[Leica] Leica Century: initial proposal from Alastair: LONG!!

[afirkin at afirkin.com (Alastair Firkin)]

I want to outline my thoughts going forward with the Centenary project. We 
do not have enough interest yet, but by firming up some of the details I 
hope to encourage others to put their names into the ring. I have now listed 
all the interested parties in the proposed Leica Century project. We have 
only 37 thus far. That is a fairly small number, and too small to run a full 
5 year project. I am glad to see so many coming forward who were not 
involved in FOM2, and so many of my old friends prepared to fire up again ;-)

I want it to be different to FOM2, but I want to learn from it as well. The 
key to this project is having as many different people involved as possible 
and pushing them to get out photograph the world around them and begin to 
improve their photography to a level which attracts general approval. What 
follows will be familiar to those of you who were in FOM2 but there are some 
changes proposed: in particular, all forms of photographic subject are 
included.

I know that there are many of those already putting their hands up who will 
help with judging and mentoring those of you who might feel intimidated. I 
am NOT trying to replace the yearbook. The yearbook is a great success and 
is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to have images published. I am NOT 
trying to displace Brian?s monthly LUG image fest. It too has been a 
wonderful addition, which keeps all of us thinking about images over the 
course of the year. Submitting images to either of the above or doing a long 
time LUG favorite the PAW does not exclude you from being in Leica Century. 
It helps all of us to edit out our images. The role of ?Leica Century? will 
be to promote new images (not a retrospective) gather the best of those 
images together and present them to the world through the web and hopefully 
a book, and to allow all of us who want to improve our photography to be in 
a competitive and encouraging environment. 

Let?s look at what we are proposing and what we are NOT. Firstly, this is 
not going to be some ?official? celebration. Leica showed no real interest 
in FOM2 other than to wish it well. How could they? The LUG is a small group 
on a world scale, and Leica would only consider being involved in a much 
?broader? vision. This does not mean I have given up hope of help from 
Solms, only I don?t think its likely. My plan is to write to the CEO, send 
him a copy of FOM2, and see what response it brings.

We are a family of friends, who came together due to some interest in Leica 
cameras and photography. Brian?s group has been going for a long time, and 
as some have mentioned, the LUG has an enduring simple quality that has kept 
people ?coming back for more? even when they have abandoned Leica equipment. 
FOM2 started in 99/2000. It was a fascinating time for photography. When we 
first started there were quite a few professionals in the team, but the film 
world was turned on its head almost as soon as we started, and by the third 
year only a few of the professionals remained. This ?threatened? the 
project, but in some ways, it also strengthened it, as lovers of traditional 
photography became more active, and I?m sure that many of us had improved 
because of the project and the help we had had from the pros, so that the 
quality really did not fall off, and we had a broader range of people 
represented in the final publication, (over 140). 

I can tell you, however, that out of the several thousand images which were 
submitted every year, it was rare for many images to be carried over. There 
were rarely many more than 100 which were selected by the judges. I also 
learnt that no one person can choose images, there is an enormous variation 
in style and taste. Photographers are also (from my experience and this 
includes me) the WORST judges of the value of their own images out in the 
big bad world. What seems like a great shot to you will often fall short 
when viewed by someone who either comes from a different culture or simply 
was not there. So the first question to answer is will the project be 
juried, and the answer is yes. 
I think the judging of images during the 5 years of FOM2 worked brilliantly. 
It threw up a huge variety of images, styles, points of view and subject 
matter, so I will go with that again. We will call for judges each year, I 
will send them the images on a CD or via a download. All images will be 
random and anonymous (as I can make them) and will be judged by you, the 
members of the project. I collate the votes, I don?t vote, and I then sort 
and present the final selection. 

Does this mean that someone might miss out on getting an image into the 
final selection? In theory yes, but I don?t think there were many if any 
photographers who submitted more than 10 images a year in the 5 years, who 
did not end up with a fine image that was selected by the judges. We even 
had mentoring for those who felt they were missing out, and this helped them 
to raise the quality of their submission. BUT, I will for this project make 
a promise. Anyone who submits 10 or more images for each of the 5 years of 
the project will have their best image included in the final selection. 

Now for the vexing question of equipment. Ideally, I would love to only 
include Leica cameras lenses and enlargers ;-) BUT experience tells me that 
we would have a very limited range of images to choose from. This is not an 
official Leica project, but a project by the LUG some of whom don?t use 
Leicas at all, and certainly often don?t for their best work. Leica cameras 
(and lenses) created a style of photography which is what many of us 
appreciate and love. Other camera operators copied Leica, and Leica also 
copied others when their ideas were superior. I know some don?t feel any SLR 
image is really ?Leica Photography?, but I?m sure Leica will never disown 
Ted?s olympic images or Rosling?s polar bears. I also have sympathy for 
those who were ?forced? away from Leica when they did not have any real form 
of Digital camera to offer. I also have some sympathy for those who find the 
digital cameras from Leica overly expensive and would love a digital back 
for their Leica glass. 

I admit, that by celebrating the Leica turning 100 it would seem obvious 
that we should showcase Leica equipment and I intend to do so. Its also the 
175th anniversary of photography, but I don?t want to turn this exercise 
into an unmanageable size. I therefore propose the following. 

As with FOM2, all images taken with Leica cameras and or Lenses will be 
acceptable. This will include ?badged? cameras. If its good enough for the 
company, its good enough for me, and it allows some people to be involved 
who cannot afford an M8, S2, DMR, or R10 etc. I did have quite a lot of 
criticism in FOM2 for the Leica only policy, especially since the project 
was celebrating a landmark exhibition in photography not Leica itself. We 
will there fore showcase Leica, put it up against the hybrids and because 
this is a project of the LUG celebrating the 100 years of ?Leica? type 
photography I will allow some images taken with non-Leica equipment but 
severely limit the numbers. At the moment I envisage around 10%. Iff Leica 
becomes involved, they may take some or all of the images and may want to 
remove non-leica images, but it remains our project till then. 

At the moment I would still like to aim for about 100 images per year. That 
might prove to be too many. If we are looking at that number, there will 
need to be more than one image per photographer (unless the numbers increase 
greatly), so I won?t limit it at this stage. I will also not limit the 
number of submissions from each individual BUT if it gets unwieldy and I 
will decide that it may be necessary to do so, and I may limit the total 
number an individual can have selected each year. Those sorts of decisions 
need to be fluid at this stage and will become more obvious as we progress. 

Digital manipulation is fine, but should be included in the data when it 
goes beyond simple adjustments: I think you will all know what I mean 
without me having to stipulate exactly. As with FOM2 the images will be 
vetted so that offensive work is not included. Any controversy will be 
decided by the ?team? if it becomes necessary. All submitted work will 
remain copyright to the photographer and must be original work. All 
photographers will agree on joining that their selected images can be used 
on the Leica Century presentations, images can be withdrawn by the 
photographer before each year?s judging. This is a non-profit project. Iff 
there were any profits (and I see only expenses at this stage) they would be 
returned to the photographers involved or donated to an agreed charity. 

Remember, the aim of the project is to get us out there taking images, 
seeing and interpreting the world and improving the way we present our 
visions. As I previously mentioned, all subject matter will be included. I 
will be requiring everyone to give me some data on their work, and I will 
want (as I did for FOM2) a simple agreement from anyone wishing to be 
involved. I will also collect a short CV from you hoping to use it in the 
final presentation: I know I didn?t for FOM2, but there was not much room 
left and the data was so disjointed that it did not make sense. 

I have also learnt that I must get ?printable? files on record from the time 
of submission. Last time I ended up with quite a lot of images that were 
only 600 pixels in dimension. This was due to losing people. Some died and 
some disappeared. Finally, I want the project to be prospective not 
retrospective, in keeping with the aim of pushing the LUG to better 
photography. All images must be made from 2008 onwards till the end of the 
project: I would hope to publish early in 2014. 

Its the journey that is important and although we want the final product to 
excel, I want everyone who joins to have fun and learn. I have now outlined 
the general basis on which I will run this project if we get enough 
interest. I will need some help with web pages and submission boards I 
think. I don?t envisage any costs at this stage. I am still open to 
suggestions even if it doesn?t sound like it. I am aware that decisions by 
committee usually don?t get made, so I will keep overall charge.

Cheers Alastair