[Leica] Anthony's response!

[Ted Grant <tedgrant@islandnet.com>]

ANTHONY's response can be read below: ted

Hello Anthony,

You are a gentleman and a scholar to have responded as you did,considering
I have been severely chastised and taken to task for my "attacking post
this a.m." It wasn't meant to be an attack, although I admit it wasn't my
normal type of post.

Therefore, allow me to offer my most humblest of apology to you,
personally. And in public to the members of the LUG who found my post
offence, completely out of character and uncalled for.

Thank you Anthony for your indepth reply and I wish you well with your new
Leica. One bit of advice I may offer and that is, never mind all the
numbers and techie stuff, just shoot from the heart and your feelings and
you'll rarely ever go wrong!

regards,
ted








A sincere
>> I wonder if you wouldn't mind enlightening me to whom you are?
>
>What do you wish to know?
>
>With respect to photography, I have been photographing things on and off
>since I
>was little, since my father is an avid amateur and sometimes-professional
>photographer.  I vaguely remember the spat he got into with his wife when
>I was
>very young and he went out and spent a then-huge amount of money buying a
>brand
>new Nikon F.  I took pictures (or tried to) with his much older Pentax and
>occasionally the sacred F (which was hard for me to lift), and was given a few
>simple cameras of my own over the years (including, sort of, the Pentax, after
>my father had enough other equipment), and finally when I was self-supporting
>and had means of my own, I got an FG and a few lenses.  I used those until
>just
>a few years ago, when I discovered digital photography and started spending a
>lot more time taking digital photographs.  Ultimately this rekindled my
>interest
>in film, and after getting a new AF zoom for the FG, I was inspired to upgrade
>to an F5, which in turn inspired me to buy more lenses.  When I discovered the
>astonishing image quality of a really good lens, the AF-S Nikkor 28-70/2.8D
>IF-ED, and when I discovered how much unwanted attention the F5/28-70
>attracted,
>I began to look towards Leica for a broader experience and perhaps also a more
>discreet way of getting photos without sacrificing quality.  And that
>brings me
>up to last week, when I finally went out and bought a new M6 TTL with a
>Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH.  I had to learn how to do manual things all over
>again
>(even the FG incorporated a program mode), and so I decided to subscribe
>to this
>group in order to learn more about the good and proper ways to use a
>Leica, and
>to learn more about the myths and realities of the camera.
>
>> Where you are on planet earth and when do you shoot and not
>> sitting at the computer?
>
>I live in Paris, France--a paradise for photographers if there ever was
>one.  On
>nice days I am often tempted to go out and take pictures.  I maintain a
>Web site
>with a large gallery of photos of Paris.  They are not art, nor are they meant
>to be, but they are clear, properly exposed, reasonably focused, and large
>enough to provide a very clean and clear picture of the city as it actually
>appears in real life.  The site (essentially just this photo gallery--the rest
>attracts few visitors) gets from 20,000 to 40,000 visitors a month,
>depending on
>the season.  Few photographers find my photos to be interesting, but from the
>documentary standpoint for which they are intended, they seem to fulfill their
>purpose.  I was motivated to create the gallery because, although there
>are many
>photos of Paris, they all tend to be too small, too blurry, too dark, too
>"artsy," etc., or you have to pay to see them (as in stock photos).  I figured
>I'd try to fill the gap.  For the same reason, I put wallpaper photos on the
>site so that people can have free wallpaper images of the City of Light--they
>may not be perfect, but they are pretty clean and they are free.
>
>> As you see my quick introduction is: I'm and old fart of
>> 70 who is still shooting as a full time pro ...
>
>Good!  It reassures me to know that photography is something that can be
>practiced for a lifetime.  I'm glad I don't like sprinting or speed skating or
>anything like that, because eventually you have to stop doing that kind of
>activity, often at a fairly young age.  I guess taking photographs is much
>more
>universal in appeal, like sailing or painting or fishing or whatever.  At
>least
>age never seems to be a factor among photographers, except that the older ones
>have more experience, of course (I don't know of anyone whose photography has
>_worsened_ with age).
>
>> ... well published, books, wire service, TV, newspapers,
>> medical books and International lecturer for Leica USA and
>> Kodak Canada and many professional and amateur groups. I shoot
>> international sports, Olympics, world cups etc., photo advisor to
>> international sports committees, as well as recent  recipient of a Life
>> Time Achievement Award along with Yousuf Karsh from the prestigious
>> Canadian Association of Photographers and Illustrators in Communication.
>
>I'm impressed.
>
>> And a working pro for the past 49 1/2 years. However I love
>> photography with such great passion that at it's a complete
>> all consumming part of my life,
>
>It's always best to work at something you love.
>
>> So that when, what I perceive as a newby, I like to learn of
>> their experience and aspirations in relation to taking pictures
>> and having fun with this most wonderful medium.
>
>I'm not sure how to describe what I like about photography, but I really like
>it.  It is clear that different photographers have different motivations for
>liking it.  In my case, I like to watch and observe people and things
>(especially the former, although photographing them is exceedingly
>problematic)--I like attractive images of all sorts.  Photography is a way of
>recording the images that I like best, so that I can admire them or show
>them to
>others.  As a result, I tend to strongly emphasize a documentary viewpoint in
>anything I photograph.  I do not try to put a personal spin on photos; I just
>try to photograph things in a way that shows what I noticed about the original
>images, and then leave the rest as an exercise for the viewer.  I avoid
>contriving abstracts or illusions with photography; I always try to approach
>real life as closely as possible.
>
>Since I am mostly a technician, having little in the way of talent, most
>people
>find my photographs aesthetically worthless, although some will
>occasionally say
>that they are technically adequate.  I suppose I place too much emphasis on an
>image being "clean," but without more artistic talent, there isn't any other
>emphasis that I can put on it.
>
>  -- Anthony


Ted Grant
This is Our Work. The Legacy of Sir William Osler.
http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant