[Leica] Born At Risk...

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

Richard:  I just realized that my remarks might be interpeted as critical
of you.  Which is not how I intended them at all--I knew you were
making a joke.  The exchange between you and B.D. simply provided food for
thought, and I bit.

As for chucking your camera, "don't jump kid, you've got so much to live
for."  :-)  Those of us who mostly photograph their family, friends,
interests and immediate surroundings sometimes feel like lesser creatures
than those who photograph global human misery, the mean streets, tatooed
goth babes and arty abstractions.  But that ain't where it's at.  I think
the key is to go beyond mere recording and put something of yourself into
the images.  In other words, don't just take a picture of a (whatever),
take a picture of how the (whatever) feels, or how you feel about the
(whatever).

I try to photograph people with the kind of love and empathy that I see in
Tina's photographs. I look for expressions that characterize the person. I
also like quirky visual humor.  Sometimes I think that my photos are
usually not bad enough to be panned, but usually not good enough to evoke
many oohs and ah here.  Sometimes I succeed.

Also, remember that this is a tough crowd.

--Peter

"Richard F. Man" <richard-lists@imagecraft.com> wrote:

> Heh, I was just being tongue in cheek. You know I have the greatest
> respect for your photos. In fact, now that I have done some "travel
> photos," I have a lot of respect on Karen's Ethnophotography and Tina's
> stuff. It is so darn tough to shoot what you guys do!!! When I look at
> my photos, I almost feel like chunking the whole setup out the windows
> and take up something else....

At 06:03 AM 8/1/2004, B. D. Colen wrote:

>Thanks, Richard - I think. But how about a reality check here...Tri-X
>shot at 800 "look(s) like crap as large prints" unless viewed from an
>appropriate viewing distance - just as digital looks like crap unless