Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Ted Grant wrote: >=20 > << This is a complete reversal to my normal method of photography where= I try > to use the widest possible aperture and highest possible shutter speed= . I > always try to keep the subject separated from the back ground and make= it > stand out, rather than having it lost in a maze of "infocus" back grou= nd > and clutter. >> >=20 Ted, I was just looking at Robert Frank's The Americans for about the 80th time last night and thinking about your approach vs. Frank's. What I really admired in the book is the purity and spontaneity of his vision (not that you are lacking). What helped contribute to his success and spontaneity, when you look, is the fact that many of his photos were made at hyperfocal settings. And they aren't lacking because the subject is not seperated from the background. I guess this is called style. Certainly, the optical characteristics of Leica glass contribute quite handsomely to someone practising your style. But, equally, someone practising Frank's style can gain from the spontaneity of having the world's most responsive and unobtrusive photographic machine set to hyperfocal distance and reacting to the purity of the moment. Chacun a son g=F4ut. :-) Carl S. - --=20 Sometimes the wrong thing is exactly the thing you should do.