RE: [Leica] Leica & Zeiss & HCB

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

In reference to "his pictures speak for themselves..."
Me, I'm not an Art Historian or an esthetician. I'm a photogeek. I wana
know how he did it. I wanna know what kind of lens cap he uses. I wana
know what camera, film, developer, shutter speed, f stop, special
viewfinder,  whip and megaphone, paper, enlarging lens, what he had for
breakfast that morning, how long he ages his stopbath. I'm not just
content with sitting back and admiring it. It's like magic tricks, I
don't think they're entertaining if the guy at the end doesn't tell you
how he did it, its just frustrating. I'm a photographer and anything
pertaining to photography gets my interest.
Is the an esthetician users group? If so I'll get the digest and make a
contribution when I'm in that frame of mind. This? This is nuts and
bolts and you name it including any esthetic ruminating one might have.
IMO
Mark Rabiner

Alan - While it's interesting to know all that, it also leads to a kind of
self-delusion( I'm speaking generally, NOT personally :-) ). I would argue
that what camera, film, etc. etc. etc. HCB used is utterly irrelevant EXCEPT
for the fact that by using what was initially a new photo format, which
allowed portability and unobtrusiveness, he was able to observe and
photograph "unobserved."

But what is important about HCB, or any other photographer, is HCB or the
other photographer - the vision, not the equipment. I'm sorry to sound like
such a heretic, but HCB would be HCB, and his images would be his images,
had he primarily used Contax equipment, or Retina, and then switched to
Nikon, or Canon, or Pentax, etc.

I would again point to Eugene Richards, three-time Magazine Photographer of
The Year, winner of this year's Canon Essay competition, winner of the Gene
Smith award, winner of the Kodak Crystal Eagle, winner of numerous
fellowships, winner of a major Leica Award and of the Oscar B. award - who
has never owned a Leica and now uses Olympus OM3s and Canon F1s....

Yes, part of my attraction to Leica is the HCB/Capa, etc., thing. But the
equipment is not going to make me those people any more than Michael Jordan
shoes are going to make me Michael Jordan.

The equipment questions are fascinating, but when it comes down to it, to
paraphrase Clinton loyalist James Carville - "It's the soul, stupid!"
:-)
B. D.