TEA WITH THE MASTER · SENSEI KAGEMORI
A fictional parable by Peter Pickering.
Grasshopper (holding his new camera aloft)
Sensei! Behold! One hundred and twenty megapixels! I can zoom in and count the nose hairs of a monk across the city!
Sensei (without looking up)
How many souls did you capture, Grasshopper?
Grasshopper (confused)
Well… none. But the resolution is astonishing!
Sensei (nodding slowly)
Yes. Astonishing. Like a statue of a god that cannot speak.
You worship sharpness, but forget the story.
You seek fidelity, but ignore feeling.
You zoom and crop and boast,
But your pixels scream: “Look how close I got,”
when they should whisper: “Look how deeply I saw.”
Moral of the Scroll:
More megapixels do not mean more meaning.
A muddy truth is better than a sharp lie.
Now, come, Grasshopper. Sit. Let us talk not of sensors… but of seeing.
