RE: [Leica] Galen Rowell (was: Evercolor)

["Khoffberg" <khoffberg@email.msn.com>]

Ok, I'll bite

I'm having trouble understanding the issue here.  Is the problem image
sharpness, format choice, commercial success, or that you find Galen's
composition excessively familiar?

Galen speaks pretty specifically to the first point two points if you ask
him.  Yes other gear and other formats will produce sharper images at larger
sizes but what does that have to do with aesthetics or commercial success?
It is my understanding that one of his images is the Sierra Club's all-time
best seller even though it's not nearly as sharp as it would have been if it
was shot on a larger format.  For a host of reasons, he's not going to use
anything other than a Nikon F4 or F5 or something just like that.  One of
the more interesting reasons is that he doesn't want to have to second guess
his format or equipment choices when he's in the field.  So he uses the best
Nikon makes, shoots on a tripod whenever he can, and stretches the
capabilities of E6 as far as he can.  I took a workshop with him a few
months ago and used my M6.  Shot side by side with him and just couldn't
seem to take better pictures than he did :)

The fact is, he doesn't place image sharpness at the very top of his list.

The comment about Velvia is interesting.  I'm not really sure what else
you'd recommend given what he does and where he sells.  I know for a fact
that he's shot a lot of E100 and was one of the testers of the new E100VS
which I understand he intends to use.  He also shoots a fair amount of
Provia and Astia.  And like many others, there was a time when he shot
Kodachrome.  But to your point, he does like saturated color.  It's part of
his vision.  I asked him and he admitted that he sees in Velvia.

The comment that "I attribute the commercial success of Rowell's photography
to his presentation of exotic locations to arm-chair travelers" is
especially amusing.  I suppose by extension, Jim Marshall's success is due
to his presentation of exotic people to armchair musical wannabes, Tina's
success is due to her presentation of people in desperate need to armchair
bleeding hearts, and on and on.  Nobody handed him his success.  He's made
thousands of beautiful images, many of which are original and provocative
precisely because he managed to get himself and his cameras to some pretty
exotic locations, sometimes before anyone else had done so.

Finally, if you're reading this Gib, I'd love to know what you mean by:

<snip> "To my >>eyes Rowell seems to be working toward the drama and
entertainment side of >>photography rather than toward showing us a way of
seeing in and through >>what's there in the landscape so that I am learning
to see better through >>his photography.  <snip>

I've read it a couple of times and I guess I don't understand what the
"drama and entertainment side of photography" is and why it's bad.

Cheers
Kevin Hoffberg