“He who can does; he who cannot, teaches.”

HoppyUK said:
The Formula One analogy is apt. The people who design and build and maintain the cars really know their stuff, but are not great drivers. And equally, great drivers often don't know that much about the technical aspects. Some more than others but no way are they experts in everything, and they don't need to be.
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This goes contrary to one of my favorite aphorisms that I've brought up, ad nauseum, to anyone who'll listen throughout my professional career.

You don't have to be a good mechanic to be a good race car driver. But all the best ones are.

Tools aren't the whole thing. But if you want to be an artist, you should learn your craft.
 
drsilver said:
But if you want to be an artist, you should learn your craft.
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But who decides you are an artist? Don't you need a degree from the Slade to prove you are an artist? :naughty:
 
drsilver said:
This goes contrary to one of my favorite aphorisms that I've brought up, ad nauseum, to anyone who'll listen throughout my professional career.

You don't have to be a good mechanic to be a good race car driver. But all the best ones are.

Tools aren't the whole thing. But if you want to be an artist, you should learn your craft.
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Agree on that last point for sure, but your motor racing analogy doesn't stack up so well.

While it may be true that many racing drivers are also good mechanics, it's certainly not a universal truth and increasingly unusual as drivers progress up the scale and the cars get more complex. I spend a bit of time around motorsport and my son used to race karts with Lewis Hamilton, beat him a few times too and they remain friends, but at the age of 10 neither of them knew anything useful about how the kart worked or what to do about it. Obviously enough as kids of course, but they both had natural talent and blinding speed.

I think professional photographers are a better example as that's mostly a solo sport without a team of technicians on hand. In my career on photo magazines, I've met and interviewed many famous photographers and they are all, without exception, technically very knowledgeable. And while we will all say that equipment isn't that important, they invariably have the best gear too ;)
 
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