[Leica] Born At Risk...

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

Thanks, Jim...

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Jim Hemenway
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2004 5:04 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Born At Risk...


BD:

You should be giving workshops instead of taking them!


B. D. Colen wrote:

> Peter, you're batting 1000!
> 
> Photographing family and friends, whether for personal satisfaction or

> pay, can be just a rewarding, and in some ways even more meaningful, 
> than spending a life-time chronicling the tattooed hog riders and 
> crack addicts. Chronicling the life of a family is of immense value 
> and meaning to the family, and to future generations of the family. 
> Further, its of sociological value.
> 
> When I took Eugene Richards' workshop last summer the best photos I 
> shot
> - at the end of the week on my own - were of Richards and his son. And
> when I looked at the slides on the light table - having had a really
> awful week in terms of the quality of what I'd been shooting - I said
to
> myself, "These MUST have been shot with Leica glass!! :-)" (Just
kidding
> ---) I looked at them and thought, 'I'm NOT Gene Richards; I don't
want
> to spend a year living with crack addicts; THIS is what I do - and it
> has real value.
> 
> Besides, when a really, really successful photo book only sells 3,000 
> copies, what does any of it matter to anyone other than the 
> photographer and his or her immediate family?
> 
> :-)
> 
> B. D.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf 
> Of Peter Klein
> Sent: Monday, August 02, 2004 12:58 PM
> To: lug@leica-users.org
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Born At Risk...
> 
> 
> 
> Richard:  I just realized that my remarks might be interpeted as 
> critical of you.  Which is not how I intended them at all--I knew you 
> were making a joke.  The exchange between you and B.D. simply provided

> food for thought, and I bit.
> 
> As for chucking your camera, "don't jump kid, you've got so much to 
> live for."  :-)  Those of us who mostly photograph their family, 
> friends, interests and immediate surroundings sometimes feel like 
> lesser creatures than those who photograph global human misery, the 
> mean streets, tatooed goth babes and arty abstractions.  But that 
> ain't where it's at.  I think the key is to go beyond mere recording 
> and put something of yourself into the images.  In other words, don't 
> just take a picture of a (whatever), take a picture of how the 
> (whatever) feels, or how you feel about the (whatever).
> 
> I try to photograph people with the kind of love and empathy that I 
> see in Tina's photographs. I look for expressions that characterize 
> the person. I also like quirky visual humor.  Sometimes I think that 
> my photos are usually not bad enough to be panned, but usually not 
> good enough to evoke many oohs and ah here.  Sometimes I succeed.
> 
> Also, remember that this is a tough crowd.
> 
> --Peter
> 
> "Richard F. Man" <richard-lists@imagecraft.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Heh, I was just being tongue in cheek. You know I have the greatest
>>respect for your photos. In fact, now that I have done some "travel 
>>photos," I have a lot of respect on Karen's Ethnophotography and 
>>Tina's stuff. It is so darn tough to shoot what you guys do!!! When I 
>>look at my photos, I almost feel like chunking the whole setup out the
> 
> 
>>windows and take up something else....
> 
> 
> At 06:03 AM 8/1/2004, B. D. Colen wrote:
> 
> 
>>Thanks, Richard - I think. But how about a reality check here...Tri-X
>>shot at 800 "look(s) like crap as large prints" unless viewed from an 
>>appropriate viewing distance - just as digital looks like crap unless
> 
> 
> 
> 
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