Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/09/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Right you are! Can you imagine the writers in the Algonquin Group sitting around the round table asking what typewriter was used to do a certain story? Triatan Tom's worry about a little lack of sharpness was a point in question. When I looked at his photos, I didn't worry about any apparent lack of sharpness- the content was beautiful, he achieved the out of focus background, and the subject was in focus enough that it looked good to me! When I see a photo in a gallery, I really don't whip out the loupe, and get up to it reaaaal close and examine it for sharply defined focus, and denigrate the photographer for being a little 'soft'! I try to see what he wanted me to see, and appreciate it for that! I have seen some beautiful shots made with a cardboard camera using a Polaroid back- the photographer achieved the look she wanted, conveyed her message, and it was great. During my hiatus, I learned to be very tolerant of the percieved 'shortcomings' of others- Hell, a coupla Margaritas, and even MY stuff starts to look good to me! Unless you are under the gun with a deadline, and have an editor breathing fire down your back, and your job and your ass is on the line - lighten up! Enjoy! Fondle that M3, burn some film- because sixty years from now, what the Hell difference will it make!? Excuse me while I go roll some film.... Dan (|Still crazy after all these years) Post PS- An aside to those commenting on GIMP--- I have been using the RedHat 7.3, and GIMP is pretty good- I did download the Corel Photo Suite 9 for LINUX, but can't get the darn thing to load right... If you have had some success with it- contact me offlist... I need to pick yer brain!! Even though Windows 2000 is pretty stable, it is like the puppy you cannot leave at home alone--- after a while it poops on the floor and you need to clean things up! LINUX is a pleasant surprise in that it will chug along for weeks with 'nary a glitch! I am surprised that with all the Sun workstations, and growing fascination with LINUX out there that Photoshop doesn't at least try to get a version of there stuff on a LINUX platform!=== From my narrow point of view, LINUX is to Windows as a Leica is to a Hawkeye Brownie, ca. 1952! Ole Billy Bob Gates would do well to port his stuff to LINUX and make even more money! :o)~ - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Pultz" <cpultz@earthlink.net> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 11:22 PM Subject: Re. [Leica] About all the "give us the technical detail" requests... > BD quoted, > > " I had just had a haircut. Was wearing black socks and a comfortable shirt. > Anyone also equipped should have no trouble duplicating this series." > > Ha! That's great. I just read this quote from Cartier-Bresson: > > "The actual handling of the camera, it's stops, it's exposure speeds and > all the rest of it, are things which should be as automatic as the changing > of gears in an automobile. It is no part of my business to go into the > details or refinements of any of those operations .... for they are set > forth with *military precision* in the manuals which the manufacturers > provide along with the camera and the nice orange calf-skin case. If the > camera is a beautiful gadget, we should progress beyond that stage at least > in conversation. The same applies to the hows and whys of making pretty > prints in the darkroom." > > Now, obviously, I'm not that immune to the magic of these gadgets as > objects, or I wouldn't hang around here much. But, I don't like it to be a > fetish. When I was in school, if you asked what camera a student used to > make a picture, the whole class would look at you like you were an idiot - > discussing equipment make was very uncool. When I worked with pros, the > only question was would the thing work when it had to, and was it the right > tool for the job. > > Still, the first thing I thought about when I saw SonC's pictures, after > admiring how fun they were, was, What film did he use? That's all I really > need to know - the rest we can guess close enough to admire his technique. > > Anyway, thought you all would enjoy that quote. > > Carl > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html