Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]OK Steve.......ya caught me.... Actually if I reeeaally think about the whole story, which I believe I first read in Road & Track back in the early 60"s ....it was not seconds as I first stated....... HOWEVER.....I do believe that he came within a couple of minutes of the record. Now think about that for a minute. It really was a truck, or something very similar and he really did come very close to the record time. Again, if I remember correctly he did beat the time of some lesser cars and drivers who were out there trying to race for real. The point of the whole thing is that Stirling Moss was one hell-of-a-driver regardless of what platform he happened to be using at the moment. You could put less of a talent behind any automobile you want to name, and in most cases a driver such as a Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart et al could run circles around them without much effort or thought. The same can be said for Leica, Nikon, Canon...you name it. They are but tools to get from point A to point B and it is the talent behind that tool that enables it to perform in the way that we would like to believe we are all capable. It is a very subjective thing, unlike the absolute time around a race course, and I would like to think that I am a fair to better than average photographer. However when I look at some of the images of other photographers that really send my heart to pounding I am the first one to realize that the tool had nothing to do with it. I can put on the racing gloves of Stirling Moss, and I can take photographs with the same tools as Selgado, Allard, and Harvey but I do not have the talent to take that image to the next degree and there are very few who do. And, the tool has nothing to do with it. That does not mean that I cannot or should not try for that next degree of image excitement. There are times when I believe that I have accomplished something really wonderful with an image, and I get excited about it and it makes me want to push further. At those times I race with the Hill's, Stewart's and Moss's but not often enough to say in all honesty that because I use Leica I am there. After saying all of that...I'm not sure why I even started this thread...Oh well such is life. I just returned from helping my father-in-law with a project and a window pinned the fingers on both hands to the point it took 2 other people to get me free. I guess I just wanted to finish this thing while I could still type. The fingers are starting to swell and with any luck I can use this injury for at least 3 days of sitting on my butt and doing some serious darkroom planning! <G> Cheers, David Medley Whidbey Is. WA USA dmedley@whidbey.net - ----- Original Message ----- From: Steve LeHuray <icommag@toad.net> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Thursday, September 09, 1999 3:52 PM Subject: Re: [Leica] was Galen Rowell now tools... > David, > You got suckered in on that Sterling Moss story to think that a brick truck > weighing at least 4 tons, high center of gravity, lousy brakes and maybe 150 > horsepower is going to come within a 'few' seconds of purpose built race > cars that weigh maybe 1500 pounds, low center of gravity, excellent brakes > and at least 400 horsepower.......well I hope you get the point. > steve > Annapolis > ---------- > >From: "David Medley" <dmedley@whidbey.net> > >To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> > >Subject: [Leica] was Galen Rowell now tools... > >Date: Thu, Sep 9, 1999, 5:48 PM > > > > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: Jeffcoat Photography <jeffcoatphoto@sumter.net> > >Subject: Re: [Leica] Galen Rowell > > > > > >> Mark: I don't think it's a matter that the tools don't count it's a matter > >that a > >> master can work with any tool and get the results (however frustrating the > >> experience), but a great tool in lesser hands is no guarantee of great > >results. > > > > > >I believe it was the English race driver Stirling Moss who once got into > >this argument with someone. I don't remember all of the details, but the > >gist of the story is that he took a brick truck (literally a brick truck) > >out on the race course and came within very few seconds of the record at the > >Brands Hatch (SP) raceway. Proving once again that a master is a master > >regardless of the tool in his hand. > > > >Also, didn't Irving Penn once shoot a job with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye to > >prove a point? > > > >Cheers, > >David Medley > >Whidbey Is. WA > >USA > >dmedley@whidbey.net > >