Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/19

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Subject: [none]
From: karabog@Hydro.CAM.ORG (Bogdan KARASEK)
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 12:53:47 -0400 (EDT)

>Photography is more than a camera and a lens. First you need brain glow,
>heart glow and glow in the eyes. At the end comes the alchemy, where the
>circle once again joins the brain, the heart and the eyes. A good image is
>something very complex and mysterious. It has a universal message and is
>capable of making people anywhere laugh, cry, smile, or revolt. 
>
>Oddmund

Hi,

I quite agree with this perception.  I have found this "glow" with my Leica
IIIc but also with my Nikkors, Schneiders, and Zeiss lens. The Leica fills a
very important need for me (available light photography) but I would
certainly not use it for nature studies or scenery.  For that, I want a
large ground glass.  And, of course, I do my own developping and printing
and I suspect that my darkroom work contributes very much to this glow.

It is the glow in the mind that creates it all.  The camera is merely a tool
and it is a question of finding and using the right tool for the task at
hand.  Undoutedly, the Leica is a magnificent tool, albeit overpriced and
overhyped, but it is not the only magnificent tool.  I refuse to turn that
tool into a fetish object and be blinded to other possibilities.

Just a final thought;  I would be very bothered to take pictures  with an
fine camera and a superlative lens and then entrust the developping of the
film (or slides as the case may be) and printing to a 1 hour lab that is
probably using equipement that is nowhere near the standards that we demand
of the camera and lens that was used to take the picture. Somehow, it seems
counterproductive???

Just some thoughts after spending the night in the darkroom chasing that
elusive glow.



    

 Regards,
         
 Bogdan KARASEK 
 karabog@cam.org
 Montreal, Quebec
 CANADA

  "What we cannot speak about we must pass over
   in silence"  Wittgenstein