Hipsters and hasselblads

[Helge]

That certainly exists in many other genres. Just look at guys who ride Harleys or people who play golf. Both adorn themselves in costumes to gain acceptance from other costume wearers.

But most people who love Harleys really, really love them. Know a lot about them. Might even be able to repair them.
That’s very unhipster like.

With rare exceptions golfers might actually be a kind of pseudo hipster. Caddyshack tells the story of this wonderfully.

 

[VinceInMT]

But most people who love Harleys really, really love them. Know a lot about them. Might even be able to repair them.
That’s very unhipster like.

I wasn’t equating them to hipsters other than their fondness like dressing like each other. And, yes, they love them but it seems that also leads to their hating others, particularly Asian bikes.

There was an interesting study of the biker world by sociologists that listed the stratifications in the Harley world. On one end are the “outlaws” and on the other end the yuppies who don the the dew rags and chaps and are likely to trailer their bikes to Sturgis. That latter group is disliked by all others.

 

[Pieter12]

Non-conformist conformity is a strange phenomenon, but quite common. Like street fashion (Japanese Harajuku street fashion comes to mind).

Photos by Shoichi Aoki

 

[Helge]

Non-conformist conformity is a strange phenomenon, but quite common. Like street fashion (Japanese Harajuku street fashion comes to mind).

View attachment 310859

Photos by Shoichi Aoki

Something like this "cosplay plus" or punk has a lot more substance and "inner life" than the typical hipster scene.
Hipsterdom is a snarky simulacrum of subculture.

Punk was and still is highly creative and hugely influential in both music and fashion. While it was to a large degree driven by "money men" like Malcolm McLaren, these men didn't have their eyes solely on profit and marketability. That is a huge difference.

Harajuku clothing is very much inspired by Manga and Anime of course, but differs from cosplay in that it is completely free riffing and creative, often with subtle social commentary or a "joke". And it is/was contained to a small local area. The second they tried to market it and appropriate it, it died.

Hipsters don't really want, need or see anything. And they are proud of it too. They are just surly and mediocre behind their pastiche.

 

[pbromaghin]

I have a feeling that hipsters would also have animated discussions about what it means to be a hipster.
This will really date me, and may not resonate with those who are not in North America, but I can't resist asking:
"Would Maynard G. Krebs have been a hipster?"

Of course he would! He was the very embodiment of it as it was for a couple years or so.

 

[Pieter12]

Of course he would! He was the very embodiment of it as it was for a couple years or so.

The character was a Beatnik. Not quite the same.

 

[Roger Cole]

This is 2020. A "boomer" might be 70yrs old now.

Perhaps, but as someone who's 58 I call myself a member of "Generation Jones" not a boomer. I have friends both boomer and Gen-X and I have FAR more in common with the Gen-X crowd, so much so that I often say that, "Generation Jones are the elder vanguard of Gen-X."

Generation Jones - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

My dad was too young for WW2 and both Vietnam and the draft had ended well before I was old enough to be very concerned about them.

I "grew up photographically" with both TTL metering manual exposure and auto exposure being readily available, the rule even, but before autofocus was a thing. Funny, as in peculiar not amusing, that I never thought about it this way before but the photo technology that was current when we became interested in and started learning about photography is almost a way of dating photographers by "photo-generational cohorts."

 

[Roger Cole]

From experience with my C220, I can confirm that TLR, for whatever reason, are great conversation starters. More than 35mm SLRs that are not so different from DSLRs, but also more than folders.

Some years back, C220 on tripod, checking on the ground glass for framing.
- Is that a camera?
- Yes, please have a look if you wish...
- Ooooh! it's in color!

I've never had anyone make the "oh it's in color!" comment, but I've let people look under the dark cloth when shooting 4x5 and of course, "it's upside down!" is a nearly universal comment, or even "why is it upside down?" The latter is harder to explain. I don't think they want lecture on optics.

I have the same experience that TLRs are great, or awful depending on ones point of view, for generating questions and discussion. My Yashicmat 124 gets the same observations. People are surprised, if they look and move it, at the right-left reversal, so much so that one friend who was otherwise very interested in film photography instantly lost interest with what I would probably call disgust, a strange reaction to me but there you go. People can be strange.

 

[Roger Cole]

I wasn’t equating them to hipsters other than their fondness like dressing like each other. And, yes, they love them but it seems that also leads to their hating others, particularly Asian bikes.

