Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/08

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Noctilux Gloom-Buster VS 75mm f/1.4 ...
From: "Roger Beamon" <roger@beamon.org>
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 08:54:26 -0700

> I've mentioned this story before but when I used to do daily news
> photography I worked with guys who had grown up using Speed Graphics. For
> them, they had one good chance at making the photo; a second sheet of film
> was often a luxury. Of course lens changes were next to impossible. This
> brought to them a discipline which they instilled in me. Namely, that you
> could do just about anything with a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera. If you
> wanted a tight shot move in closer; a wide shot, move back. Any sort of
> mechanized or automatic film advance was scoffed at and considered a
> luxury. Timing, awareness, subject knowledge, discipline and interaction
> were the qualities they continually emphasized. So, too, were lighting and
> a sense of narrative or story telling. It was the best education I could
> ever have for this profession.

Great advice and background for a newbie and a real positive 
platform for Leica. Extrapolating from that, however, it would 
seem to follow that today's crop of photo journalists, having that 
as background *plus* the array of auto goodies now available, 
would be producing far more 'gee whiz' PJ than a generation ago.

I kinda doubt it. I'm of the opinion that there is more *good* PJ 
being done, but the amount of breathtakingly great work is no 
more numerous, if as much so, as a generation or more ago.

Is this my small world showing? The mouthings of an OF who 
longs for 'the good old days' or is there an actuality here?



- --
Roger
mailto:roger@beamon.org

     If we can prevent the government
     from wasting the labors of the people
     under the pretense of caring for them,
     they will be happy.
               -- Thomas Jefferson