It?s all about the science

It’s all about the science

I’m starting my blog up again daily, more or less, and this piece explains why. I’m going to need something to fill the time when I’d normally be socialising and working with models. Some of you may want extra diversion from the routine of a lockdown world. Works for all of us.

As photographers, we rely on science and engineering. Although we don’t want to understand exactly how the sensor in our camera works, we rely on a small number of people understanding the process, and actually being passionate about it. We trust them to know how to make our cameras work, and work well.



The slightly-disparaging word for people who understand arcane stuff is ‘geeks’ – I’m an internal audit geek myself. The crucial thing about geekhood is that when the chips of any particular type are down, we turn to the relevant geek. In October 1997, when there were a series of allegations about theft and fraud in one department of the council I worked for, that was me.

Suddenly, the leader of the council, several directors and the chief executive really wanted to know what I thought about the situation, and what we should do. It took me aback – by several steps. They knew that responding to the problem required that every political and managerial decision needed to be taken in the light of the way the investigation had to run. The professional guidance for internal audit in the public sector mattered. Suddenly, the Nolan Principles had legs. (If you don’t know about them, please look them up. Simple, straightforward, incontrovertibly right: how people in the public sector should behave, now and then. Pretty good for the private sector as well, actually.)



As our country heads into another lockdown, we all need to look to the scientists (the virologists and epidemiologists), and to as the doctors and nurses, and the administrators who manage hospitals and can predict when we run out of beds, drugs, and ventilators. They won’t always be right, but they will be right much more often than the rest of us.

As we trust the engineers and science geeks to make our cameras take good pictures, we should look to the science geeks to tell us how to stay safe. My observation is that most people started wearing masks indoors in public spaces a couple of weeks back: that’s good. More may be necessary, and I’ve withdrawn from a long-planned social photographic event on Wednesday evening because it feels like an excessive risk to me and my family – as well as to the other people who would be present.

And treat yourself to a few hours learning a new processing technique over Christmas. You know it makes sense.