[Leica] Misc condensed thoughts

["Jeff S" <segawa@netone.com>]

Another bandwidth-conserving multi-purpose posting for your computing
enjoyment follows :-)

Thank you to the person who mentioned the shortcomings of incident metering:
I had a very fine digital incident meter, but for the life of me, was never
able to
consistently get the desired results, unless the subject was under
controlled lighting, else close at hand, and therefore, absolutely,
positively under the same lighting conditions! For landscapes in which the
mountain range was brightly sunlit, and I was in shade, forget it! Various
attempts at simulating the correct lighting, such as holding the meter in a
brightly-lit area nearby, was just too iffy. For now, the main appeal of
incident-type meters to me is that some are very small and need not be held
up to one's eye for metering, which is good when working around people.


I do not mind a little art critiquing, and have sometimes wondered why we've
done so little on the LUG! After all, Leica is not a purchase to be taken
lightly, and it does suggest an above-average passion for the medium.

I have visited Eric Welch's site, and find the photos pleasant. I do not
feel more ("Apple Pie" is probably the strongest, and has probably put many
a LUGer off that particular dish for awhile :-) ), but wonder if such was
the intent? Rather, it seems to me that he's chosen photos to accompany and
illustrate text, but not to completely overwhelm it, the way Eisenstadt's
image of Goebbels surely would--what text could you add to a photo like THAT
which wouldn't seem superfluous?

I probably responded least of all to the stained glass images, yet they were
well-crafted. Why? Because while these might be part of an effective series
of images, alone, they do not tell me how it feels to be standing in that
space, amidst those illuminated panes; I have a number of such photos
myself, but the ones which I enjoy most are those which give some sense of
the qualties of light, as it streams down (from the heavens, as it were!),
to the realm of human beings.

Here are a couple of photos by well-known nature photographers which I feel
really stand out from their other works, as shown on the websites:

Season Passing by Thomas D. Mangelsen
http://www.mangelsen.com/print6027.htm
His wildlife images seem to be most popular, yet Season Passing has none,
but it's stunning all the same: He's captured a very fleeting moment, and
the play of light and shadow on the landscape gives the viewer a sense of
waning summer warmth, and impending cold.

Polar Bear Cub Resting Against It's Mother by Galen Rowell
http://www.mountainlight.com/gallery/wildlife/aa804pic.html
This appears to be a real departure for Rowell, as it's not a grand scene,
done in brilliant colors, rather, it's an intimate scene, rendered nearly
2-dimensional and monochromatic!

Freeman Patterson has, unfortunately, chosen to put few images on his site,
but he's published an artist's statement which is well worth a read:
http://www.houssennet.nb.ca/pub/DEC/artstate.htm
What can you say about a man who can create magic from such simple subject
matter as sunlight shining on his dining table?