catatananalog

This photo is bizzare but I am quite fond of it. First, all the ducks look rather messy. Their feathers are messy. Second, they look like they need a bath. Which is odd cause don't ducks take baths most of the time?

Third, they are standing in front of the dirtiest mattress. There is a dirty cloth. What is going on? Oh, I am not sure. But throughout the day that I took the photo, I kept thinking about the cute, rural ducks.

It's really getting into me. This whole taking photos on film and wait. Cause I can't see the result immediately. Nobody can. The whole process of developing negative film is backward. Unlike digital. But is it though? Is it backward?

Cause the negative turns to positive. The positive can't be achieved without the negative. There is a negative first. Then there is a process to develop the negative. Then, there is a positive. Just like everything in the world. But we are given positive all the time. Million of positives. Million of instant positives. Million of no process positives.

I want to jump off of a cliff with all the fake positives that show up out of thin air. Everything that shows up out of thin air hurts. Digital photos. Take millions of meaningless digital photos. Cause why not. So easy. Yet so soul crushing.

Email. Out of thin air. Scam emails. I have never met someone who adores email. Nor emailing. Nor receiving emails. But what about receiving a handwritten letters? Picking, wraping, then sending a gift? Grinding coffee beans, boil water, then manually brew it? Ah, the smell of freshly ground coffee.

Ask a librarian or a bookstore clerk for references? Then finding the right book to answer your curiosity? One of my favourite books is Kepikiran Dangdut. Someone who put an effort to write about the anthropological and social context of Dangdut would never be able to compete with any AI search. One is from negative to positive; research to writing to editing to publishing. Probably go back and forth for a while in between. The other is out of thin air – positive; blindly searching database without meaningful comprehension. The book does exist. Google it (oh, the irony, Google it). Buy it.

I can go on and on about this eureka moment for me. But in essence, negative first-then positive. If positive comes out of thin air, avoid it like a plague. It will harm you as it harmed me to almost jumping off of a cliff.

@catatan_analog

@catatanbabiguling