Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/07/31

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Millimeters and Milliseconds
From: Allan Wafkowski <allanwafkowski@mac.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 20:31:06 -0400

Peter, it's much more simple. Newspaper photography doesn't require 
finesse. It just requires pictures.  I've seen so many pictures of kids 
with bloated bellies and flies, I forget who shot what, and why. I no 
longer care. Newspaper photography has upgraded itself into 
photojournalism, and along with the name change came a new-found worth. 
They now think of themselves as changing the world through their images. 
Two problems with that thought are: 1) Photojournalism has changed 
almost nothing.  (2 Photojournalists are just as apt to be jackasses as 
bright, open human beings.  What photojournalism has going for it is 
that it has become a sacred cow.

One would be hard pressed to find empirical proof that photojournalism 
has had any profound effect on the world. One can find ample proof that 
art has profoundly changed the world. One need only look to the 
1960s-1970s. The music, art, and literature played a profound role in 
changing American and European culture. It wasn't politics, and it 
wasn't newspaper photography. Five years of Disco changed the world more 
than 90 years of photojournalism.

Allan


On Wednesday, July 31, 2002, at 05:11 PM, Peter Klein wrote:
> As you've said before, you get the fastest lenses you can, and you get
> the subject in focus.  Bokeh, shmokeh.  Fine-art aesthetic
> considerations don't matter to you, you say.  To which, I would add the
> word "consciously."  You've simply integrated into your shooting style
> the arty considerations that matter to you, and you just do what comes
> naturally after decades of professional experience.

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Replies: Reply from "Rob Appleby" <rob@robertappleby.com> (Re: [Leica] Millimeters and Milliseconds)
Reply from "Rob Appleby" <rob@robertappleby.com> (Re: [Leica] Millimeters and Milliseconds)