Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/08

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Hey its only an opinion!
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 22:44:48 -0500

At 02:19 PM 9/8/99 -0700, Kotsinadelis, Peter (Peter) wrote:
>Having bought a the Ernst Haas book "The Creation," I feel the same way.

Ah, but remember, Haas didn't have all the great films that Rowell had. He 
did use Leicas most of his career. His book "The Creation" isn't really 
representative of the amazing body of work that he produced. It actually 
came out of stills he took while directing the opening sequence of "The 
Bible" for Cecil B. DeMille. Who knows how much time he spent on that part 
of the book. I actually find the book quite refreshing to look at once in a 
while. But I'm a nature boy at heart. (Fully clothed mind you).

He is, according to what I read, the real pioneer of 35mm color 
photography. His bullfighters for LIFE shot with Kodachrome 10, with the 
wonderful blurs, was ground-breaking in many ways. I think Ernst Haas has 
to be judged by the era he was in as well as the technical qualities of his 
photos. And many of his lesser known pictures - flowers for example - are 
amazing. He has been judged by the photojournalism profession as one of the 
greats of all time.

He may not be your cup of tea, and that's okay, but in the big picture, he 
is one of the greats. And one of my all-time favorites. Oh, and by the way, 
one of Ansel Adams' few favorite color photographers.

Cindy Crawford over Calista Flockheart? I don't know. Cindy's getting kind 
of old. :-)

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO

http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

In my photography, color and composition are inseparable. I see in color. 
- -William Albert Allard, "The Photographic Essay"