So is it worth it? (to persue a hobby in holography) February 23 2003 at 8:49 PM
Parallax (no login)
Someone on here posted that holograms are only bought by fools, children and the parent's of children (I assume he means for their kids)
So if you spend a good deal of time and money on this hobby are you a fool?
My opinion is no. I see holograms as art. I'd rather look at a good hologram than a Van Gogh or Rembrant or what have you.
Bit of backround info: I'm new to holography. Have not made one yet. I've only seen holograms at an exhibit in the museum of holography in NYC once and was very impressed at the time.
I think that comment was made by HoloDisc, who has an off-beat sense of humor, and a provocative style of prose.
Don't go away. We need people like you to revive holography. Now the museum of holography closed some years ago. I am glad you still have the bug. Is it not sad the new generation will not have the chance to see the same holograms and be inspired? Hopefully, with support of new people like yourself we can bring that back.
The comment was made about starting and running a holography business. This ain't easy! We are all fascinated with the medium and we all love the end product, but it's a hard sell to the public as more than one holographer has found. As a hobby, it's absolutley worth it! It's got something for everyone from the scientist to the artist to those of us who spend half a night adjusting a single mirror! A succesful hologram also gives you a great sense of achievement and is beautiful to look at. No holographer I've talked to, from the 'big names' to the unknowns, from the succesful to the struggling, has ever regretted going into it. I also believe the holographic community has a great community spirit. I've heard someone say that this must have been what the early days of electricity were like. A bit fanciful, maybe, but I think it may be true.
I share your sentiments, Dinesh, well put. And I think most of us agree, indeed it is worth it! As a hobby or a business or an addiction. And the limits to holography are gradually fading. Compare to ten years ago - the prospects for full colour, access to low cost CW lasers with ample coherence length, advances in pulse lasers, the new ability to share and access information. Imagine ten years from now.
It's still "early days" for holography, perhaps comparable to where colour photography was in the years around 1900. Lots of technical issues still to work out, still not mainstream in the public's eye, and still a question mark in its relation to fine art.
So what exactly does "the public" think of holography? Amongst holographers themselves, and I think it's fair to include serious collectors, it's fairly straightforward. Whether you just bought your first box of film, or are one of the old-timers first drawn into it in the 60's or 70's, or someone in between (like myself) - I don't think it matters - we've been bitten by a strange bug.
The public is another matter. A small minority can't get enough and perhaps end up being avid collectors, others are at least thrilled enough with a good hologram to consider it an investment as a Christmas gift. But most seem to ooh and awe in passing and then move on, perhaps to the Imax theatre or home to a "stimulating" game on their PC monitor. In a "point-and-shoot" world, with easy cameras and inexpensive video recorders and flashy, colourful displays on screens everywhere, holography has a lot of competition for our visual appetites.
What can be done about that? An earlier post mentioned something about the word "holography" being a bit of a 'no-no' word in marketing circles. Has the public gotten so badly misinformed about holography as that? I don't know. Can someone comment on that?
In my own experience almost everyone I've spoken to has loved them, when shown good examples. There's a genuine interest, but 3D for the sake of 3D doesn't cut it. What does is an image (be it a photograph or whatever) that evokes a real response over and over when viewed. Like an Ansel Adams landscape. Of course it's the image. The fact that it includes a third dimension is really only an additional facet to the piece, in the same way that Leonardo's sfumato was (Italian meaning "vaporous, hazy, misty"). His technique was hard to put into words, but it was obvious when viewed.
One way to look at the great paintings of the Renaissance is to see the very successful merging of two essentials: the unique skill of the painter, combined with the defining subject matter of the paintings - here being the (mostly) religious themes prevalent in the culture.
Perhaps display holography will find a similar thrust as limitations fade (vis-a-vis choice of subject material). Continuing development of the unique expression of skills we as holographers have at our fingertips, combined with creating something powerful within the image itself is needed to make the public take notice. And there are growing signs that we're on the way.
Great to hear from others with an incurable passion for this art (art in the broadest sense).
