Re: [Leica] Re: landscapes and people

["M.E.Berube - GoodPhotos" <meb@goodphotos.com>]

I seem to be just the opposite. While my landscapes and other nature stuff 
aren't probably any better than my portraiture, a bit more than half of the 
enjoyment of photography for me is the pursuit of the image. I enjoy the 
attempt at making good landscapes even more than actually succeeding in 
making an image that pleases most viewer's eye. While involved in the 
process, I go into an completely different state of mind, where I'm totally 
involved in only the image. It's kind of like hunting...

I've hunted for the elusive white tail deer in my home state of Maine for 
over 20 years (for meat, not trophy.) Though I've seen many deer in 20 
years, I've actually shot at (and hence killed) exactly 2 deer in all that 
time. Despite my rather ethical but poor results, I would not trade all of 
the 'unsuccesful' hunting time that I spent in the woods in pursuit of prey 
for all the Noctiluxes in the world. The actual experience of being there 
completely involved with my environment, with the same goal that the men 
(and some women) of my family have had in the wild of the Northeastern No. 
America since 1697 is FAR more important to me today than the slaying of a 
deer. (If we were hungry I'm sure it would be different, but we get by.)

The pursuit of the ultimate landscape image is the pinnacle of photography 
for me. I've always been able to get portraits that the subject likes, but 
rarely anything that grabs ME as the process has always been more about 
pleasing the client to get paid for portraits, while I shoot landscapes for 
my own enjoyment. Now that I don't rely on photography for food, I am 
beginning to sense that same 'pursuit' attitude in portraiture as well. 
Since using the more intimate Leica I have begun to develop a more relaxed 
(less cash based) attitude with human subjects, but it is a slow process.

Carpe Luminem,
Michael E. Berube

At 06:53 AM 7/22/00 -0400, Ken Wilcox wrote:
>Robert:
>
>I share your affliction. In all the years I've been doing photography
>(about 40) I've taken exactly ONE decent landscape shot. Not that I haven't
>tried! I've wasted more film on this activity than I'd like to admit.
>
>People shots also seem to be my forte. I can usually get nice activity and
>portraits with little thought and using just about any equipment. Go figure.
>
>At 10:14 +0200 7/22/0, a fine scholar, Robert Appleby wrote:
>
> >I've been looking at a few luggers' websites and noticing that quite a few
> >of them are full of landscape shots. For myself, I find it impossible to
> >photograph anything that doesn't have a person in it, preferably within a
> >couple of meters of the front of the lens. Nothing else really gets me
> >going.