[Leica] Enthusiasm.....off topic...

["David Medley" <dmedley@whidbey.net>]

Good morning to all,

I was asked to assist an old friend on a photo workshop he was teaching. So,
about two weeks ago I packed up the M's, the coffee pot, projector and
screen and spent three days in Seattle. It rained on only one of the days,
we had fourteen students and a marvelous time.

I shared quarters with one of the students and on the second day we spent
most of our time together. As we left in the morning to join the group for
an "assignment", we had traveled no more than three blocks when my companion
stopped the car abruptly and said, "Did you see that? I gotta get a shot of
that"!

We got the shot, and the next one, and the one after that. I'm not sure how
many times we stopped on our way to the meeting place. Yes, we were a little
late but we got all of these great photographs along the way. Now I must
tell you that my companion was sixty six years old, had a stroke about three
years ago and on more than one occasion my shoulder was used to steady a
less than perfect hold for a long lens.

Ah, you say, the enthusiasm of a newbie. We all remember what it was like
when we first started to get images that our friends looked at and said
"wow, howja do that."

Ok, I haven't told all of it yet. This newbie with all of the enthusiasm,
and the I can't wait to see what is going to pop up in my viewfinder next
attitude, has been a pro for the past forty six years. Yup, that is a 4 and
a 6.

He has done assignment work for the National Geographic and just about
anyone else you could care to name. He is still very active in the business
of photography and most important, in the joy of making images. In the three
days that we were together I don't believe we discussed f stops, lens
design, lens selection or German Vs. Japanese camera design even once. We
did discuss images, opportunities, wine and girls, not always in that order.

If we could but generate a fraction of the enthusiasm this newbie has when
he gets out of bed in morning we too could talk of wine and girls and images
and English cars and single malt and
..............and........................


Go forth my sons and daughters and find a steady shoulder.



Cheers,
David Medley
Whidbey Is.   WA
USA
dmedley@whidbey.net