Re: Phillistines who own Leicas (fwd)

[Gary J Toop <gtoop@uoguelph.ca>]

On Thu, 18 Apr 1996, Jack Campin wrote:

> > I would strongly suggest getting your hands on the last edition of Ansel
> > Adam's book  The Negative and reading the first two or three chapters where
> 
> I think it's just plain nuts to recommend this mumbo-jumbo to a newcomer
> with a Leica.  

Misinformed Grumbling SNIPPED.

	I haven't read Minor White's book:  perhaps it is one of these 
which contributes to the not so uncommon view that the Zone system is 
technical, hard to understand, and requires precise metering of every 
shot.   It doesn't.  It is really no more than a convenient conceptual 
system and terminology for the way that film works and for diagnosing 
exposure problems.  It does adapt well to the kind of technical work that 
Adams, White and used it for, but none of that is necessary - as Adams 
himself insisted.  Many people who street shoot understand the system and 
use it to calibrate their film and print and, to some degree, to expose 
their film.  In that respect the only respect in which their practice 
differs significantly from that of Cartier-Bresson and other pre-Zone 
system street-shooters is that they have a terminology that makes it easy 
for them to talk about what they are doing with their film.

	The reason I recommended the first few chapters of "The Negative" 
is simply for their explanation of the physical principles involved in film 
exposure and development and how that is related to how a meter works.  A 
simple conceptual grasp of that process - which a large number of 
photographers seem to not have - makes it much easier to control and make 
choices, whether you are grabbing shots on the street using the sunny-16 
rule and guestimation or using a 4x5 and tailoring the exposure and 
development of every shot.

	Besides, knowledge is more powerful than ignorance.  Why tell a 
neophyte to avoid material that is at least technically accurate and 
competent?  Surely "CMonck"  can look at the books and decide how useful 
they are for their purposes.

Hope this helps
Gary Toop