Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/04/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]"Stanislaw B.A. Stawowy" wrote: > > B.D. wrote: > > > As one who also owns and shoots with both, it strikes me as an > > incredibly stupid statement. > > Yes? So what about this: > > "Some of these arrivistes buy Nikon F5s, or Leica R8s, or any other top > price SLR, only to shoot photos of their cat without ever quite knowing > what they are doing. Often their top-of-the-range camera body has a > mediocre lens on the front, or worse. We've all seen the messages > posted by the people with an F100 and kit lenses, or the guy who > suggested he needed a Tamron mount so he could use his Tamron lenses on > a Leica SLR body he intended to buy. Many of these people think that > because they can buy a Leica, they have somehow acquired the *class* > that was formerly associated with Leica ownership. They could not be > more wrong. Money doesn't buy class. > > They either don't use the camera at all in order to maximise its > investment value, or they treat it like bone china, for the same reason, > and never get it wet, or dirty, or allow it to show any signs of use. > They take mediocre snapshots with it and convince themselves that they > have magically transformed themselves into people with class who take > classy photographs. Then, to show how much "class" they have, they ram > their *ownership* of Leica down the bodily orifices of anyone who they > think will listen, whether from choice or not. And it's *always* about > their ownership of a Leica, *never* about their photography. > > Let's face facts. If these people had *real* class, we would hardly > ever hear from them on here. People with real class have no need to > trumpet their ownership of a fashion accessory. > > As it is, they crawl out from under their stones every time there's a > new thread with the name "Leica" in it, just so they can once again > assert their ownership by waving their "badge of office". It's just > like a religious cult, any appearance of whose leader triggers mass > hysteria amongst the followers. Any tiny criticism is met with bleating > of the kind that the largest flock of sheep on Earth could not rival. > > It is this behaviour I would find objectionable if it were not so > laughable ... surely these people cannot be serious? Do they really > expect us "lesser mortals" to look up to them because they own a German > camera they hardly ever use? Do they really think that mere ownership > of expensive trinkets confers any *real* class on them? > > I can only imagine the contempt that Henri Cartier-Bresson would reserve > for such people. > > There are those who buy Leicas to use and enjoy, or even to collect and > admire, whom I respect. I imagine they must be deeply embarrassed every > time they read yet another posting from some upstart with a fat wallet > who can only boast about his latest trinket." > ST - If that one wasn't so damn long, I ask someone to do it in needle point and hang it on the wall!! :-) B. D.