Re: [Leica] Some history

[Curt Miller <cmiller@berkshire.net>]

On Wed, 25 Oct 2000, Erwin Puts wrote:

> SNIP <
> This movement brought the world the aesthetically motivated photography that
> gave photography the respect of an artform.
> These Pictorialists however deplored intensily the utilitarian banality of
> of Realist or Straight Photography.This style   gave us sharply focused
> pictures with unblinking realism. This approach yielded images full of
> details, enlarged and crisply purified of their functional context and so
> lens filling that the images border on pure design.
> The two positions, Pictorialism and Straight Photography, are in my
> view at the heart of the current topic if one is allowed to use the
> image potential of Leica lenses and when doing so, one is still being a
> true photographer. As Pictorialists seem to despise the Straight
> Photographers, this emotion nicely summarises what is going on on this
> list lately.

Erwin and group -

I think there is ample room for both types of photographers.  I was just
showing a dozen or so workprints I made this past Saturday to my
co-workers of country stores in rural upstate New York.  All were made in
the style of Walker Evans - direct and descriptive.  All of the dozen or
so b&w prints were made from Leica M negatives, using a variety of Leica
lenses.  For this set, most were made with my beloved 35 Summilux.  No
pictorialist would disparage the "gentleness" of the images I make with
this lens, on the other hand, even the most ardent realist would be
satisfied.  

While I make many of the negatives for this project with my
8x10, I am not at all unhappy having these Leica images share the same
wall space.  They are just as compelling.  I am able to make these images
without a tripod, even in dim light.  If I need a critical rendering of
the subject, I turn to the latest in M lens technology - maybe on a
tripod, maybe not.  What I can do with the Leica that I can't do with the
larger camera is come away with superb images in the worst of conditions
in lightning time.

I don't understand the devisiveness either, Erwin, but I do understand
your points, and agree the Leica offers something for both camps. And, I
happily straddle the fence of the two.

Curt