Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/18

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Rowell, Gib, Doug
From: "Khoffberg" <khoffberg@email.msn.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 16:13:01 -0800

Jeff

Actually I agree with the thrust of your point.  I think this is related to
the point that Gib and Doug are making as well.  For example, I was just in
Moab Utah at Arches and Canyonlands National Parks (terrific place by the
way).  It's real easy to run around and take a bunch of pictures of all the
glorious stuff that God left scattered around.  And in doing that, you've
only done what a thousand other photographers have already done - after all,
it's a target rich environment for a photographer.  That doesn't make it
bad, but it short changes the viewer and the artist.

Galen makes this distinction in his reference to "mature" and "immature"
images.  The later are those that have never seldom been seen before (like
the first ever picture of a snow leopard for example). For some chunk of
Galen's career, he's had the advantage of being places others have not, so
making immature images was pretty easy.  All this finally brings me  back to
your point.  Making profound images in your backyard (sometimes literally)
is wonderfully challenging because you really need to strip away the
apparent familiarity to see something fresh and new.  As I understood Gib's
and Doug's point, that was what they felt was missing in some of Galen's
work from more exotic locales.

In fairness to "Bay Area Wild," I should probably spend more time looking
closely at the images.  Having talked to him about the book, I know he
worked hard to show an area that he loves deeply in a personal way.

Kevin Hoffberg
(925) 942-2772
Visit our website at www.inseon.com

- -----Original Message-----
From:	owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of JeffS
Sent:	Thursday, December 17, 1998 7:13 PM
To:	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject:	Re: [Leica] Rowell, etc.

Kevin,

I read Rowell's newspaper column on the matter of his Bay Area book, and
admire the man for focusing on his backyard again, despite visiting so many
faraway places, as there's no better way to sharpen your vision than by
learning to see the everyday world through new eyes!

Learning to "see" means that you stop saying "oh, that's a street, and those
are cars", and noticing instead textures, colors, tonal values, forms and
the possibilities offered by them, and it works as well in your home as it
does in some exotic locale halfway around the world. This is exciting stuff,
and the reason why we get hooked on photography!

Jeff Segawa
See my photography online at
http://www.netone.com/~segawa

- -----Original Message-----
From: Khoffberg <khoffberg@email.msn.com>
>I'm probably
>least taken with his book "Bay Area Wild" probably in large part because
>they're so familiar to me (I live here).  Conversely, the images from
exotic
>locales and difficult circumstances thrill me.