Re: [Leica] Has Leica ever offered a student discount program?

["John R. Fulton Jr." <JRFjr@compuserve.com>]

I will be accused of being elitist but here goes.
All this talk of starving students and not being able to afford 
equipment is just a bunch of nonsense.
[Who I am talking about here are the student photographers with a 
fire in their soul to get into photography. Not the casual "gee 
photography would be a neat job" variety, nor the ones who takes a 
couple of photo courses for fun.  I'm talking about the young men and 
women who wake up in the morning and all they want to do is conquer 
the world with their photographs.]
In photography a student has to be able to compete. Not just with 
other students but with the pros that are out there. If a student 
wants to get a photographer  job after college they need a portfolio 
and it needs to be first rate. Nobody is going to hire an emerging 
photographer with a second rate portfolio ("but it could have been 
first rate if I'd just had the proper equipment--it was just too 
expensive").
I have looked at hundreds of student portfolios  when I was chief 
photographer at a major metro newspaper and also for four years, a 
judge for a national collegiate photojournalism competition.  I can 
tell you I didn't give a hoot in hell about equipment or lack 
there-of. What I cared about was the portfolio and the photographer.
Economics be damned. If you want to be a good photographer you need 
to get the equipment you need to get the job done. No excuses.
So, there are some students with F5s, 400 2.8s etc. They have that 
stuff because they know they need it to compete.
For what it's worth.
best,
John Fulton
Fort Worth
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