[Leica] LUG in real life...

[Byron Rakitzis <leica@rakitzis.com>]

Hi all,

I spent the weekend in Portland, OR, for a music job, and I took the
opportunity to meet up with Mark Rabiner!

I suppose some of you know him from LHSA, but as far as I am concerned
you can take all the enthusiasm and humor from his posts and double it:
that amounts more or less to the real Mark Rabiner.

We spent many hours at his home one evening while he and Karen showed
me print after print of Mark's work. It was really a privilege and at
the same time a humbling experience. I have to get back to the darkroom
to see what I can do to improve my own output.

We also traipsed over to Camera World this morning, and we had the
salesman pull out one camera after another for us, including a Leica
R8 and a Rollei 6000 series, the new Contax Aria, and a collapsible
Elmar. CWO will not show you everything they have in stock, though,
which seems like a bit of a short-sighted sales strategy to me, it puts
a lot of distance between the store and the customer.

Mark and I planned to take scads of pictures with our M6's in the
streets of Portland, but the weather and the time pressure I was under
cut those plans short. We also had a lot of talking to do, I suppose
it was something like a "frank exchange of ideas", though in diplomatic
terms I think that's supposed to mean that we got into a fight. It was
nothing like that. Mark and Karen are the sweetest people in the world.

Mark also introduced me to a photographer whose name I've regretfully
forgotten. Among other things, he shoots with a Holga. I was skeptical
at first, but this guy really knows how to make good pictures even
with a Holga. I'm talking about action photography, like soccer and
baseball. Very impressive, you'd have to see it to believe it, and it
would make you ponder what "photography" and optical excellence have
in common.

Byron.