Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/01/31
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on 31/1/00 9:00 am, Jem Kime at jem.kime@cwcom.net wrote:
> John,
> terrific pictures. In contrast to the February contest this shows what, I
> believe, the Leica was made for - people photography.
> I like nos. 2 and 3. In #2, there are many elements working together, the
> befuddled confusion in front of the guy on the right, the table tennis game
> without a ball - is it all in the mind? And the table support that has
> collapsed on the floor - like the support for their worlds and perhaps the
> social support for themselves.
I'm glad you see these things in the pictures; it's a pleasure to know that
things you hope people will see are seen. It is all deliberate in the end;
either in the shooting, editing or printing.
>
> #3 I find is a strong recollection of Sellers recreating Olivier reciting A
> Hard Day's Night. The 'madness' of that previous performance is chillingly
> recreated here.
I think this is my favourite image of them all. Kind of why I got into
photography in the first place, as a way of dealing with my emotional
responses to the world, which are sometimes unbearably strong. I remember
being very moved when I took this picture, and I still find it quite
difficult to look at, because of the unexpressed pain in the woman's face.
>
> And finally I was intrigued by the last photo which seemed to suggest flash
> being used as we see a shadow of the hand on the wall (RHS). Though none of
> the pix look as if they use flash.
I did use flash for some of the pictures: the christmas dinner (no 10) and
this one. I wouldn't do it now, but I have a much faster lens now! However
the harshness of the flash was mitigated by a long ambient exposure (maybe
1/4 second), which is perhaps why it's not so obvious. I also used Ilford
XP1 for the flash pictures, which was a very forgiving film for the
harshness of strobe light.
Thanks for your comments.
- --
John Brownlow
photos: http://www.pinkheadedbug.com
music: http://www.jukebox.demon.co.uk