Re: [Leica] Leica Camera of the century? Why!

["ljdavenport@pacbell.net" <ljdavenport@pacbell.com>]

> From: "Kotsinadelis, Peter (Peter)" <peterk@lucent.com>
> Reply-To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 08:52:46 -0800
> To: "'leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us'" <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
> Subject: [Leica] Leica Camera of the century?  Why!
> 
> Eric,
> 
> So do we discount all the wonderful pictures taken with other cameras such
> as a Rolleiflex TLR(i.e., Marilyn Monroe, Buster Keaton as done by Richard
> Avedon), or the photos taken with the Nikon (i.e., JFK, Jr. saluting his dad
> at his funeral)?  Granted Leica has been around longer, but it would seem
> logical that more photos were generated with Nikon than with Leica in the
> last 2-3 decades?  So then why Leica?
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Welch [mailto:ewelch@neteze.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 5:38 PM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: [Leica] Re: LUGSeveral topics
> 
> 
> Sometime around 1/11/00 11:00 AM, Erwin Puts at imxputs@knoware.nl mumbled
> something about:
> 
>> BJP's contributor Crawley mentioned that the Leica should be camera
>> of the century and I agree with him.
> 
> Truer words were never spoken. Leica played no small role in the fact that
> photography was the dominant form of communication in this century. Some
> word herders may begrudge the power of photos, but as I see it, words and
> photos together are more powerful than either alone. But that doesn't deny
> the fact that photography is the visual medium of choice in art and
> commerce. Only in journalism, ironically, where photography's speical
> quality (reporting impartially what the camera sees - note I did not say
> what the photographer sees) is one of it's greatest strengths, regardless of
> the word folks' attempts to keep it in a secondary, service role to words.
> --
> 
> Eric Welch
> Carlsbad, CA 
> 
> http://www.neteze.com/ewelch
> 
> The difficulty now is that unexceptional adults believe the loss of youthful
> dreaming is itself  growing up,  as though adulthood were the passive
> conclusion to a doomed activity and hope during adolescence.

I would remind you that Leica pioneered the 35mm film format as well as
producing a great camera.  Without that pioneering would there be a Nikon,
or Canon?  It ushered in a time where we could take a camera with us almost
anywhere.  The ability to take candid photos, photos in inhospitable
environments and to catch quiet moments were advanced by Leica.

The importance of Leica is not just the pictures that were taken and
published that my have changed the world.  It is also a path down which
other camera makers have trod, having first been blazed by Leica.

Leon.


- --
ljdavenportphotography.com is a webfolio of my best work.  It has color and
black and white images, most of which were taken with the Leica R8.  Please
stop by and enjoy.