[Leica] Why Leica only, why new, why ----

[Alastair Firkin <firkin@netconnect.com.au>]

Dear friends,

I suppose I had best defend my choices on FOM 2 and try to put some disquite
to rest.

1. I am prepared to put considerable effort into this project, but I do not
have an army of assistants, and so some limitations on traffic volume were
required. I intend to live more than 5 years, however, so the length of the
project will make up for my inability to process rapidly aquired volumes of
images

2. I am happy to do this work both for myself -- I thrive on 6 year plans,
and for the family of friends I have made here on the LUG. I do not really
have any interest in other internet groups etc who might otherwise wish to
be included. This is a Group project, not and attempt to find the "best of
all time"

3. I wanted to create a project for the Leica Users Group, the only group of
photographers large enough to really make a go of this project that I'm
associated with. I needed to put some limitations on the boundaries of the
project.

4. I wanted to inspire work, not recycle or delve through archives

So to those of you (and there are a few) who believe that I have not been
true to the original concept, and that the stipulation of Leica only is
"exclusive", I can only say;

this is a project for and by the leica Users group, so most of us have
Leicas, you are all included. I have said that I will consider some
submissions on "compassionate" grounds, and to this end, the man who is
working hard on our web site may be included if he cannot get himself a
leica badged camera or lens before the end of this years submissions. Now in
reality, this is inclusive, inclusive of all Leica users, and at the same
time, it gives me some hope of coping with the traffic and work volume we
will generate.

Leicas have the name Leica on them. I'm not going to argue If it is good
enough for Leica to put their name on, it is good enough for me. This means
SLR's screw mount Leicas, stereocameras if there are any, Digilux and
compacts. Leica make a pretty inclusive range of cameras, and the only
"exclusion" here is larger and smaller formats  ----- I'm using 35mm film
for this project by default, but given that this is the most popular format,
it is more inclusive than exclusive. Although one of my aims is to celebrate
the 50th anniversary of the Leica M, this is just because it falls at or
about the same time, and I suppose, it is the style of photography for which
Leica is best know, and probably the reason so many of us use Leica.

I make one exception, and that is the CL CLE. These cameras were "deserted"
by Minolta years ago, and come from the Leica/Minolta co-operation anyway.
They are the only "other" camera I know of that uses the M mount, so you can
use the CL and CLE in this project. Finally, Leica has inspired some
products outside of its realm. I will accept images made with the
combination of a Leica body and 3rd party lens, or a 3rd party body and
Leica lens. In the case of the former, the style of photography is Leica,
and in the case of the latter, the fingerprint of the Lens is all important
in image creation, and it may well be that a photographer would consider
this "a Leica image". Here it is up to you and your honesty. If you think,
your image is a Leica image, and some part of the chain is 'badged' Leica,
then it will be accepted. This is as "inclusive" of Leica style photography
as I can be, without "buggering" up my original conception.

Now retrospective versus prospective. The original FOM looked
retrospectively at 2,000,000 images, and produced 10,000 down to a final
500. There is an enormous assumption here, that the editor of the project
"understood" the aims and beliefs behind the image. I wanted to find
inspiration from the concept of the Family of Man, but not to revisit the
original project. I could never edit through 2 million images, so
limitations were needed. Also, this project asks the photographer to seek
images which to them are inspired by the nature of the project. My
conception is not going to influence judgement here. I will try to keep the
project varied, by working on the categories, and these may change from year
to year, especially if one draws no work and another too much. I do not want
the end result to be a documentary of smiling children, so there will be
some editorial direction, but without individual judgement. Judging will be
a group thing, and will be done over the month of October next year (I may
take time in November as well). This can again be critisised, but I defend
this as a group project which is the group choosing its 100 finest
photographs of the year to show the talent and diversity of this "family"

Finally, this is NOT a contest. It is a group project, and everyone has an
equal chance of contributing. I reject (at this stage) the idea that Leica
or someone outside the group should "judge" it, because then, it would be
his/her idea of the inspiration behind the Family of Man, not that of this
"family" of likeminded photographers.

I hope no-one is offended. I want this to be an inclusive project with broad
visions, but I must put some boundaries on it, and to that end, I will stick
with my original conception and ask you to look forward at humanity at the
start of the new Millenium, and try to capture a moment in time that is NOW.
All I am asking is that the Leica Users Group use their Leicas to capture
that vision.

Oh and by the way, we are making very good progress on the web site and
other behind the scenes work and now have over 140 registrants ;-)

Thanks all for listening to this rant, I hope I have helped some of you join
this project and feel comfortable that we are not being aloof or exclusive
in doing so.

Cheers

Alastair

Alastair Firkin

http://users.netconnect.com.au/~firkin/AGFhmpg.html