[Leica] When in doubt ask photographer

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> One thing I have noticed is many of the new shooters obsession with wide
> angle lenses.  With a wide lens it is very hard to be unobtrusive.
> 
> I always carry a wide for those times I need it, but the meat and
> potatoes photos are usually made with a 105 or 180 with the widest being
> a 35.  It is far easier to be "invisible" when you are not "in the face"
> of your subject. 
> 
> A few weeks ago I was making photos, just for fun, at a reenactment
> during the anniversary of the battle of Franklin.  I was standing way
> off shooting this photo I liked with a 180, waiting for it to all "fall
> together" when another shooter walks up and asks one person move over
> here, you step out of the way, you talk and then shot ....totally ruined
> the spontaneity of the moment and the shot.  I just shook my head and
> walked off thinking how much news photography must have changed since I
> quit it in the early 90's.  Admittedly this was not documentary
> work...but I see many shots that seem to evidence this type interaction
> often.....
> 
> 

This is why the Speed Graphic resoundedly superseded  the Graflex.
In 1907 photographers were shooting SLR's
We don't know that now.
But I have found new documents in burnt out basements which indicate this.
http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Graflex_reflex_models
Only these SLR's shot 4x5 inch sheet film.
This was before digital.

What would seem to be a minor design flaw was the fact that because of the
swinging mirror and what they knew about optics @ the time was they really
could not use a wide angle glass on these cameras. This was too far back for
Retro.
So the photographer stood off a always in a group or line and got their shot
of the people climbing out of the dirigible at the dirigible port..

But then the new fashioned rangefinder camera came long. The Speed Graphic
not Graflex.
History in reverse.
And these Speed Graphics came standard with a shorter lens than the Graflex
cameras then in dominant use.
Putting those photographers a couple of feet closer to the shot than those
guys shooting those SLR's .
Those speed Graphic shooters were a couple of steps closer and right in the
way of the crowd of photographers.
Who the next day showed up with the new cameras.
The new technology.
Rangefinder. Not SLR.

Which I was instructed a three step program on how to use a Speed.
One two three.
smash to the left
smash to the right
click the shutter.

If you smashed too hard you carried a screw driver so you could fix the
camera. 
A mahogany box covered with leather.
Which would float in the water.

Mark William Rabiner
markrabiner.com