[Leica] George Bernard Shaw used a Leica: The Real quote?

[Peter Dzwig]

Hilarious!

I got ChatGPT to have a look. It came up with:

I could **not** locate a reliable source for the specific phrasing you 
asked about — that George Bernard Shaw described using a Leica camera as 
“like producing frogspawn.”

What *is* well-documented, however, is that Shaw made a somewhat similar 
comment about photography in general. For example:

 > “The photographer is like the cod, which lays a million eggs in order 
that one may reach maturity.” ([PhotoQuotes][1])

This comes up in photographic-history texts attributing it to Shaw. 
([PagePlace][2])
Another version:

 > “A photographer is like a cod, which produces a million eggs in order 
that one may reach maturity.” ([Goodreads][3])

**So**:

* Yes — Shaw did make a remark about the photographer / photography 
process being analogous to many eggs laid so that one may succeed.

* No — I couldn’t find a credible reference linking that remark 
specifically to using a Leica camera (rather than photography in general).

* And I couldn’t find any credible source where the analogy uses 
“frogspawn” rather than “cod (fish) / eggs”.


[1]: 
https://photoquotes.com/quote/the-photographer-is-like-the-cod--which-lays-a-mil?utm_source=chatgpt.com 
"The photographer is like the cod, which lays a mil | PhotoQuotes"
[2]: 
https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781317329541_A30632951/preview-9781317329541_A30632951.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com 
"FOURTH EDITION"
[3]: 
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/141623-a-photographer-is-like-a-cod-which-produces-a-million?utm_source=chatgpt.com 
"Quote by George Bernard Shaw: “A photographer is like a cod, which 
produces a ...”"



Regards,

Peter


On 04/11/2025 10:09, Peter Klein via LUG wrote:
> A Facebook group posted a 15 year-old Guardian article about playwright 
> George Bernard Shaw's lifelong interest in photography. He began with 
> large format and wet plates in the late 1870s.
> <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2010/sep/07/george-bernard- 
> shaw-photographs>
> 
> ...and in the 1930s, he was using an early Leica.
> <https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b8/f0/05/b8f0050381edffecb6f318a3ecba52e2.jpg>
> 
> In the Facebook thread, one Michael Dembinski remarked that "GBS 
> described photography using a small-negative camera like the Leica as 
> being like producing 'frog-spawn'. Looking for this quote, I asked 
> Google AI, which helpfully told me that "Shaw was a keen amateur 
> photographer who owned a Leica M Monochrom "
> 
> Nice try, AI. Although, come to think of it, Shaw was a friend of H.G. 
> Wells. So perhaps he used Wells' time machine.
> 
> --Peter
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information

-- 
Dr. Peter Dzwig