Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:49 AM 1/31/01 -0500, Cmrausr@aol.com wrote: > >Do we indulge ourselves with outdated, hard to use Leica equipment, and miss >out on opportunities for more creative images, because we are afraid that if >it is easier, photography as an art and craft is somehow lessened in >importance? > >Is use of Leica equipment a form of visual conceit, a belief that somehow the >equipment will provide a certain amount of legitimacy to images that are >otherwise useless? > >Scott Stewart My experience, as an old timer in this "photo" game, is that the "new" and "easier" forms of photography do nothing but get in my way. AE and AF, which allow a neophyte the ability to make technically reasonable photographs, hinder the ability of someone steeped in the craft of photography, to subconsciously and personally control all aspects of the image forming process. An intuitive process that comes from years of practice with those outdated and hard to use pieces of equipment. Those pieces that laid the foundation of photography. Turning the "craft of photography" over to a computer programmer, sitting in a cubicle, somewhere in the far east, is not my idea of what photography is all about. It is faux photography. Real photography takes real knowledge and real experience. You should be the inspiration, and the executioner of that inspiration. If someone buys a canvas with those color coded numbers, buys the color coded paints, fills in the numbers, with real oil paint, producing a real painting, are they a painter? Faux painter yes, real painter, no. Just look at the work of Ted and Tina. Faux no. Real yes. Intuitive execution of personal inspiration using the simplest of tools. Quiet confidence from knowing the craft. http://www.tinamanley.com http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant/homepage.html/ :-) Jim