[Leica] Ten years behind? I think not.

[feli at creocollective.com (Feli di Giorgio)]

On Wed, 2004-05-05 at 15:06, R. Clayton McKee wrote:


> 3.  I've never yet seen an R in the hands of a professional PJ at an
> event.  This matters not from a lemming reflex but because there's an
> element of "cover me" here -- if in the middle of something a cable
> croaks or a flash dies, I can frequently bum one from the guy beside
> me (or cover his butt if needed).  Obviously this only works if the
> gear's compatible.  (yes, I carry spares, and no, sometimes that's 
> not enough.)

Last year, during the big world wide anti-war rallys (Feb 15 2003), I
was in Hollywood and managed to sneak in to the press pool.
I saw the following:

One chap with an R8 and M6. He had a press pass and no- it wasn't Ted
Grant. This is the only Leica SLR I have ever seen at an event anywhere.

There were two people who shot Leica M exclusively.
- One guy about 40-50 years old with two M6 and he was European. Lots of
people seemed to know him. I have no clue who he was, maybe a Magnum
guy.

- One woman, who apparently was a New Yorker. She was very well dressed
and shot with an M6 - 2/35 Cron and Motor-M. Again, a lot of people
seemed to know her.

There were maybe 2 people who had a digital SLR and a Leica M "for black
and white".

2-3 people shooting Nikon F/F2/F3. They appeared to be 'old guard'.

One guy with a Minolta.

The other 50 shooters had digital cameras. I can't remember which brand 
outnumbered the other.

I had an R6.2, M2, M6TTL and a IIIC (21mm), but I don't really count
since I'm not a professional PJ and was shooting an essay on the build
up to the war on my own initiative.


At all of the other events prior to and after that I only saw one other
Leica shooter, a young woman with two M6 and an Xpan. All of her gear
looked like it had been to hell and back, but she was pretty cute.;-)

Pretty much all news coverage is shot digital these day, especially here
in the USA. I'm starting to think that the only PJ left who shoot film
are the big names (because they can) and people doing long term
projects, although I constantly run in to young shooters who think you
are an idiot and a dinosaur if you are still shooting film. And I only
turned 33 a few weeks ago...


> Deborah Copaken covered it pretty well... The Leica is the Porsche of
> cameras... if you have one, it means you're serious, you're 
> dedicated, you're not screwing around... but you probably don't use 
> it to go grocery shopping.

Oddly enough I have sometimes encountered skepticism when I show up
somewhere with an M for two reasons. People sometimes don't take you
serious, because they think you are just another one of those guys or
gals who has too much money, buys a Leica and likes to run around
pretending they are HCB, but can't shoot their way out of a paper bag.
Others look at your M and think it's not a 'serious' camera, because
they have this mental image of a big SLR with a bazooka of a lens, not
this small, funny looking antique. Digital has made that even worse.

The good news is that shooting film has almost become a novelty. People
are floored when you hand them a good 11x14 silver print on fiber paper.
Ironically they tend to refer to them as 'a real print'.


Feli


>               
>       
> R.Clayton McKee