Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/01

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Its about ponds - was: VERY FUNNY LUG related story...
From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 19:50:09 -0500

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Adam Bridge
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 5:58 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: [Leica] Its about ponds - was: VERY FUNNY LUG related story...


On 3/1/02 at 1:43 PM, bdcolen@earthlink.net (B. D. Colen) thoughtfully
wrote:

>
> "Well, I have this friend who works at a Starbucks, and she asked her
> manager, and he said it would be okay for me to shoot there. But do you
> think it will be interesting enough?"
>
> !!!!!@#@
>
> Granted, I'll believe it when I see it - and told him to comb his hair,
tuck
> in his shirt, and get his butt over to the Starbucks in question and make
> SURE that the manager says 'okay' to him being there from opening to
> closing.
>

>I hope it works out for him. I hope he goes and just hangs out for a >day
WITHOUT
>the camera before he goes back to shoot just so he figures out how to >see
the
>space and where we might work.
- --------
PRECISELY what I've told him to do
- -------

His thought that it might not be interesting enough is, in itself,
fascinating.
I have this theory about frogs and ponds. In the past, before mass
communication, it was possible for a person of normal talents to be a
relatively big frog in a small, local, pond. A good pianist was appreciated,
a good vocalist, a good photographer.

Today the standards are set world-wide and we're deluged by art which dwarfs
ordinary talents. And for the most part we judge what we see by those
standards. So the pond has gotten VERY big and you have to be a REALLY big
frog to make a noticable splash.

Except, of course, we can form communities, like this LUG, and go back to
the smaller pond - holding off our judgements about what is good that are
framed over on the ocean-sized pond next door.

Which is one of the real benefits of the internet in constructing
communities.

Thanks for sharing BD, I wish your student the best and hope he will be
excited about what he sees and his work is published for us to view.

Adam
- --

Very interesting observations Adam...I think you're onto something here.
And, btw, I would call various local Starbucks 'small ponds.'

There's another thing, though, that I think my student was initially
missing - and that's the idea that there could be a community flourishing in
what is a very commercial, plastic, establishment. He goes into a
Starbucks - if he normally goes in at all - and if he sees anything,
apparently just sees a bunch of people drinking coffee. He has not seen the
fact that those people include folks for whom Starbucks is their office,
complete with computer; their dorm room, with text books and highlighters;
their women's club, where a quiet cup of tea and gossip are shared; a 'guys'
hang out; a singles bar, etc. etc......Hopefully he now understands
this...the question, of course, is why he needed to have it pointed out to
him.;-)

B. D.

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