Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/06/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ted Grant wrote: >I try not to carry anymore than the assignment will demand and a more >important >thing,"Never carry more equipment than you can run with!" How true I once had to run from one end the the Atlanta International Raceway to the other then back agian. I was covering Richard Petty's last race & he chose the opposite end of the track from my location to crash & of course UPI being near the end of their run only had 2 staffers there-me and the regional photo editor who was working the darkroom/transmitter...Glad I was not too heavy with gear that day! > >I see these young guys so loaded down with with huge equipment bags and they >never take anything out of them and only use the one camera - flash they >have in >their hands. On occasion I have asked, "Why carry all your stuff when you are >only using the same camera all the time?" "Just in case!" is the usual >response. Like, just in case what? The world is coming to an end? >Better you >have one well working camera and 100 rolls of film! :) Amen Ted. I was shooting this thing last week and all I took was my M3with 35 summicron/eyes & 90 tele-elmarit-plenty of gear for the event. There was some young guy from the local paper carrying the biggest Domke weighing him down. I never saw him change lenses. He shot with the same camera and used a flash for fill (which I did not understand as it was late in the day and the light was beautiful, but I think it has become vogue to fill flash for fill flash's sake). I never got a chance to talk with him as he was only there for a few minutes, but I couldn't help but think that he will learn to carry less as he gets more experience. When I was starting out I probablly would have done the same thing, boy is it nice to leave all those extra bodies & lenses in the truck when you don't need them. >One thing that has come from CompuServe / Internet is that we now don't >wait 3-4 >years before we converse. Now we are back and forth right around the world and >it's a great thing about photography, we all use picture taking machines and >light sensitive material and it builds great friendships. > >The LUG for an example in how it draws so many diverse folks using Leica >cameras >together giving us new friendships and experiences we wouldn't otherwise >enjoy. Exactly. Having gotten out of the news side of photography and into magazine and corporate work the thing I missed most was the conversing with other photogs and the shared experiences. This is a great forum with not only full-time shooters, but hobbistest, and technical people. I have always felt you can learn a lot and this is really true here as there is a wealth of intelligent/creative/tallented people sharing their knowledge about the Leica cameras and photography in general. Cheers, Harrison McClary hmphoto@delphi.com http://people.delphi.com/hmphoto