Re: [Leica] Film "died" for me this week

[John Collier <jbcollier@shaw.ca>]

Mark is one of the hidden gems of the LUG. At first as a new subscriber 
to the Leica "equipment" list you do not understand where he is coming 
from. You find yourself puzzling on what the heck he is talking about. 
Then you suddenly realize he is, and only ever is, talking about 
photography. Mountains of cold bright sliver and nebula sized dye 
clouds firmly affixed to film and paper are what interests him.

It keeps me quiet for a while and has me only commenting on what I know 
and wishing it was more than it is.

John Collier

On Feb 4, 2004, at 5:00 AM, sam wrote:

> I almost skimmed & passed your post because it is long. I'm glad I 
> read the whole thing through. It's going into my save box.
>
> Sam S
>
>
>
> Mark Rabiner wrote:
>> This of course is a real pain in the ass thing to say on the Leica 
>> Users
>> List but when this kind of post happens I wonder and my question 
>> often has
>> been this in effect:
>> How much died?
>> Was he a great person with a great future? A great loss?
>> How tragic of a thing are we really talking about here?
>> Perhaps this person was slight and is finally being put to of a long 
>> drawn
>> out misery.
>> We should cry a whole lot less maybe.
>> Are we having a big funeral for what lets face it had been a fairly 
>> small
>> commitment in the first place? I hope not!
>> Had they been in their darkroom cranking out 16x20's every weekend 
>> and now
>> they're ratcheting out even more exquisite reams of A3's instead as 
>> they
>> answer their email?
>> Had they been shooting a brick of Kodachrome every week but now 
>> wearing a
>> necklace of compact flash cards around their neck like dog tags?
>> When you see a post like this it strongly implies the PROCESS let 
>> them down.
>> Has been proved mediocre.
>> The new one is taking over as it reigns supreme.
>> This implies strongly the strength in the new technology and the 
>> weakness in
>> the old.
>> But when I ask if I get an answer it's amazingly often a sheepish "No 
>> they'd
>> not really been using their cameras that much anyway for quite some 
>> time.
>> The darkroom had been sitting mainly dormant.
>> They have no real body of work
>> No stack of prints to show friends when they come over.
>> No "book" as in prints stuck in pages.
>> No tray (round of 80 slides to stick on a projector). Or Pages of 
>> slides or
>> in boards.
>> No website.
>> Nothing uploaded much of anywhere.
>> Not much of nothin.
>> They are 4x6" once every month or so minilab for the most part people.
>> So I wonder; How much Tri X had he been shooting?.
>> ...Before giving it up for charge coupled devices.
>> Did they have so much Dektol in your blood that now they're going to 
>> go cold
>> turkey? !!
>> I'm just guessing no -
>> It's a new hobby to replace one that wasnąt really there.
>> Two dozen lenses? That's a sure clue.
>> Of the two dozen pro's I know personally locally and globally none of 
>> them
>> come close to using or owning Two dozen Leica lenses for their 
>> shooting that
>> I can think of.
>> Is this the death of a Leica shooter?
>> Because it just sounds like a funeral for a Leica collector or Leica 
>> buyer
>> and seller. A Leica dabbler.
>> 24 lenses!
>> That's 3 times 8!
>> 4 times 6!
>> Enough glass for 3 4 5 6 committed Leica shooters!
>> How anyone can look me straight in the face and put out the phrase 
>> "Canon
>> Rebel with the $100 18-55mm lens." as a balance of some kind against 
>> a more
>> than abundant setup of Leica gear is beyond me!!! What could be the
>> correlation between one of those cheap plastic zoom lenses and any 
>> Leica
>> glass ever made including wale blubber incrusted?
>> ...A "Rebel" against an M or R? How do they in any way relate?
>> Opposites perhaps? That's pretty simple actually!
>> But as I said earlier when someone says they're going digital now I 
>> say:
>> "Really how lovely!!!"
>> "Lets look at your prints!!!!!!"
>> I love to see how the two technologies compare.
>> I LOVE to see how the new A3's (11.7x16.5") and letter sized prints 
>> stack up
>> against the old thick 11x14's and 8x10's.
>> They stick out on all sides by about 3/4s of an inch and get all 
>> crinkled at
>> the edges that's how!
>> I think plenty of people who struggled in the darkroom do fine at 
>> their
>> computer. Maybe printing now for the first time.
>> But also very much visa versa.
>> They are just tools put into the hands of the unskilled and 
>> uncommitted to
>> produce very casual results. Hopefully to be traded for something else
>> sooner than later. And without making a Federal case out of it.
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