[Leica] Leica Century: initial proposal from Alastair: LONG!!

[luisripoll at telefonica.net (Lluis Ripoll)]

Hi Alastair,

Thank you for your work and your long proposal description, I'll be  
very happy to participate on the project.

I think is a great idea you sand the FOM2 book to the Leica CEO, may I  
suggest you publish a list with the 37 people has said their interest  
to participate?.

I'm agree that we are the worst judges to evaluate our own images and  
for this reason I celebrate you allow participate everyone of us with  
several images.

My only self questions are: if we are celebrating a Leica Century, if  
it should be limited to new images made from 2008 onwards, or maybe  
images with the condition that has not been published neither  
participated on FOM2, Yearbook etc... You suggest we are celebrating a  
Century of Leica style photography, and all the other brand can be of  
course included, I absolutely respect your decision, but as Luggers on  
origin maybe our main charachteristic is the mainly use of Leica  
equipment (glass or camera), I ask me if the book will become too  
generalist, or maybe "leica Century" is not the apropiate caption for  
it.... It is very nice of you to say that at least one person who  
participate with 10 pictures over the 5 years will be included into  
the final selection..., O.K. but this is not a guaranty of an  
outstanding book quality, and IMHO the quality shouldbe the first  
criterium.

I think that this new book, as you say, should improve our effort and  
should be a real challenge for all of us. Maybe the most important  
thing will be not 100 pictures per year, maybe 100 will be the limit  
but not the quantity if they are not 100% 10 over 10 point of view of  
quality. I'm sure that this will be possible if we look at the  
outstanding quality of FOM2, but  as you say we should try to do a  
different project.

I don't know if you and others will share my thoughts..., is just my  
opinion hopping to contribute to a final work that when someone see it  
say simply WOW, of course FOM2 was WOW too.

Thank you very much again for your time..., maybe I'm wrong on my  
thoughts...

Saludos cordiales
Lluis




El 04/01/2009, a las 11:33, Alastair Firkin escribi?:

