Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 09:05 AM 4/9/98 -0400, you wrote: >To me each photograph should succeed or fail on it's own. My first >photography teacher, a long time photo journalist who personally knew >Steichen and Adams, among others, insisted that a photographer was was >as good as their last shot. Other factors reduced the photo criticism >to smoke and mirrors. Steichen and Adams are an interesting combination since they despised each other. :-) But what you say is true in this business. As they say, "Today's newspaper is tomorrow's fish wrapper." But we are not only as good as our last picture. We have bad days, and we have good days. And it's a poor photo editor who can't see the skill in a photographers work, even on their bad days. >There was only one question that mattered in evaluating a shot "Do You >Like it or Not? There's more to it than that. Does the picture fulfill its mission? Some day, when I find the negative, I'll post it on my web site. It's a little girl who was homelss, at the Salvation Army Shelter. To make a long story short, her teacher from the previous semester saw her picture in the paper. She called Catholic charities and the girl's family was put in an apartment, the kids given clothes, and the mother enrolled in the local college. That picture did it's job, and the fact that it's one of the best pictures I've ever taken is of secondary importance to me. It's never won an award anywhere, because people don't know the story behind it unless I tell it. So I guess my point of view is a bit biased. (Printed with a V35, it's an awesome picture that truly shows what Leica can do - but not on the web). ========== Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch Logic: The art of being wrong with confidence...