Re: [Leica] Leica Camera of the century? Why!

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

I have to agree with Eric here....And not because I am a Leica shooter...

If there is going to be a "camera of the Century" - and, yes, it's a silly 
concept - I believe that that camera should be the Leica rangefinder...Not 
necessarily because it did or didn't take the most important photos of the 
Century, but because it philosophically made them possible. The original 
Leica, more than any other camera, physically made possible, and made 
possible the idea of, the photographer as unobtrusive observer and recorder 
of the human condition. First came the Leica, then came HCB, Eisenstadt, 
Capa, etc. etc. etc., and then came the Contax and Nikons and Canons, etc. 
etc......This isn't one to loose sleep over, God knows, nor is it one to 
take time away from taking photos.....But I do think that, as silly 
concepts go, this is a worthwhile one.

B. D.

At 08:52 AM 1/12/00 -0800, you wrote:
>Eric,
>
>So do we discount all the wonderful pictures taken with other cameras such
>as a Rolleiflex TLR(i.e., Marilyn Monroe, Buster Keaton as done by Richard
>Avedon), or the photos taken with the Nikon (i.e., JFK, Jr. saluting his dad
>at his funeral)?  Granted Leica has been around longer, but it would seem
>logical that more photos were generated with Nikon than with Leica in the
>last 2-3 decades?  So then why Leica?
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Eric Welch [mailto:ewelch@neteze.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 5:38 PM
>To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>Subject: [Leica] Re: LUGSeveral topics
>
>
>Sometime around 1/11/00 11:00 AM, Erwin Puts at imxputs@knoware.nl mumbled
>something about:
>
> > BJP's contributor Crawley mentioned that the Leica should be camera
> > of the century and I agree with him.
>
>Truer words were never spoken. Leica played no small role in the fact that
>photography was the dominant form of communication in this century. Some
>word herders may begrudge the power of photos, but as I see it, words and
>photos together are more powerful than either alone. But that doesn't deny
>the fact that photography is the visual medium of choice in art and
>commerce. Only in journalism, ironically, where photography's speical
>quality (reporting impartially what the camera sees - note I did not say
>what the photographer sees) is one of it's greatest strengths, regardless of
>the word folks' attempts to keep it in a secondary, service role to words.
>--
>
>Eric Welch
>Carlsbad, CA
>
>http://www.neteze.com/ewelch
>
>The difficulty now is that unexceptional adults believe the loss of youthful
>dreaming is itself  growing up,  as though adulthood were the passive
>conclusion to a doomed activity and hope during adolescence.