Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Oddmund wrote: <<<I don't throw away any! All of them are documents, even if not all of them are interesting, or "good" at the moment. I think I have said it before: images are like wine, they are getting better with the time. Don't waste your memory!>>>>> Hi Oddmund, How true! I realize many of the younger members of the LUG may not relate to the value of nearly every frame they have exposed, but as time goes on the world or neighborhood changes. Each and everyone of those frames are a form of a documentary of our times. These kinds of frames although not Pulitzer winners or great for exhibition, tell a story of life and times of the day at the moment the image was made. In 50 years hence they may be masterpieces or of no more importance than at the moment of viewing them for the first time. In your case to have lost by fire all your gear and negatives of what essentially is part of your life can be as devastating as loosing a loved one. In some cases the lost negatives is greater than the loved one, as sometimes our hearts heal and we find another mate. But with negatives it is gone for ever and can not be found again nor a love rekindled. I lost my early negatives from my beginnings and on many occasions I wished I had them. Now 47 years later to be able to study them to see how I looked at the world and was there something in that early photography that might have been an inherent thing, that at the time I wasn't even aware of how I perceived the world through a camera, compared to how I see it today or during my more formidable days as a photojournalist. There is a message in both Oddmund's and my posts to you younger folks and in particular the older ones whom have never lost material. It is critical that all of you care for the negatives/slides you have created. They are your life and once gone, much like an amputated arm, they can never be replaced! And folks this doesn't matter if you use a Leica or a whizbang everything whatzit camera! Take heed of what we say! ted