[Leica] RE: Bitter pill, very long rebuttal

[Jim Brick <jimbrick@photoaccess.com>]

You knew this was coming. You all know that I usually voice my opinion, as
I see it. I'm an old codger that has been there, seen that, done that, and
got the tee-shirt. So I usually look a little deeper than you fresh folks.
When I do voice my opinion, I usually catch flack from the sheeple, but the
old sheep herders usually agree with me. I should bite my tongue I know,
but I want to make sure that no LUGger is overcome by a psychological bait
and switch.

I once heard a saying "When you are young, you think with your heart. When
you are old, you think with your brain." I don't know if it's true. But it
seems to prove itself more and more as time goes by.

Mike, it was very responsible of you to exonerate Mark from the nasty
messages. However, you could have skipped the part about putting the
situational blame on someone else. Your child. Every LUGger on this list
has compromising and impinging situations that dictated a direction they
had to take, the direction they can take now, and ultimately where they
will reside in the future. You certainly are not unique here. And I suspect
your situation is better off than many.

And Mike, you really could have left off the last paragraph. It implies
that everything you said prior, was simply setting the stage for the
vilification of Mark.

>>But I guess it means I'm not a member of this club, just as Mark Rabiner
>>implied. You win, Rabiner, if you want to be that way about it.
>>

poor poor Mike, bad bad Mark

The war of words that took place on the LUG has nothing to do with whether
you, or anyone, own a Leica or not. And there is no implied "club" to
belong to. I see it as simple backlash about the way you present yourself
on the LUG. It was so irritating to me, that for a very long time I've been
filtering all of your messages to the trash. I've only seen portions of
your messages in other people's replies. You weren't alone in there,
however. And I'm not the only LUGger filtering.

There are a lot of hard working professional photographers on this list.
These folks KNOW the craft of photography. They have the world wide
recognition, the awards, and the big name clients. Many of them spend every
waking hour working on photography. Whether it is optical testing, shooting
AD's for fortune 500 companies, getting the best news shots for the late
edition, whatever. They are out doing it. Quite often with no Leicas in
sight. And the LUG doesn't care.

And I can guarantee that a good many of these hard working professionals,
have life struggles more difficult than anyone can possibly imagine.

But we will never hear about that part of their life. It's private and
should remain private. They simply do their job and participate on the LUG
as contributors, based upon "real" work experience. Tina, Ted, Donal,
Harrison, Henning, Eric, Mike Hintlian, Thomas Kachadurian, Greg Locke, Tim
Atherton, Gary Todoroff, Fred Ward, Mark Rabiner, Tom A., Jem, Erwin... and
the list goes on beyond my feeble memory.

The LUG is not about what made you or me have, or not have, any particular
brand or type of equipment. It's not about the strife we've had in our
life. It's not about Leica bashing. It's about sharing information and
common interests. Leicas and photography. When necessary defending with
real facts, why we are correct. When necessary simply saying "sorry, I was
wrong. Thanks for the education." Anyone attempting to be "the" expert on
"every" subject is not only irritating, but basically dishonest.

Want to know how to use long Leica glass, ask Doug Herr. Want to know how
to do commercial journalistic photography, ask Ted Grant. Want to know how
to photograph indigenous people in the jungles of Central America (or
anywhere) ask Tina Mansley. Want to know how to self publish photography
based books, ask Fred Ward. Want to know how to take aerial photographs,
ask Gary Todoroff. Want to know how to shoot B&W fashion and produce
impeccable prints, ask Mark Rabiner. Want to know everything there is to
know about a lens, ask Erwin. Want to know how to pull off huge week long
photo shoots for fortune 500 companies, ask Donal. Want to know how to
photograph architecture, ask Henning Wulff.

These people will flood you with more good information than you can
possibly fathom, by merely asking.

With over 800 world wide LUG members, there is a lot of expert knowledge
available. People become experts in narrow focused areas of interest.
Collectively, the knowledge base is extensive. "No one knows it all." I've
been thankfully corrected many times. And I expect to be corrected many
times more. An open mind and learning is the key.

Experience is the best teacher. So let's forget this poor me and rich folks
have all the fun stuff. Some people make a good living with a Holga! Let's
all go experience "doing" photography. Then talk about what we did, what
worked, what didn't work. And listen carefully to the wise, battle scarred
professionals, whose bread and butter depend upon careful execution of the
craft of photography. We can all learn a lot.

Now if anyone is going to yell at me for voicing my honest opinion, yell
privately. jimbrick@photoaccess.com  But be aware, I'm a calloused old
fart! The only person the makes me sit-up and take notice, is Brian Reid.
If he doesn't like what I've said and wishes to un-subscribe me, I'll
accept that.

And now back to designing digital (fake) cameras and using film (real) cameras.

Jim (not about to be snookered) Brick

PS. As I've said before, I believe that Photo Techniques is the best photo
magazine published. And to give credit where credit is due, the editor
(Mike) is directly responsible for the content. I started subscribing
probably fifteen years ago (a couple of names ago) and it is the ONLY photo
magazine that I keep forever. Everything else gets purged every year or
two. Ask George Hartzell... he is the purge recipient. I have every issue
of PT (and before PT) since sometime in the 80's. Maybe even before. I
would sure like to see an index of articles, extending way way back. Maybe
there is one?