[Leica] THANK YOU Phil we MUST change

[mak at teleport.com (Mark Kronquist)]

On May 10, 2012, at 7:35 PM, Phil Forrest wrote:

> Agreed. I just graduated college, have some loans to pay even though
> the GI Bill helped me out (but no, did not pay for my entire education
> as most Americans think it does) and just last week I had the pleasure
> of moving out of my apartment because I couldn't afford rent. But I
> didn't move into a new place of my own, instead I had a few friends
> help me store the items that I kept and now I'm couch surfing. Still
> unemployed and I apply for jobs just about every day and follow up on
> the ones I've applied for as often. Job hunting is my job now.
> 
> I still have an M9 because I'm holding out hope that there might be a
> job somewhere in the nation that I can find that will be in
> photography. The GI Bill paid for that camera as my one big educational
> write off, that's why I have it. I don't think I'll be able to live long
> without being a photographer. Sure, some will say my priorities are
> messed up being homeless and owning an M9 but this has come on kind of
> quickly and in the case that a media type job does come along then I
> have to have a camera. There are less expensive alternatives, yes, but
> I'm not selling my entire Leica kit of a few beat up and scratched
> lenses plus my M9 so I can buy an older Nikon or Canon DSLR and lay out
> a few thousand on glass needed for work. I'm either in or I'm out, no in
> between. 
> 
> My case as a journalist is one that we're reading about more and more.
> College graduates, post grads and PhDs taking jobs in entry level
> retail, wait staff or the like just to keep feeding themselves. I just
> applied to work at a bakery and I'm going to an open-call interview
> tomorrow for an $8/hr job that I'm competing for against recent high
> school graduates.
> 
> So no, I don't see how many folks in my generation will be able to
> invest in a Leica kit down the road. The economy of this country and of
> the world is completely different from before 2007 and vastly different
> from what it was more than a decade ago, let alone 40 years ago. 
> 
> 10 years ago most would have bet that Leica would have gone under
> before Kodak, that's why I mentioned Kodak. Kodak failed to keep up
> even though they were at the forefront of technology in digital
> capture. They just didn't market it well. But I never thought I would
> see the day that Kodak would go under. Meanwhile Leica is still around
> but somehow is bringing out cameras and a standard lens at prices
> higher than a year's tuition at almost every public college in the US.
> Leica can still fail. So there are people out there swinging the value
> of my education or Chris Crawford's two degrees around their shoulder.
> Now with the monochrome version we know that most of the users will be
> rich hobbyists or professionals that can afford to have several M9
> bodies, one color, one B&W. But Leica is further alienating themselves
> from their future market because more and more people are starting to
> have to live like me. $8/hr part time at a bakery is the job I'm really
> hoping to get right now because it's available. Here. Now. 
> 
> The world is a different place now but luckily we're living longer so
> we can work a decade or two more and maybe save up for a used M9 and a
> legacy computer in our twilight years.
> 
> Yeah, I'm angry.
> 
> Phil Forrest
> 
> 
> On Thu, 10 May 2012 22:01:20 -0400
> Chris Crawford <chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com> wrote:
> 
>> You have your head in the sand if you think that, Doug. The world has
>> changed, and my generation will never be permitted the decent lives
>> our parents had, no matter how hard we work.
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> http://philipforrestphoto.wordpress.com/
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/philforrest
> 
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