Fuji X-Pro1

In the comments from my previous post on the Fine Art Photographer x Fujifilm X Series Photographs, it is apparent that some people don’t care for some or all of the photographs themselves. That’s fine, for of course art is highly subjective and not all things will appeal equally to each individual viewer. I think that’s great, as it leads to an intensely wide and extremely diverse body of work, even when restricting the selection of art to the relatively narrow field of photography. At the time I was viewing the photographs in question, I did something I almost never do. Basically, I squinted with my eyes in an attempt to reduce the compositions themselves into block elements. I did this to render them devoid, as much as possible, of detailed visual information. The fine information that photographs (or any work of art) contain all help to build meaning or inform interpretation, whether this fine detail be such things as texture, small elements, smaller objects themselves, etc. My aim, while doing this, was to see the photographs as basic graphic compositions. I did this to help me understand why the photographs “worked,” because, I felt, they all in fact did work. In Japan there is an abundance of photographic publications, be they magazines, mooks (magazine books) or books. They cover absolutely every conceivable photographic related theme, including composition. Right now at my somewhat rural local Tsutaya bookstore there are two composition books available (see photos below). Typically, such books contain what I call ‘maru batsu examples.’ Maru is a Japanese term for a circle, and when used as an actual circle while marking (grading) something, means “correct.” On the other hand, batsu is an “x” mark used to indicate “incorrect” when marking. Typically, the composition books contain many pairs of similar photographs. One of each pair is (purportedly) good and indicated as such with a small maru mark, and one of each is (again, purportedly) bad and likewise indicated as such, this time with a small batsu mark (a triangle would mean half-way good or kinda okay). There is almost always accompanying text to explain or argue the point. The other important feature of these books is the visual rule section. This contains graphic examples of composition rules (with accompanying text). Boxes are used to represent photo frames, and are filled with various straight and curved lines, circles, boxes and blobs, all to show compositional elements and how they can be ideally arranged to produce (supposedly) good compositions. Let’s be clear here, this goes way beyond the usual rule of thirds or golden mean offerings, and the rules given can be bewilderingly complex and the compositional dissection quite minute. Each rule is always accompanied by example photographs to illustrate the point. Again, see the photos below........

I have no way of knowing, without considerable effort, whether or not Fujifilm updates firmware more often than other camera companies, but it seems to me, from gliding around the internet, that Fujifilm is known for frequently updating their X-Series firmware. While waiting in line to try out the new X-100s and X 20 at CP+ in Yokohama the other week, I was talking with Richard Butler of DP Review about Fujifilm’s firmware updates. Although I didn’t mention it at the time, during this conversation the idea occurred to me that Fujifilm’s actions regarding firmware might be a tangible manifestation of the idea of kaizen. I thought today I might briefly expound upon this. While talking with Richard, I brought up the possibility (as in, speculation, not an established fact) that some manufacturers might be reluctant to update firmware, as it represents, in a sense, an admission that things were not correct or perfect at the time of product release. It can certainly be interpreted as such. Consumers can at times be critical when firmware is updated, questioning why problems had not been eliminated before product release.* It was at this point that I reflected (to myself) that an understanding of the idea of kaizen might help explain repeated firmware updates and to mollify those with objections to this process.

 

I’m not really qualified to comment on Japanese business practises or the Japanese language,** but kaizen basically is the business philosophy of ‘continuous refinement or continuous change for the better.’ My iOS dictionary (“Imiwa?” – based upon Jim Breen’s JMdict project) defines kaizen as “betterment, improvement.” It then expands thusly, “kaizen (Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement).”

The word itself is made up of two kanji (Chinese logograms used in Japanese writing). See photo below.

kai / arata (on & kun readings respectively): reformation, change, modify, mend, renew, examine, inspect, search.zen / yo: virtuous, good, goodness.

From the above, it can be seen that, linguistically, kaizen contains no implication of the idea ‘continuous.’ This is understood as being an integral part of the process however (once you accept the word as representing a ‘philosophy’ – something which is also not implied in the word itself).

One of the key points of kaizen is that these continuous efforts at improvement are applied everywhere, not only to problem areas. Thus, everything is (hopefully) improved, even the parts that are already good.

Wikipedia offers a good and reasonably short overview of kaizen, including its interesting, post WWII, US occupation origins. Kaizen, as practised by Japanese companies, is an overreaching approach, applied or practised by every single worker, at all levels, system wide. Thus, strictly speaking, I’m not sure that firmware updates in of themselves are an example of kaizen. However, the frequent refinement of the firmware itself most probably is, and Fujifilm can only be applauded in extending this concept out to cameras already in the hands of consumers, rather than waiting for the cycle of new generation releases. If nothing else, an understanding of kaizen might offer a convenient framework for interpreting why Fujifilm frequently updates firmware, rather than attempting to ‘get it right’ the first time round. It was ‘right,’ now it’s ‘more right.’ * having said that, I’m sure most people are delighted to have their firmware updated. ** at first, considering my truly abysmal ability in this area, I was reluctant to expound on the Japanese language. However, when I contrasted this with the fact that I’m blogging about a camera that I don’t even own, it didn’t seem so absurd after all. Typed with the help of Pearl Jam’s Alive and The Eastern’s Hope and Wire & The Letting Go