Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/05/05

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Subject: Re: [Leica] art, manual focus & other misunderstanding
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Thu, 06 May 1999 01:18:35 -0500

At 10:48 PM 5/5/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Well, in your other posting you state that photojournalism is photography's
>highest standard (my wording

Well, that would be your wording. I didn't say that. What I said was that 
photojournalism's goal, to show what's in front of the camera (and hoping 
all along that the camera is pointed to significant moments in life) that 
it utilizes the strength of photography, as opposed to other styles of 
photography, which are equally valid. But, for example, the work of Duane 
Michals doesn't use the representational strengths of photography, but 
departs from it. Perfectly valid. I like his work a lot. But he has a lot 
more in common with abstract painting than photojournalism does.

Many of us use the phrase "Show truth with a camera." That's a strength of 
photography that painting and music and poetry has. At least, when the 
truth is what a scene looks like. Deeper truths might well be communicated 
by poetry. But poetry doesn't have the laser-like ability to show every 
detail of a given situation that photography does.

I'm not saying photojournalism is better. But that advertising 
photographers, artists, Joel Peter Witkin, etc., have different agendas 
that don't share the affinity for the lens's strength of showing minute detail.

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

Some people say that I'm superficial, but that's just on the surface.