[Leica] I wish the LUG was a harsher place. (Long Ramble)

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> I bought an M9 recently and a few lenses,  revived my dormant
> photography habit and started posting to the LUG again.  In that short
> time I think my photography has improved and its all down to people
> being honest with me.
> 
> The most important thing I've learned since getting the M9 is what
> kind of photographer I want to be.  I don't do beautiful landscapes
> because I haven't got the patience or inclination to get up at 4 in
> the morning for the right light or spend hours in photoshop honing a
> print and I also know that I'd still be pretty bad at it because
> frankly I find most landscape photography boring. I'd rather just go
> there on my bike and look at the scenery.  I'll never be a
> photojournalist because I think to do it justice you need to immerse
> yourself in your subject and make sure that your pictures tell the
> whole story you wanted to tell.

Its just that your camera, an M9 cost SEVEN thousand dollars.
And one of your lenes, the Noctilux .95 cost TEN thousand dollars.
And you're on the Leica users list.
So when you're on a short walk having not woken up too early in the morning
and later not in the mood to spend too much time tweaking the shot your
doing it with a seventeen thousand dollar kit in your hand. Camera with
lens.
Most people with $17,000 dollars in their hand filled with camera are not
worried about what kind of commitment they have to photography.
Its a given they have some.
Nobody can force somebody with a fortune worth of camera gear in their hand
to take less than the most causal approach to photography. Its a free world.



Mark William Rabiner