There was an interesting study of the biker world by sociologists that listed the stratifications in the Harley world. On one end are the “outlaws” and on the other end the yuppies who don the the dew rags and chaps and are likely to trailer their bikes to Sturgis. That latter group is disliked by all others.

In an interesting parallel to "is that a Hasselblad?" I ride a Yamaha V-Star, a V-twin cruiser but definitely not a Harley. The term among bikers is "metric cruiser." But among people who don't know motorcycles, any cruiser is a "Harley" and it's usually taken to be one.

No matter what field one has significant interest in, there always seem to be those around who know just enough about it, much of it wrong, to be annoying.

 

[Pieter12]

In an interesting parallel to "is that a Hasselblad?" I ride a Yamaha V-Star, a V-twin cruiser but definitely not a Harley. The term among bikers is "metric cruiser." But among people who don't know motorcycles, any cruiser is a "Harley" and it's usually taken to be one.

No matter what field one has significant interest in, there always seem to be those around who know just enough about it, much of it wrong, to be annoying.

Luckily, when I rode a BMW boxer, nobody ever asked "is that a Ural?"

 

[madNbad]

Luckily, when I rode a BMW boxer, nobody ever asked "is that a Ural?"

I rode a R75/6 for a number of years. There was a shop just around the corner from my sisters house in Danboro, PA, Stan's BMW, that was a BMW specialist. He would modify a R69 US specifically for sidecar use. Part of it was adding a larger alternator to help run more lights, updating the suspension and as an added bonus, adding an extra gas tank under the chair. It was way better than the Ural.

 

[Pieter12]

I rode a R75/6 for a number of years. There was a shop just around the corner from my sisters house in Danboro, PA, Stan's BMW, that was a BMW specialist. He would modify a R69 US specifically for sidecar use. Part of it was adding a larger alternator to help run more lights, updating the suspension and as an added bonus, adding an extra gas tank under the chair. It was way better than the Ural.

Going totally off the topic now. My first "real" motorcycle was a 1950 BMW R25. It had been used by the local police and at one time had a sidecar. It was still fitted with the rear differential geared for that and was great off the line. Top speed wasn't very high,, but that probably kept me out of trouble.

 

[madNbad]

Going totally off the topic now. My first "real" motorcycle was a 1950 BMW R25. It had been used by the local police and at one time had a sidecar. It was still fitted with the rear differential geared for that and was great off the line. Top speed wasn't very high,, but that probably kept me out of trouble.

I forgot to mention the best part. Stan would install a R100 motor for as he called it, “a little extra power.”

 

[pbromaghin]

The character was a Beatnik. Not quite the same.

That's why I said "as it was". However, I've been thinking about that answer since last night. The character was sincerely weird and not faking it as I believe current hipsters are. However, a guy like Kerouac, the Beatest of all Beats, upon encountering a real live Maynard G Krebs may have considered him a fake. Or maybe just a stupid fool.

 

[Sirius Glass]

That's why I said "as it was". However, I've been thinking about that answer since last night. The character was sincerely weird and not faking it as I believe current hipsters are. However, a guy like Kerouac, the Beatest of all Beats, upon encountering a real live Maynard G Krebs may have considered him a fake. Or maybe just a stupid fool.

Still there has to be a place for stupid fools in this world.

 

[Pieter12]

Still there has to be a place for stupid fools in this world.

Seems like they're mostly on the internet.

 

[pbromaghin]

Still there has to be a place for stupid fools in this world.

God knows there's enough of us.

 

[Sirius Glass]

God knows there's enough of us.

It is us versus them!

 

[madNbad]

It is us versus them!

I prefer the phrase, "you can't make anything fool proof because fools are so ingenious".

 

[Pieter12]

Fools always win the argument anyway.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Fools always win the argument anyway.

I give up! You win.

 

[Huss]

On recent travels I encountered. an attractive young woman toting a Hasselblad over her left shoulder. I think she was too young to be a hipster. Maybe she was just a serious photographer.

You met a hipsterette

 

[Arthurwg]

My old friend Roger used to say, "If you're so hip, why aren't you rich?"

 

[Pieter12]

My old friend Roger used to say, "If you're so hip, why aren't you rich?"

Because you're spending all your money acting and looking hip, of course.

 

[jtk]