[Leica] Collecting Leicas

[reid at mejac.palo-alto.ca.us (Brian Reid)]

I'm the person who reacted to this topic.

At the time I created the LUG (1992) there were several international forums 
for talking about Leicas--none yet on the internet--and all of them were, 
for me, too focused on the devices and not on what could be done with them. 
And the photography magazines were too elitist, too high-end. I wanted 
everybody to take pictures, and everybody to get better. Heck, even I am now 
taking better pictures.

My role here is to be a fanatic, to take an extreme position, to say "The 
LUG is about people who *use* Leicas". It's rather difficult to use Leicas 
without collecting at least one, and, well, they're addictive.

I want the focus of the LUG to be on photographs and not hardware. But there 
is, well, a depth of focus that includes hardware.

So collect away. If nothing else, it will help keep Leica Camera in business.