Some comments:
The general public very rarely sees holograms of a quality to impress them. Neither technical nor creative. I think and hope that there is a place for holography, even in this interactive world. So I want to see more exposure of the public to the great holograms that have been made over the last 20-30 years.
I agree that great works are a combination of content, and intimate knowledge of the craft of holography. I have no claims to being a creative holographer, but I know something about the science and the craft, and I hope to do my best to spread the few morcels which I can contribute. In my opinion there is not enough literature to help artists get the most out of the medium. So I want to encourage this in the months and years to come. There are a lot of people around, like yourself, with a lot of knowledge which should be available to the new generation of holographers.
<In my opinion there is not enough literature to help artists get the most out of the medium. So I want to encourage this in the months and years to come.>
I agree there is a lot lacking regarding tips and trix for the artist holographer. All the books I´ve read mainly describe the "ordinary" techniques and setups. My fascination and interest in holography is definitely NOT the porcelain cats, but rather the possibility to "sculpt" with light itself. I want to see more stuff like Rudie Berkhout´s Event Horizon hologram and descriptions of how they are made. IMO these kind of holograms is what really makes holography stand out as art. You can look into another world that is and isn´t at the same time. So I hope we will see a growing community exploring the artistic possibilities of holography, and I will share whenever I have something useful to contribute with. (Still learning the basics... )
> I've heard someone say that this must have been what the early days of electricity were like. A bit fanciful, maybe, but I think it may be true.
The early days of electricity were similar in that small inventors were coming up with small devices that they were trying to sell to the public as a sort of technomagic or wishing desperately for a big name to pay them for 'it' in some significant way. From the facile perspective that sort of 'looks' like holography in the making, but its not. The differen ce is... in the early days of electricity, the big names were trying to use the patents to contain as much of everything as they could. Small inventors were constantly squashed by the courts, and big names were making big dollars which made it possible t o set up huge mass production intellectual property mills where scientists, engineers and technicians worked for survival dollars and assigned all their rights of invention to the employer. Again this sounds like any standard employment agreement in tod ay's hi-tech reality, but then...holographers don't work for anyone...well, almost none of them. Holographers work in this amazing vacuum of many serendiptuous occurrences. First, the patents are stupid and only marginally defendable, along with the fa c t that the patent holders haven't shown much interest in excluding the world from the practice of their technologies. Also the lack of patent position clarity, led to pushing much of the state-of-the-art in holography... into the 'underground'. And wh il e this could be construed as similar to the early age of electricity inventors, its not...why? you may ask...because of ‘modern telecommunications’. It became 'easier' in the last half of the 20th century to 'publish' results then it could even have b een imagined in the first half! Thus MANY key pieces of the holographic technology that makes all the rest of it possible, were released into the public domain! The big companies of today's holographic community MOSTLY stand on 20 foot stilts! hoping that no one brings up one thing or another that will destroy their ability to convince all the poorly educated buyers interested in securing 'exclusivities and security', that they actually could be toppled by the smaller rabble with relevant public domain pitch forks! THERE IS NO EDISON...controlling the future of holography, of course, sadly to me, in turn, there is no TESLA doing battle with the 'dragon', huge singular intelligence armor in place and flexible, low risk innovation sword in hand. For th e hobbyist, this means that on the small scale, one can move around comfortably and work in a somewhat relaxed state while they experiment and innovate, ...build skills and test markets... because no one is going t o come knocking at their door asking for a 'piece of the action'...well, other then the IRS that is. lol
So then, ....as a hobby?, its 'neat'. As a field of study?, 'its cool!'. As an important tool for approaching almost ANY other scientific endeavor?, 'its CRITICALLY USEFUL!' and as a business? 'only hard work, smarts! and time...will tell?! But keep in mind: As far as a market is concerned, there are presently 6.2 billion people on this planet, in 10 years there will be 7 billion.
http://www.census.gov/i pc/www/worldpop.html
That's n early one billion new children! (and the corresponding parent s of those children)...and in addition, there are maybe 5 billion fools too?! lol ......
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