Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/01/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]+1 !!! Jim Nichols Tullahoma, TN USA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nathan Wajsman" <photo at frozenlight.eu> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 12:02 PM Subject: Re: [Leica] Rant! > Doug, after having consumed a couple of nice beers in a cozy Munich bar I > have a positive outlook on life. And the positive version goes something > like this: the sheer incompetence you describe creates more opportunities > for a true master like you. > > Cheers, > Nathan > > On 31 Jan, 2012, at 4:41 , Doug Herr wrote: > >> I went to a talk on Friday night on bird photography by a well-known >> wildlife photographer who is sponsored by one of the Big Two camera >> makers. I won't mention names. What a friggin waste of time & gasoline. >> If I'd had to pay for parking I'd have demanded a refund. His approach >> to wildlife photography is buy-the-longest-lens-you-can and >> buy-the-newest-and-fastest-(sponsor brand)-body-you-can, and he came >> across as the sponsor's paid spokesman (which he is). >> >> He said NOTHING about light except for how to use more flash, NOTHING >> about composition, color (except more is better), NOTHING about bird >> psycology or bird identification, except for hiring a bird guide (more on >> this after I stop seething). >> >> His photos were compositionally shallow and bland: no use of color or >> forms to give a sense of depth or to draw attention to the bird, hardly >> any discussion of the foreground or background except how to obliterate >> it. The best I can say for his photos is that they show what the bird >> looks like. Nothing about how it relates to its habitat. Empty, shallow >> mainstream photos. And the camera maker pays him to promote this and >> "teach" it to the unsuspecting wanna-bes. >> >> I'm still seething but I gotta get this out of my system: He can't >> identify some really obvious western birds - and he's lived in the west >> most of his life. He got Great Egret, Mountain Bluebird and Williamson's >> Sapsucker right but he showed a couple of captive raptors side-by-side, >> photos made at a rescue facility where he was TOLD what they are and he >> thought the birds in his photos were the same individual, when one was >> obviously a Prairie Falcon and the other was obviously a Buteo, probably >> a Red-tailed Hawk. They didn't even have the same eye color. He >> couldn't identify a Rail in one of his photos (fullframe, good light). >> He had no idea if it was a Virginia Rail, a Clapper Rail or a King Rail. >> >> This is the crap that a major camera maker is promoting as wildlife >> photography. This is what the sponsor has trained the unsuspecting >> consumer to think of as good wildlife photography. Buy our stuff and you >> too can make these great photos. >> >> Grrrrrr grrrrrrr grrrrrr grrrrrrr grrrrrr grrrrrrr. >> >> >> Doug Herr >> Birdman of Sacramento >> http://www.wildlightphoto.com >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > Nathan Wajsman > Alicante, Spain > http://www.frozenlight.eu > http://www.greatpix.eu > http://www.nathanfoto.com > > Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0 > PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws > Image licensing: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman > Blog: > http://www.nathansmusings.eu/ > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > >