[Leica] Multiple Bodies

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

Seth, with all due respect - and you are due a great deal :-) - you are
so dead wrong on this you're almost coming around the other side.

I do wedding photography; I shoot in situations that require both
contemplation and quick reflexes - and in all the goal is to frame
properly. And the rangefinder, of all cameras, is the best instrument
available for that. What draws me to the M is the fact that I am seeing
my scene through a picture window WITH FRAME LINES DRAWN ON IT. I see
what's happening outside those frame lines, as well as inside; I think
in terms of the frame; I adjust the shot for the frame; I shoot for the
frame.

When I returned to the M from various SLRs the quality of my work
improved - not because of the vaunted Leica glass, but because I started
paying much more attention to the frame.

Surely, you don't think that HCB shot "contemplatively" - or cropped. He
worked his material quickly and rapid fire once he decided what he was
shooting. There is film/video somewhere that shows him dancing around a
subject like a kid who needs ritilan. ;-)

BTW, Ted isn't carrying those bodies to avoid cropping -he's carrying
them to avoid missing shots while changing lenses, just as any other pro
is.

Why do you think so many documentary photographers filed their negative
carriers to produce that ragged-ass black line around the image? To show
that they did NOT crop.

Again, I'm not saying that one should never crop. All I'm saying is that
cropping in the darkroom is a substitute for cropping in the viewfinder
- which is where, ideally, one should crop. :-)

B. D.

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Seth Rosner
Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 10:17 AM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Multiple Bodies


Hi B.D.

Your theory is fine; it works for what we may call contemplative 
photography, SLR, MF and LF. IMHO it does not work for M photography
which 
is fast-moving and does not afford you the time to choose the right 
focal-length lens and to frame carefully. It is exactly the reason that
poor 
Ted's stature has so lessened over the years: he's carrying all those
bodies 
to avoid cropping.
If he had only one body - photographically speaking!! - you bet your
sweet 
a** he would be cropping.

With all due respect, photographic life "on the street" or "at the
wedding" 
just doesn't work that way. Except for the posed wedding photos.

Just my 2c; and of course, I ain't no pro so wot do I know?

Seth   LaK 9

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
To: "'Leica Users Group'" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 9:46 AM
Subject: RE: [Leica] Multiple Bodies


> Hey, Ted, let me repeat the line you quoted...
> "The goal is to get a shot that
> doesn't require cropping. :-)"
>
> Yes, it's true that many a shot ultimate requires cropping, but I 
> personally take having to crop as at least a partial failure on my 
> part
> - unless a client is just wacking away to make something fit a
> designer's hole on a page.
>
> The GOAL is to frame so that cropping is not only not necessary, but 
> will harm the integrity of the image. God knows I often fail to meet 
> that goal, but that's what I shoot for - and I suspect that's what you

> have always shot for. :-)
>
> B. D.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf 
> Of Ted Grant
> Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 10:16 PM
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Multiple Bodies
>
>
> B. D. Colen offered:
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Multiple Bodies
>
>
>>I don't think Ted - don't know about your Pa - would say "worry about 
>>cropping...after you get the shot." The goal is to get a shot that 
>>doesn't require cropping. :-)<
>
> Hi B.D.,
> Well I always try to fill the frame to avoid as little cropping as 
> posible. However, cropping is part and parcel of photography unless 
> one is shooting
> rocks, ferns and peeling paint while using an SLR type camera. In this
> case
> they can take their time, a week or longer, ;-) for compositon in the
> view
> finder to avoid cropping whatsoever. Then in 1/100th of a second
capture
> the
> image with no fear of cropping.
>
> But in the real world of life, moving and living, it's almost, note I 
> said, "almost impossible" to shoot and then not have to crop at times.

> Even to
>
> nick a bit off an edge, top, bottom or side for a tiny bit of 
> improvement. And I never have a problem with cropping as I figure it's

> all part of the
> picture taking, print making procedure.
>
> ted
>
>
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