[Leica] Photography, my point of view.

[Jim Brick <jimbrick@photoaccess.com>]

One thing about photography, there is all kinds. All kinds of photography.
All kinds of people indulging in photography. What floats my boat, will
sink yours. And vice versa.

What you do with the results of your photography, determines what you put
into your photography.

Happy snaps in a shoe box. Yellow Kodak slide boxes stored everywhere.

I like to produce fine art landscape, cityscape, and nature photographs.
And publish photographic books. I like to print "large" Cibachromes. My
equipment "must" be of the highest possible quality. My photographic
techniques "must" be beyond reproach.

I use Leicas and the latest "Leica" lenses. I use Linhof 4x5 with Schneider
and Rodenstock (late version) lenses.

This is my main push in photography. This is what makes me photographically
happy.

I do take happy snaps at family functions and during vacations. The
expectations of these is far below my serious photography efforts. I'm
always looking for serious subjects to the point that I often forget to
take the happy snaps.

To me, the notion of abandoning my true photographic mind, to use a lesser
system to "see" if I'm "photographically capable" is not something that
remotely interests me. It's oxymoronic. It's dysfunctional.

My expectations from my photographic efforts are far above what those
systems can produce. So why waste my time? I won't. Would you enter a Model
A Ford in a Formula 1 race? No. The results can "never" be good.

Pinhole photography. To me, a crappy process producing crappy results.
There are a few pinhole "masters". Good for them. I'm not interested. No
matter what you do, they still look like pinhole photographs.

Holga photography. Not much better. Perhaps worse. Everything I've seen
from a Holga is crap. Why waste precious time producing unmitigated and
useless crap. A Holga photograph looks like a Holga photograph.

There are millions of ways of forming an image on film. This does not mean
that the images are good. No lens, crappy image. Crappy lens, crappy image.
There are millions of ways to make a crappy image. To make a great image,
takes a lot of work. Much more than just pointing a box, containing film
and some lens like object, at something and pushing a button.

Photography takes a combination of artistic and technical skills that can
be learned via hard work. Compositional artistic skills can be, and usually
are, innate. Technical skills must always be learned, and will either
enhance or degrade artistic skills. A crappy camera always degrades high
level technical and artistic skills.

But again, how YOU approach photography, is determined by what you want out
of photography. Is it the camera that describes photography for you? Is it
the process that describes photography for you? Or is it the results that
describes photography for you? And what do you do with your pictures? Do
you even take pictures. Or do you just fondle equipment?

If it's the results, and you like out of focus, low contrast, crappy
looking photographs, sell your Leicas, leave the LUG, buy a Holga, and join
the Holga list. Or buy a fungus ridden Summaron and Tele Elmarit. They are
readily available. I have a Retina IIa with fungus in the lens, if anyone
is interested. $50. Better than a Holga.

I have numerous old cameras. Several Kodak folding cameras. One converted
to use film packs. I used to painstakingly setup these cameras, take
pictures, process them, and every once in awhile exclaim... "hey... look at
this" but you know what, the answer always was "not bad". Well folks, "not
bad" is not good enough. What do you do with a "not bad" photograph? Yes,
they are still in the shoe box. Put there 20, 30, and 40 years ago. They
didn't get any better.

There was some level of fun, fooling around with these old cameras, but
knowing that the results will "always" be less than optimum, "not bad",
etc... sort of makes the effort an exercise in futility.

I'll spend my time with my Leicas and Linhof. Taking photographs that have
the "potential" of being great. With this equipment, it's up to me. I'm not
equipment limited, just "brain" limited. If a potentially great photograph
comes out crappy, it's all me. I cannot blame it on using a crappy 43-86
Nikkor zoom, or a Holga.

Life's too short to waste time, futzing around with stuff, that has no
potential. What will happen is that, somewhere along the line, you will see
what could be a great photograph. But there you are, holding that Holga,
that Kodak 35, that Petri, kicking yourself for wasting precious time and
watching a great photograph escape.

This, of course, is Just My Humble Opinion, as there are lots of people
that love to indulge in the yesteryear photographic ambiance. And many are
simply happy snappers.

Sorry, not me!

Jim

PS... I've been commissioned to provide six 30x40 Cibachromes plus six to
ten 16x20 and 20x24 Ciba's for office and conference room decor, for Photo
Access' new facility. Photo Access also bought 250 of my San Francisco
books as promotional gifts. This is what my photography is all about. And
when I teach a workshop, it is based upon achieving the utmost out of your
equipment. Not achieving less than the utmost.