I think the primary reason that I got hooked on this hobby was my 10 year background as an amateur photographer. If you think audio guys are an odd bunch, go hang out in photo forums. Photographic hobbyists obsess over methodologies, systems and outputs just as much as you guys do. Endless discussions on sharpness, resolution, tonal balance and contrast of lens and paper. Synergy between lens, film, chemicals and paper. Vibration isolation for tripods and enlargers. You have treble, mids and bass. We have highlights, mid tones and shadows. And like audio, we also have endless (and often more heated) debates about analogue vs. digital.

One deals with aural reproduction while the other with visual reproduction, so there’s no surprise on the similarities. There are differences though, and two stands out for me.

The first is the lack of women participation in audio. This hobby is beyond the description of “male dominated.” When I was studying Engineering in university, we had a female population rate of 20%. THAT was male dominated. Audio can’t even claim that; it’s closer to being “male exclusive”.

I don’t buy the argument that women are turned off by audio because of its technical nature, of having to deal with various electrical and mechanical components. I’m taking an advance black and white darkroom course right now at a local university and almost half the class are women. And let me tell you, it’s not a fluff course. The details that we get into on the mechanics of the enlarger and lens, interaction between paper and different chemical combinations, contrast/density control, and mapping of tonal ranges from subject to film to paper is enough to make your head spin. But yet, the women in the course dive into all this with as much enthusiasm as the men.

So what give? Women appreciate excellent musical presentations just as much as men. In fact, on average, women have better hearing than us and should be able to appreciate all the tweaks and voodoo magic that we obsess about. You can argue that women are more likely to be turned off by the shear amount of money required for a high-end system, but we all know (the smart ones at least) that amazing music can be reproduced on the cheap.

The second difference I see between audio and photography is the issue of interpretation. Photography deals with the (re)production of visual moments and it’s acceptable (and encouraged) for the photographer and printer to put their own interpretation into the process. I’m not talking about PhotoShop stuff where you cut and paste subjects, change their positions, size, motion, and/or colour to recreate a completely different scene. I’m talking about subtle controls such as density balance, contrast, paper texture, grain resolution and tones to establish the emotion and character of a photo. I can take the same negative and reprint in five different ways, and each version still be considered correct. There are certainly wrong ways to create a photo, but there is no one right way. It’s all about objectives and taste.

However, in audio, hobbyists are obsessed with faithful reproduction. Systems that have their own colour, characters and personality are marginalized. Oh sure, they’re fun and exciting and sound great, but they’re not accurate, so they can’t be taken seriously. No respect at all. It seems to me that the upper echelon of audio systems are more interested in the process than the results. What about objectives and taste?

I just want to end off by describing one of the biggest milestones that I hit as a photographic hobbyist. It happened three years ago when I put my camera away and stopped reading photo magazines for over six months. Up until that point, I read every magazine and drooled over ads for the latest and greatest. I constantly hung out at equipment stores and surfed on the net looking for bargains, for that new piece that will allow me to take better photos. After six months of being “out of touch”, I picked up my camera and just shot. It was at that point when I was concentrating on using what I had, instead of looking for that next upgrade, that I found myself taking the best photos of my life and enjoying the process more than ever. Sadly, I’m not there yet with my audio hobby, but I do look forward to getting there.

Gar.