Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/09/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 11:48 PM 9/5/2006, Ted Grant wrote: >People who think everyone will see them carrying >a camera usually feel insecure themselves in >carrying the camera! They'd give themselves away >with one of those little bitty Minox things.;-) > >I put an M on my left shoulder and I feel no >different. It's part of my attire. Actually I >feel undressed if it isn't there. And the strap >is set specifically to allow the camera to come >up to my left eye and go "click!" And down >before anyone realizes I've done it.;-) > >And with an M7 set to AE lock my heavens it's up >- down faster than an eye blink. :-) Dread nought, and be thus the wiser. Take a camera. Go to a place. Look for pictures. Take them. Process them (note that I am being neutral here: you can process chemically or, if you need to do this, on the computer). Then see what you have. Well over 90% of our pictures are not worthy of further effort -- didn't Weston leave some huge archive of 95% of his negatives never printed when he died? And then ordered them all destroyed? Probably a wise move, though we shall never know. Take pictures. Review them. Share those that you wish to share. Or hold them to yourself if you are, as I am, rather private about my photo efforts. But take pictures. Street photography is great I grew up walking through the roughest sections of Pittsburgh, back in the days of yellow skies and the like. By the age of 12, I knew how to get out of tough situations peacefully, with an understanding that any one person can meet a maniac at any time ant then your clock has chimed its last ding. So, for me to take a camera into a tough neighborhood is no hu-hu: I act like I belong there, and I do my thing and, on occasion, I meet a former client recently sprung from the Clink who will greet me with glee and demand that I take pictures of them with their families. (Damned, but I am glad to be a retired attorney!) Take your camera. Act as if you belong there. Then go and do it. I generally toss a camera in my car when I am going somewhere -- usually my M6 and bag but, on occasion, a Werra or a Retina or, if I am travelling light, my Hasselblad SWC (see! I DO take wide-angle shots!) or my Rolleiflex 2.8F or 2.8GX. But I always have a Rollei 35S in my glovebox and a roll of film about, so that a vital shot be not missed. I rarely go out to shoot any more -- I am almost as retired a photographer as I am a retired attorney. But I always see the possibilities. I missed a great one once, when I had a loaded camera in the car, and the family of the fellow later fussed at my failure to stop and shoot. I shall not make that mistake again. Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!