Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/07

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Subject: [Leica] Intimacy with long lenses....
From: "David Medley" <dmedley@whidbey.net>
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 09:49:15 -0800

Jim,

Your are right, it was a poor choice of a word "never"...something will
always happen to be the exception.

However, the intimacy that I was referring to is as much of an intangible
feeling as one of equipment selection. When you use a long lens for that
"intimate" view of another life or situation you are removing yourself from
the close contact that makes the photograph sing. It is the very fact that
you are close and can feel the breath or smell the smells that adds another
dimension to a two dimensional image.

You, as the photographer, feel differently about your subject if you are
using a 35,50 or 75 mm lens because of the very fact that you are physically
close to them. This to me is a much more personal and involved feeling than
can (at least for me) be achieved with a long lens, from a distance. And,
there is nothing wrong with being in someone else's "space" as you call it
if it is done with  respect, humility and genuine concern for the subject
and their feelings.

When it is all over, and the photograph is viewed from the safe haven of
elapsed time, I do believe that the most successful images are the ones
taken from a close position and not from a distance.

But, that is just my  opinion.........



Cheers,
David Medley
Whidbey Is.   WA
USA
dmedley@whidbey.net
- -----Original Message-----
From: James R. Nelon <JNelon@netvigator.com>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Monday, December 07, 1998 6:01 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] sneak thief photographers!


>I have to disagree with your idea that you miss an intimacy with your
subject by
>shooting with a longer lens. You say that intimacy will "never" show when
you
>use a longer lens. Well, perhaps, never say never. I was at the Ashkabad,
>Turkmenistan Sunday Bazaar about two months ago shooting in the early
morning
>(4:30) up until about 10 AM when the place got too incredibly crowded. The
>bazaar had rows of sellers hawking everything imaginable. I stood a row
away
>from some women selling silk cloth shooting with an R250 f4 to isolate
their
>selling activities. The slides turned out to show them in their full
intimacy of
>wishing and hoping and praying for a sale (I can send a jpeg image if you
would
>like to see what I'm talking about). I would have had to have been on top
of
>them to have achieved the same shot with a R35 and then I would have been
in not
>only their personal space but their selling space as well. And been perhaps
more
>obvious as well.
>
>Jim Nelon
>David Medley wrote:
>
>> -Original Message-----
>> From: Michael Garmisa <elmar@nyct.net>
>>
>> >I would like to hear some the the ways fellow luggers "make themselves
>> >invisible".
>>
>> Michael,
>>
>> This is as much of a mental game as anything. Your attitude and the way
you
>> deal with those around you makes you blend into your surroundings.
>>
>> Know your equipment - inside and out.
>>
>> Take a genuine interest in what is happening around you.
>>
>> Don't take everything you own, in a big bag and expect to be ignored. One
>> body and a fast 35 mm lens is all you will need. There is an intimacy
with
>> your subject when using a short focal length lens that will never show
when
>> using a longer lens. And, that intimacy manifests itself in your attitude
>> and how you interact with your subjects.
>>
>> ......and practice. Go out and do it on a regular basis.
>>
>> If you know a teacher, ask to spend a morning in the classroom. No one
will
>> be more interested in who and what you are than a classroom full of 12
year
>> old kids. After a short time, if you are tuned in to the pulse of the
class,
>> you will find that you can work freely among these kids and they don't
even
>> know that you are around. It is a great confidence builder.
>>
>> Remember, the best accessory that you can possibly buy for you camera is
>> film!
>>
>> Cheers,
>> David Medley
>> Whidbey Is.   WA
>> USA
>> dmedley@whidbey.net
>
>
>