
Music for this writing session: Live With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra by Flight Facilities (on spotify). Glass Piano (Extended Version) by Philip Glass (on spotify).
My today’s route.



My today’s favorite.

My today’s photos on flickr Warsaw, August 25, 2017.

