Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/08/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Johnny and Steve, Thanks for the great advice--as always. > 19 is a bit deceptive. It's actually on the 90. The figures crossing in > foreground make it look wider. I guess I was about 12-15 feet away. I realized it must have been the 90 after I read your addendum post (which I hadn't seen before asking my question)--I went back and looked again and it became clear it was the longer focal length. Nice job with that 90, too! > Obviously with the 90 wide open you have to focus *very* carefully, and at > low shutter speeds you have to take your time. But the main thing is, and > this sounds like Zen probably, just becoming part of the crowd. Darkness > helps a lot as you can stay out of the light if you wish, in > which case you are essentially invisible to anyone *in* the light. Zen is right up my alley, having been a practitioner along those lines for many years (beginning with a stint at an honest-to-goodness zen monastery back in my late teens, inspired in part by that toilet-paper novelist Jack, his pal Alan and the gang :)). So I know what you mean here, and I find it the greatest challenge and, for me, the most exciting one. I'm slowly transitioning from a period of having to concentrate on the equipment (setting the exposure, focus, composing) to being able to keep attention open to what's going on--and that latter stance brings the invisibility you mention. No one seeing, just seeing. Then the photo takes itself. :) A good practice might be to go out into the fray and _not_ shoot for some period of time, just let the camera dangle from the strap, waiting until that sense of open attention is present--that clarity--and only _then_ take up the camera and see what happens. Hadn't thought of that approach till just now, so I'll experiment with it next time and see what happens. Thanks again, Dan