Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/31

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Re cropping dilema
From: "Peter Choy" <pmcchoy@earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 14:48:29 -0700

I ran across James Delano last year in Beijing after noticing him at the 
Internet terminal next to me, pecking away while wearing an M2 with a 35mm
Summaron lens. After breaking the ice, I was able to guide him on how to get
to Kashgar, on the southern Silk Road, since I was already headed there
myself. Flying to Kashgar requires going through Urumqi, and the Xinjiang
Air flight schedules bear no relation to reality -- they fly an old Soviet
rattletrap once it's full, usually by about 11pm every night.  Otherwise
they cancel it and make everybody wait a day.  Kashgar is hard up against
the Chinese border with the central Asian states, and is about as far from
any ocean as you can get on the planet. The place and its peoples look very
different from the rest of China.

I like his work. Once doesn't often see black and white feature photography
in the mainstream print media.  His visual look is distinctive, blending a
documentary type approach with a poetic personal style, which I find
appropriate to the evocative subject matter. It happened that we flew in and
out of Urumqi and Kashgar on some of the same flights (there really aren't
many choices) so had some interesting discussions. Aside from the fact that
he works in black and white (and does his own printing), I found it
remarkable for a working photographer to lavish the time he does on his
projects (we were in the Xinjiang Region for almost two weeks; in my case I
was touring, not working). It was also kind of a revelation to me that
someone who makes a living as an independent photographer relies on one
camera body and one lens, period. Maximum mobility, no surfeit of choices,
and the discipline of making do with what one has.  Helps to have reliable
gear. I was happy to come across him and his work.

rgds
Peter
San Francisco

>  With all this talk of the validity of various
> technique as it applies to photojournalism I am
> curious to know what the LUG thinks of the work of
> someone like James Whitlow Delano.
>
> http://club.pep.ne.jp/~james.delano/asia/sw_china/sw_china.html
> http://club.pep.ne.jp/~james.delano/asia/vietnam/vietnam.html
> http://club.pep.ne.jp/~james.delano/asia/india/india.html
>
>  He obviously uses burning and dodging extensively as
> his signature.
>  He has done essays for Time:
>
> http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/photoessays/tibet.delano.0717/frames/
> 2.html
>
> and Outside magazine:
>
> http://web.outsideonline.com/magazine/1296/9612fehapp.html
>
> in addition to winning the Eisie award and Excellence
> in Communication award.
>  For me this style has more to do with the
> representation of the memory of a subject than the
> actual subject itself. What do you think?
>  Just to stay on topic Delano uses a M2 and 35mm lens
> for most of his work and has been featured with one
> man shows at the Leica Gallery in Prague and Germany.
> Thanks,
> Clif Wright
>
> =====
> http://www.pbase.com/clifwright
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