[Leica] Photography IS editing.

[steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour)]

On Feb 16, 2010, at 4:11 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:

> Amen Steve. Photography IS editing. Life passes before us continually. We
> choose to select 1/100 sec. snippets of that life in our photographs.
> Admittedly shooting with an 8x10 Deardorf requires more thought and
> preparation than snapping off 30 pictures with a motor drive but 
> photography
> is still a matter of selection. Editing, if you will.
> 
> 
> On another note, Tina and her editor Maggie have my sympathy. As do the
> editors of the old National Geographic. Allowing for 15 seconds to review
> each of Tina's pictures, the two of them must have edited for almost 30
> hours, not accounting for coffee and bathroom breaks. Add to that time the
> prolonged discussions that Tina mentioned. I find that I cannot edit more
> than 2 hours at a stretch without suffering brain damage. For me, the
> editing job would have taken over two weeks of agony.


A fascinating discussion we have have had...thanks especially Tina, Rabs, 
Larry...

when I edited photos and prepared my book, "I never wanted to be famous..."

I had retired from medicine, and spent almost a month reviewing ten years 
and 10,500 photos of children to arrive at the 73 images contained in the 
book...

It was agonizing in some ways, not just the work, but the memories, and many 
of the seriously ill kids were no longer alive...but I enjoyed it, actually 
thrived on it and needed it for closure...

In some ways I am sorry I pursued this whole editing issue, I'm not naive, 
but I have learned a lot. The heavy demands and realities are more clear. I 
feel glad that I can photograph as I wish, especially happy and comfortable 
to be an amateur. 

Steve