Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]- -----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. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html