[Leica] Unsubscribing

[Peter Klein]

Gerry:  Say it ain't so!  I hope we can talk you out of leaving the 
LUG.  I think you're one of the leading lights, and your absence would 
be keenly felt.

I have mixed feelings about we photographers segregating ourselves by 
camera brand. While I appreciate the cameraderie of Leica users, often 
brand exclusivity closes us off to some fine photography that we could 
enjoy and learn from, and to technology that might benefit our 
photography. I think that the LUG straddles both worlds.  We all have 
absorbed a certain way of seeing and method of shooting from having 
loved and used Leicas. That stays with us no matter what we shoot with 
today.

I became a Leica user around 1970, when my hometown camera store owner 
put an M2 in my hands, and I found that I could focus an RF far faster 
and more accurately than I could an SLR. I rapidly realized that the 
lenses were incredible, and the low-light advantages of Leicas meant I 
could get "people pictures" I could not otherwise. Of course, back then, 
a lightly used Leica M2 or M3 was only a bit more expensive than a 
Nikon, not stupid crazy expensive like they are now.  Today, Leica 
competes with far less expensive computer-camera hybrids that give us 
more versatility and some amazing new capabilities.  These same cameras 
also enable less skilled photographers to (sometimes) capture things 
that only the most skilled could before. It can be annoying that a chip 
programmed by Japan, Inc. can meet or exceed skills we've cultivated for 
a lifetime. But that same chip can give those of us with traditional 
skills a boost, too.  And we still can get the shot when autofocus fails.

I haven't had much time to post lately, but I look at most of the photos 
posted here. I consider the LUG both an extended family gathering and a 
place of lifelong learning. I confess that lately I use my Olympus micro 
4/3 outfit just as much if not more than my Leicas.  But I have the 
Leica ethos in my blood, and prefer the Leica way when possible.  A 
fleeting moment of human interaction or expression, well-composed, 
captured with a small, light, fast, responsive camera and superb optics 
is still one of my highest goals. To me, that's the Leica ethos.

There are challenges to becoming or remaining a Leica user these days. I 
think that most LUGgers have retained something of the Leica ethos even 
if they have moved on to other brands for technological, medical or 
financial(!) reasons.  Leica-ethos photographs can be taken with other 
brands. Mirrorless cameras better the size and weight advantages Leica 
used to have, and they are far more versatile than a rangefinder. They 
are not as fast as a skilled photographer with a Leica in some 
people-shooting situations. But I suspect that if HCB or Eisie or Gene 
Smith had access to a Fuji XT-2 or an Olympus EM-1 Mark II, they would 
have been happy to give it a try. They might have even adopted them for 
some things. Our own BD Colen takes his "Alone, Together" and "Day in 
the Life" photos with a distinctly Leica accent, but uses Fujis.  Just 
to cite one example.

--Peter

Gerry wrote:

 > I am sorry to say that I am unsubscribing from this board as I feel 
it has less and less relevance to the ethos of Leica photography. Those 
who think it is worthwhile can still see my work at the website below, 
and through various places such as Facebook, Twitter etc.
 >
 > It has been a fun ride!
 >
 > Gerry