[Leica] Leica donation to students

[leicagalpal at earthlink.net (Kit McChesney)]

Ted--

Oh, you must have met my former professor! Mr Wiley Sanderson! Notorious! 

But yes, it was a dreadful experience, and such a waste of so many talented
young photographers. All I ever wanted to be from the time I was 12 years
old was a photog for National Geographic (I learned later that I could do
other things, and that as I grew older, I would have been way too
left-of-center for their right-of-center point of view, but still, in 1978,
I could not have comprehended anything as complex as politics!), and I went
to college to learn how to be a real photographer. It was my wildest dream.
Upon my arrival, I discovered to my dismay, that photographers did not use
cameras (never mind that I had already worked the summers and saved enough
to have an entire Olympus OM-1 outfit: Zuiko 50mm f/1.4, 28mm f/2.8, 200mm
f/4, a bellows/rail system, the works!) and had already been using it! No,
we had to make balsa-wood boxes, decorate them, make the pinhole in a small
plate of brass, etc., and then take pictures using paper negatives. That's
all well and good, but to have to do that for four years of college art
classes? Then there were the reciprocity failure tests, the ASA testing you
mention, the endless exercises that I later realized were devised to keep us
from knowing that this man knew very little about photography and needed to
keep us from finding that out. We did eventually use film, but it was very
limited, in spite of a very nice darkroom setup, with cold head enlargers. 

And the zone system? Fuggeddaboudit. This man was actually an enemy of Ansel
Adams. Said Adams did not know how to make a photograph. Gosh. What a
disappointment. I finally left the program. But I did not stop making
pictures! :)

Kit 

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+leicagalpal=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+leicagalpal=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Ted Grant
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2004 11:01 AM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica donation to students


Kit McChesney said:
Subject: RE: [Leica] Leica donation to students


> At least they're using 'real' cameras! When I was a photography major at
the
> University of Georgia, in the art department (1978-1983), the photography
> department was run by a wacko who thought the only real cameras were
pinhole
> cameras; he fancied himself the world's most knowledgeable photographer. I
> finally dropped out of the program and finished my BFA in printmaking and
> painting. They finally got rid of him, but only after the photography
> program had been nearly destroyed by his tyrannical ways. It was a
horrible
> experience. Took years of therapy for me to get over that! ;-)<<<<<,,

Hi Kit,
One of the unfortunate things about some institutions of learning is, a
"fruit cake" rock and ferner, pin hole idiot sells a package about his
"abilities and know it all" about photography and before he's found out he's
destroyed the enthusiasm of many young person wanting to become a
photographer.

Several years ago when I taught an "Appreciation of light and
Photojournalism" at the local Photo Academy  they had a "rock & Ferm,
peeling paint guy who spent two months of the first semester teaching
nothing but the zone system and assessing the ASA values of film.

So I'm next up after these kids have gone through 2 months of this crap, so
I have a pretty depressed de-moralized lot, not to mention discouraged kids!
In my opening remarks I always start off with my usual, "Real photographers
shoot B&W, eat sushi and drink scotch!"  Which usually brings a bunch
smiles. Hey this is going to be fun!   :-)

Then we start a slide presentation and after the first couple of slides come
up, in the dark a voice asks... "What zone did you use for that picture?"

Bang lights are on!  And as quick as you might imagine, "from this moment on
there will never ever be any mention of  the zone system! You don't have
time for that crap while shooting 35mm film as a photojournalist!"  Out
burst of cheers!!

And I immediately follow with... "There's only one zone you need to
understand from this moment on as a photojournalist and  that's a
"de-militarized zone! Don't go there! Period. Now we aren't going to use the
zone word in this photojournalism class ever ever again!  Are we?"  More
cheers!

And by the time the presentation was completed they were a bunch of the most
charged up gung-ho kids who couldn't wait to get out and start shooting
photo essays or any type of news related material they could fined. It was
amazing how one's teaching methods and subject approach created a major
enthusiasm of what had been a bunch of mentally down trodden kids. Who'd
started out so motivated to become photographers and had been driven to,
many on the edge of quitting even though in their hearts they really wanted
to be a photographer. My easy going style and not what you look at, but what
you see attitude toward photography I turned them around. When you see this
happen and you know you've revitalized these kids it does give you a nice
feeling in your gut! :-)

Now there were happy smiling faces and as motivated as any shooter could be.
And that's what photography is all about, motivation, fun and successful
photography because you're not burdened with a pile of useless crap like the
zone system and numbers, while shooting 35mm. Yep as I understand it, the
zone system it's great for one sheet of film at a time, but 36 frames under
all kinds of various lighting conditions not a hope! So how do you soup "one
35mm " frame at a time?

Oh I know someone will come back with an answer for that sure as hell! :-)

And in the case at your school getting rid of the guy, the "zone system guy"
was finally dumped.

ted











 seimester at the ocal college here


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