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

[pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig)]

Alastair,

what did we do to deserve your organisational skill! I for one concur, 
although
I did have another idea.

With regard to the image sizes, can I suggest that you follow Jim's Yearbook
guidelines? ie min picture size 1MB JPEG, exact dimensions to be spec'd by 
you
(have a chat with Jim) and all photos to be submitted as if they were to be
printed. Perhaps you could allow for year end tweaks if chosen.

Best regards,

Peter

Alastair Firkin wrote:
> 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 fo
 
r 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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Dr Peter Dzwig