Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Chris: Many people from the streets of Burlington can no longer afford to hang out in East New York: at least the western parts of it. Brooklyn's too cool for school. It has struck me since coming back to photography at a late age after moving away from it at a young one, with little learned in the first effort, that the key to a great photographer is often -- among other things of course -- physical endurance (which I currently don't have) and social and physical courage, which I also am spotty on. Let us not speak of the "rights" of the artist. Any society that speaks that way is lying and trying in fact to neutralize what artists do, make it safe and social and easy to take. It is more informative I think to consider the artist a transgressor outright, a person willing to pay the price of existing outside acceptable norms, catching people in ways they don't like, showing them things they don't want to see or know. If you're a nature photographer, well, no one really is going to come after you (unless you try to save land or wildlife that someone is making a profit off of destroying, or that sort of thing). But on the street of a city? You should be a menace. I don't have the nerve myself, most of the time, but I would like to. The police? F**k them. The granolas selling world music CDs at the cafe, for $15 a pop, plus a $3 coffee? Feeling a little creeped out? Well, I like cafes more than most folks -- I even like a lot of what's called 'world music' -- but f**k them too. Passersby get angry? Ditto. Let's not try to make the street safe for us: let's try to make ourselves unsafe for the street. The more they feel discomfort from you the better the chance you're doing something right. Vince On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 1:11 PM, Chris Saganich <chs2018 at med.cornell.edu>wrote: > There is allot to be said about technique There is a reason street > shooters have a lens/camera set-up for quick grab shots. The minute you > raise the thing to your eye the gig is up. Who ever thinks Burlington > street life is diverse or interesting deserves to be arrested and dropped > into the middle of East New York at midnight without shoes. > > > > > At 12:05 PM 3/18/2010, you wrote: > >> Big brouha here in Burlington about a street photographer who (supposedly) >> broke the public etiquette and was banned from all stores in our downtown >> walking mall. >> >> Makes me think twice before I pull out the Leica or Rollei at the >> coffeeshop >> downtown...(or: shouldn't have sold that WINTU angle finder for my IIIf >> last >> month...;-)) >> >> Original Story: >> http://7dvt.com/2010photographer-banned-taking-pictures-church-street >> Follow Up: >> http://www.7dvt.com/letters-response-photographer-banned-church-street >> Other: >> >> http://discarted.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/vt-photographer-banned-from-mall/ >> http://discarted.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/update-vt-photographer-retires/ >> Jan >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >