Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I used to work as a health inspector responsible for the inspection of ships and food imports in the major port of Southampton. Apart from other things we used to have to board ships at sea (sometimes up to 250,000 tonnes) and we also inspected all food imports into the port. It was decreed that we MUST have a positive discrimination policy and employ people in wheelchairs or blind people if they applied for work. When we argued that there was no way that we could get a wheelchair onto a supertanker at sea, or that a blind person could visually examine food, we were told we had to provide facilities. Madness or what? Sorry, I have gone totally off topic! Gerry Gerry Walden LRPS www.gwpics.com - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of bdcolen Sent: 12 March 2003 00:58 To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: RE: [Leica] Autofocus Leica R Okay, I can't help myself...I am going to be totally politically incorrect and ROFLOL! (And, yes, I've seen the book of photographs by blind "photographers." I know: I'm cruel. I have no imagination, blah, blah, blah, blah. Get a grip, folks! Alternatively sighted people are BLIND. They CAN NOT SEE. Photography is a VISUAL medium. It requires VISION. I don't care if a blind person can point an autofocus camera at a subject he or she hears and "take a picture." An Ape can do the same thing, and I am not going to take Ape photography seriously either. I know, I know, there are a bunch of Thai elephants that paint and a bunch of nuts who pay allot of money for the paintings. I'll tell you something, when I lose the remainder of my hearing - I now suffer from moderate hearing loss in one ear and a severe lost in the other, and wear two hearing aids, I am NOT going to apply for a job as a freaking MUSIC critic! ;-) B. D. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Kit McChesney | acmefoto Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 7:37 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: RE: [Leica] Autofocus Leica R Speaking of photographers with poor eyesight, or even more amazing, photographers who are legally or functionally blind, Aperture just published last year a gorgeous book on the subject of blind photographers, titled appropriately, Shooting Blind. It is a moving volume, and poses some interesting questions about how we see, and what we see. There are many blind photographers ... Evgen Bavcar, Flo Fox, Gerardo Nigenda, among others. Bavcar has some interesting things to say about the differences between the visual, and the visible. "My task is the reunion of the visible and the invisible worlds; photography allows me to pervert the established method of perception amongst those who see and those who don't." ... and ... "Each photo I create must be perfectly ordered in my head before I shoot. I hold the camera to my mouth in order to photograph those I speak to. Autofocus helps me, but I can manage on my own: it is simple, my hands measure the distance and the rest is achieved by the desire for images that inhabits me." I suspect that even with their visual difference ("seeing" differently from most of the rest of the world) that not all blind or visually impaired photographers use autofocus ... focus is not necessarily the requisite hallmark of a photographic image. Don't we use the unfocused as a tool of expression? What about bokeh? (Thanks, Mark R!) Kit - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of John Collier Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:27 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: Re: [Leica] Autofocus Leica R I used to agree with Doug but have since run across a few people who have such poor eyesight they need auto focus. Mind you that is not very many people for the plethora of AF cameras out there... No plans for AF here, John Collier On Tuesday, March 11, 2003, at 03:56 PM, Douglas Herr wrote: > lea <lea@whinydogpress.com> wrote: > >> I'd be first in line to have one.... > > The combination of an APO lens and an SL, SL2, R8 or R9 viewfinder > makes focussing too easy to make AF worth discussing (IMHO). - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html