Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/11/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Yeah, "...what's worth printing!" That's why I shoot a lot but print nothing. C'est la vie! :-) Art Peterson - -----Original Message----- From: Sandy Carter [mailto:sc-photo@home.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 10:25 AM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: Re: [Leica] Under yer finger nails Anyone interested - truly interested - in photography should read these points! (I love the point one about paying attention to the wrong things: "printing manipulations rather than what's worth printing") thanks Mike sandy temporary web site: http://www.portfolios.com/sc-photo Mike Johnston wrote: > In general, people: > > --Don't shoot enough, not nearly. > > --Pay way too much attention to what their technique *is* rather than > mastering it. > > --Don't look at enough good work. > > --Don't look very carefully at their _own_ work. > > --Pay attention to the wrong things, i.e., > --printing manipulations rather than what's worth printing; > --resolution and granularity instead of tonality; > --what camera they use rather than how they use it; > etc. > > --Don't push themselves. That is, they have a couple of strategies for > making pleasant pictures (in their own terms) but they never challenge > themselves to stretch their skills. > > --Don't take pictures of things they're interested in. They think they're > out "taking good photographs" when what they're doing is demonstrating that > they don't care enough about any particular thing to really be a > photographer. David Hurn and Bill Jay have some excellent thoughts in this > in their book _On Being A Photographer_. > > --Skip all over the place from one technique to another, as though _that_ > were the point. > > If people don't want to believe me, that's fine, but I'll bet I've looked at > more portfolios (and more original prints in museums and archives) than > 99.9% of all the amateur photographers out there. One _does_ observe a few > things in the process of doing that, after all (unfortunately you can hardly > help it). > > --Mike > >