Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/08/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dave wrote: >>The problem I have with my own attempts at street photography is that, = >>whenever I raise the camera to my eye I project myself to the other sid= e = >>of the lens. I do not like being photographed by anyone for any reason= =2E = >>I applaude anyone who has the forebearance to permit themself to be = >>photographed repeatedly without some form of compensation and has the = >>good grace to accept it each time. and Rick Floyd responed: >Excellent comment. I know that I would never make it as a "street = >photographer". I a;ways figured that if I didn't have the time to = >invest in getting to know the subject, then I have not "earned the = >right" to photograph them. = >I was never inspired by a bunch of photographs that I had taken that = >didn't have any context or substance behind them. For me, that = >substance is in the relationships developed and the trust gained in = >getting to know them and them getting to know me. = Dave and Rick, Excellent comments. This explains why the only photographs I've made of people that I'm pleased with have been of family. I've got really crummy= "people" skills (as my wife often reminds me) so I can only gain the trus= t of people I've known for a long time. Another interesting observation: of the wildlife photographs I've made, t= he ones that inspire me (and others) the most are those where some trust and= mutual understanding has developed between myself and the animal. When using a blind (a.k.a. hide in the U. K.) as I did yesterday I don't have the two-way communication with the animal that I would if I were in the open (not to mention much control over composition and lighting) and so I= feel more like a thief than a participant. My admiration goes to photographers who have the skills to relate to peop= le easily and quickly. Their skill is obvious in their photographs. On a sort-of related note, several places to see Leica wildlife photograp= hs are: the adult male Prarie Warbler on Peterson's CD-ROM bird guide (very crumm= y reproduction) the perched immature Northern Goshawk in Stokes' field guide to North American birds, both Eastern and Western the same Northern Goshawk in Anderson's guide to birds of Alaska several photographs in Ortho Books' _The Birds Around Us_ several also in Mark Rauzon's Birds of North America (Bison Books) including the flight shots of Bald Eagle on the cover and of a Prarie Falcon inside. - -Doug