Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/18

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Subject: [Leica] Beware HCB Wannabes
From: jsmith342 at gmail.com (Jeffery Smith)
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:34:57 -0500
References: <B0912E14-CBBE-4C3C-8485-F7472772ECA3@gmail.com> <C7C83FA3.5F9CC%mark@rabinergroup.com> <19b6d42d1003181804y611a8bd1v72ab4c596f3f28a4@mail.gmail.com>

You agree that the more obnoxious the photographer, the better the 
photographer, as long as he's doing whatever he wants? Cool.

On Mar 18, 2010, at 8:04 PM, Vince Passaro wrote:

> I agree with Rabs. Of course. And a further thought: I remember one day not
> long ago -- within the last decade that means, to us oldies -- seeing a
> photographer with a Leica 35mm camera on Fifth Ave near the corner of 57th
> or 58th St I think (possibley a few blocks osouth of there) standing in the
> flow of the crowd just whirling right and left and all the way around 
> taking
> pictures of people only .7 meters from their faces in many cases, or
> sometimes a bit further. He was like a dervish: to watch him was to see a
> man who was completely lost in what he was doing, the faces in the crowd,
> images momentarily clarified within a blur, him catching them probably not
> in full focus most of hte time, taking pictures (and manually advancing the
> film) as fast as I've ever seen anyone with that kind of equipment work. I
> deeply admired him. He looked insane. He was frightening people. Some
> people, that is. It was New York after all and many just made their way
> around him and kept on without a backward glance.
> 
> Here's a very short, famous, Eastern-ish poem for street photographer's
> everywhere. The title is "In a Station of the Metro" - it's only two lines
> long:
> 
> The apparition of these faces in a crowd;
> Petals on a wet black bough.
> 
> it's like a Capa picture double exposed onto an Ansel Adams....
> 
> 
> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 8:37 PM, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> 
> wrote:
> 
>>> I think the size of his cannon...er....Canon..is what is making him so
>>> conspicuous and is what is unnerving his subjects. My reference to the
>> Leica
>>> RF is not so he can be like HCB, but so he might be less conspicuous.
>> Robert
>>> Capa's Contax would be fine too. Using a big SLR with a telephoto to get
>>> pictures of young ladies is paparazzi-ish, not streetphotography-ish.
>>> 
>>> Jeffery
>> 
>> 
>> I think he can set up an 8x10 view camera if he feels like it if he's not
>> blocking the sidewalk too much.
>> 
>> [Rabs]
>> Mark William Rabiner
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> 
> 
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Replies: Reply from passaro.vince at gmail.com (Vince Passaro) ([Leica] Beware HCB Wannabes)
In reply to: Message from jsmith342 at gmail.com (Jeffery Smith) ([Leica] Beware HCB Wannabes)
Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] Beware HCB Wannabes)
Message from passaro.vince at gmail.com (Vince Passaro) ([Leica] Beware HCB Wannabes)