[Leica] Leica's heyday?

[kanner at acm.org (Herbert Kanner)]

I read a legend many years ago. Perhaps one of you LUGers can fill in some 
details. In the days when they all used Speed Graphics, one photographer for 
a New York paper (I think it was the Daily News) did an assignment using a 
Leica. His editor told him that if he ever again used that toy camera on an 
assignment, he?d be fired.

Herbert Kanner
kanner at acm.org
650-326-8204

Question authority and the authorities will question you.




On Feb 25, 2014, at 5:49 PM, Jim Shulman <jshulman at judgecrater.com> wrote:

> Was the Leica ever a pre-eminent press camera?  During the LTM and M3
> heyday of the 50s, Rolleis and larger format cameras still prevailed.  By
> the time most press photographers turned to 35mm, the SLR era was in full
> swing (with Leica a distant player).
> 
> Leica really outshined the larger format cameras in the street, in the
> battlefield, as a sidekick in the car or for a walk, etc. Just not in the
> wolfpack of a photo opportunity.
> 
> Jim Shulman
> Wynnewood, PA
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+jshulman=judgecrater.com at leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+jshulman=judgecrater.com at leica-users.org] On Behalf 
> Of
> Douglas Barry
> Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 8:24 PM
> To: lug at leica-users.org
> Subject: [Leica] Leica's heyday?
> 
> I presume it is now in terms of users, but in terms of being the cutting
> edge and dominant tool as interpreted by its press corps usage, when was
> it?
> 
> Did it ever exist? Was it just a cadre of influential photographers that
> got them for free who popularised Leica? Anybody know?
> 
> It certainly wasn't in 1959 when this Ekberg photo was taken, as I pointed
> out in an earlier post, there are no Leicas to be seen. However, I may be
> going blind and missed one. Have a look at the photo of all the cameramen
> at the bottom of the plane's steps. But none of you commented on the
> absence of Leicas at the time.
> 
> http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140220-pictures-we-love-to-hate
> 
> Do we owe Leica worship to HCB, or to whom - a clever early marketeer in
> Solms?
> 
> Douglas
> 
> 
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