>
> I want to outline my thoughts going forward with the Centenary  
> project. We do not have enough interest yet, but by firming up some  
> of the details I hope to encourage others to put their names into  
> the ring. I have now listed all the interested parties in the  
> proposed Leica Century project. We have only 37 thus far. That is a  
> fairly small number, and too small to run a full 5 year project. I  
> am glad to see so many coming forward who were not involved in FOM2,  
> and so many of my old friends prepared to fire up again ;-)
>
> I want it to be different to FOM2, but I want to learn from it as  
> well. The key to this project is having as many different people  
> involved as possible and pushing them to get out photograph the  
> world around them and begin to improve their photography to a level  
> which attracts general approval. What follows will be familiar to  
> those of you who were in FOM2 but there are some changes proposed:  
> in particular, all forms of photographic subject are included.
>
> I know that there are many of those already putting their hands up  
> who will help with judging and mentoring those of you who might feel  
> intimidated. I am NOT trying to replace the yearbook. The yearbook  
> is a great success and is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to  
> have images published. I am NOT trying to displace Brian?s monthly  
> LUG image fest. It too has been a wonderful addition, which keeps  
> all of us thinking about images over the course of the year.  
> Submitting images to either of the above or doing a long time LUG  
> favorite the PAW does not exclude you from being in Leica Century.  
> It helps all of us to edit out our images. The role of ?Leica  
> Century? will be to promote new images (not a retrospective) gather  
> the best of those images together and present them to the world  
> through the web and hopefully a book, and to allow all of us who  
> want to improve our photography to be in a competitive and  
> encouraging environment.
>
> Let?s look at what we are proposing and what we are NOT. Firstly,  
> this is not going to be some ?official? celebration. Leica showed no  
> real interest in FOM2 other than to wish it well. How could they?  
> The LUG is a small group on a world scale, and Leica would only  
> consider being involved in a much ?broader? vision. This does not  
> mean I have given up hope of help from Solms, only I don?t think its  
> likely. My plan is to write to the CEO, send him a copy of FOM2, and  
> see what response it brings.
>
> We are a family of friends, who came together due to some interest  
> in Leica cameras and photography. Brian?s group has been going for a  
> long time, and as some have mentioned, the LUG has an enduring  
> simple quality that has kept people ?coming back for more? even when  
> they have abandoned Leica equipment. FOM2 started in 99/2000. It was  
> a fascinating time for photography. When we first started there were  
> quite a few professionals in the team, but the film world was turned  
> on its head almost as soon as we started, and by the third year only  
> a few of the professionals remained. This ?threatened? the project,  
> but in some ways, it also strengthened it, as lovers of traditional  
> photography became more active, and I?m sure that many of us had  
> improved because of the project and the help we had had from the  
> pros, so that the quality really did not fall off, and we had a  
> broader range of people represented in the final publication, (over  
> 140).
>
> I can tell you, however, that out of the several thousand images  
> which were submitted every year, it was rare for many images to be  
> carried over. There were rarely many more than 100 which were  
> selected by the judges. I also learnt that no one person can choose  
> images, there is an enormous variation in style and taste.  
> Photographers are also (from my experience and this includes me) the  
> WORST judges of the value of their own images out in the big bad  
> world. What seems like a great shot to you will often fall short  
> when viewed by someone who either comes from a different culture or  
> simply was not there. So the first question to answer is will the  
> project be juried, and the answer is yes.
> I think the judging of images during the 5 years of FOM2 worked  
> brilliantly. It threw up a huge variety of images, styles, points of  
> view and subject matter, so I will go with that again. We will call  
> for judges each year, I will send them the images on a CD or via a  
> download. All images will be random and anonymous (as I can make  
> them) and will be judged by you, the members of the project. I  
> collate the votes, I don?t vote, and I then sort and present the  
> final selection.
>
> Does this mean that someone might miss out on getting an image into  
> the final selection? In theory yes, but I don?t think there were  
> many if any photographers who submitted more than 10 images a year  
> in the 5 years, who did not end up with a fine image that was  
> selected by the judges. We even had mentoring for those who felt  
> they were missing out, and this helped them to raise the quality of  
> their submission. BUT, I will for this project make a promise.  
> Anyone who submits 10 or more images for each of the 5 years of the  
> project will have their best image included in the final selection.
>
> Now for the vexing question of equipment. Ideally, I would love to  
> only include Leica cameras lenses and enlargers ;-) BUT experience  
> tells me that we would have a very limited range of images to choose  
> from. This is not an official Leica project, but a project by the  
> LUG some of whom don?t use Leicas at all, and certainly often don?t  
> for their best work. Leica cameras (and lenses) created a style of  
> photography which is what many of us appreciate and love. Other  
> camera operators copied Leica, and Leica also copied others when  
> their ideas were superior. I know some don?t feel any SLR image is  
> really ?Leica Photography?, but I?m sure Leica will never disown  
> Ted?s olympic images or Rosling?s polar bears. I also have sympathy  
> for those who were ?forced? away from Leica when they did not have  
> any real form of Digital camera to offer. I also have some sympathy  
> for those who find the digital cameras from Leica overly expensive  
> and would love a digital back for !
> their Leica glass.
>
> I admit, that by celebrating the Leica turning 100 it would seem  
> obvious that we should showcase Leica equipment and I intend to do  
> so. Its also the 175th anniversary of photography, but I don?t want  
> to turn this exercise into an unmanageable size. I therefore propose  
> the following.
>
> As with FOM2, all images taken with Leica cameras and or Lenses will  
> be acceptable. This will include ?badged? cameras. If its good  
> enough for the company, its good enough for me, and it allows some  
> people to be involved who cannot afford an M8, S2, DMR, or R10 etc.  
> I did have quite a lot of criticism in FOM2 for the Leica only  
> policy, especially since the project was celebrating a landmark  
> exhibition in photography not Leica itself. We will there fore  
> showcase Leica, put it up against the hybrids and because this is a  
> project of the LUG celebrating the 100 years of ?Leica? type  
> photography I will allow some images taken with non-Leica equipment  
> but severely limit the numbers. At the moment I envisage around 10%.  
> Iff Leica becomes involved, they may take some or all of the images  
> and may want to remove non-leica images, but it remains our project  
> till then.
>
> At the moment I would still like to aim for about 100 images per  
> year. That might prove to be too many. If we are looking at that  
> number, there will need to be more than one image per photographer  
> (unless the numbers increase greatly), so I won?t limit it at this  
> stage. I will also not limit the number of submissions from each  
> individual BUT if it gets unwieldy and I will decide that it may be  
> necessary to do so, and I may limit the total number an individual  
> can have selected each year. Those sorts of decisions need to be  
> fluid at this stage and will become more obvious as we progress.
>
> Digital manipulation is fine, but should be included in the data  
> when it goes beyond simple adjustments: I think you will all know  
> what I mean without me having to stipulate exactly. As with FOM2 the  
> images will be vetted so that offensive work is not included. Any  
> controversy will be decided by the ?team? if it becomes necessary.  
> All submitted work will remain copyright to the photographer and  
> must be original work. All photographers will agree on joining that  
> their selected images can be used on the Leica Century  
> presentations, images can be withdrawn by the photographer before  
> each year?s judging. This is a non-profit project. Iff there were  
> any profits (and I see only expenses at this stage) they would be  
> returned to the photographers involved or donated to an agreed  
> charity.
>
> Remember, the aim of the project is to get us out there taking  
> images, seeing and interpreting the world and improving the way we  
> present our visions. As I previously mentioned, all subject matter  
> will be included. I will be requiring everyone to give me some data  
> on their work, and I will want (as I did for FOM2) a simple  
> agreement from anyone wishing to be involved. I will also collect a  
> short CV from you hoping to use it in the final presentation: I know  
> I didn?t for FOM2, but there was not much room left and the data was  
> so disjointed that it did not make sense.
>
> I have also learnt that I must get ?printable? files on record from  
> the time of submission. Last time I ended up with quite a lot of  
> images that were only 600 pixels in dimension. This was due to  
> losing people. Some died and some disappeared. Finally, I want the  
> project to be prospective not retrospective, in keeping with the aim  
> of pushing the LUG to better photography. All images must be made  
> from 2008 onwards till the end of the project: I would hope to  
> publish early in 2014.
>
> Its the journey that is important and although we want the final  
> product to excel, I want everyone who joins to have fun and learn. I  
> have now outlined the general basis on which I will run this project  
> if we get enough interest. I will need some help with web pages and  
> submission boards I think. I don?t envisage any costs at this stage.  
> I am still open to suggestions even if it doesn?t sound like it. I  
> am aware that decisions by committee usually don?t get made, so I  
> will keep overall charge.
>
> Cheers Alastair
>
>
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