Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/09/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Though the fact " Almost everyone has a camera and is a photographer." was a fact in 1905 5 years after the Kodak Brownie camera came out in February 1900 and cost a dollar. "You push the button, we do the rest." It was made of cardboard. One out of six Americans owned one in very few years. Mark William Rabiner Photography http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/ > From: Bob Shaw <rsphotoimages at comcast.net> > Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> > Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2012 09:17:17 -0700 > To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> > Subject: Re: [Leica] About current photography > > Esteemed LUGers: > > Meanwhile, we look, we search we see, we shoot. > > I use iPhone 4 every day in my Landscape Contracting business for before > and > after and estimates. But I also see things that I know I must shoot. I > can > always process in iPhoto or Aperture, later to see what's really there. > > The little iCamera suprises me. All of them surprise me - not just my own > iPhone 4. > > Often it disappoints. Just as does my 5D MkII and spendy Canon glass. > > Just as did before my R8 and Rd and even spendier Leica glass. Because of > me, > not the machine. We try to make the machine do something it can't. Only > really works when we are One with the Camera - whatever the Camera may be > at > that damned Decisive Moment. > > But we keep shooting. We can't stop shooting, can we? If you play only > passable piano or sax or guitar, would you stop just because you/re not > good > enough for Albert Hall or the Lincoln Center? I don't think so. You > can't. > > Even those of us who live in gloom from October to June on the Northern > Hemisphere and the reverse seasons Down Under try to make something work in > the mist and rain. Can't help it. > > I am gobsmacked by the sheer volume of photos on the web and have stopped > trying to peruse all the "better" photo sites. > > Thanks to the LUG and my aging process I know a little more about the art > and > what's good - or to be accurate here - what I think is good photography. > > That's the best I can do. > > It's like Golf, a game I stopped playing decades ago; I only need "one good > shot" to feel good about my ability. Then real life rushes in to fill the > space and occupy me until a week or a month later, I have some time to take > some "studied" shots and think about photography. Already forgotten aout > the > crap shots. > > For me, it's enough. Maybe good, maybe not very good. Each of us is the > Final Authority on Our Art. > > I'm saying here that each of us our best/worst critic. We keep shooting > and > learning and growing and appreciating the good stuff. > > The rest is, as someone I used to know said, is "distant traffic". > > So thank you all, ladies and gentlemen for the words and images that have > helped to shape my place, my tiny little island in the bit-torrent of > images. > A torrent that will surely overflow my beaches and eddies and perhaps > engulf > "my photography island" in time. > > I've reached a point where the sheer volume doesn't matter. > > I watch your work, enjoy and learn from it and keep shooting. And if I'm > "fiddling on the deck of the Titanic as it slides down between the ice > floes", > I will still know something about photograph, photographers, art and some > fabulous internet friends on the LUG. > > Cheers to you all. > > Bob > > > (NOT sent from my iPhone 4?) > > > Bob Shaw > rsphotoimages at comcast.net > > > On Sep 9, 2012, at 9:32 AM, tedgrant at shaw.ca wrote: > >> Hi George, >> Thank you for the heads-up on this article! Most interesting! Actually a >> very good topic for intelligent conversation these days given the rapid >> advancement of iphones and the likes of equipment. >> >> I attended a friends wedding last week and there was a chap holding-up, at >> near arms length? What appeared to be a "slim-line laptop." Strange I >> thought, "whatever would he be doing holding a lap top in that fashion?" >> >> Much to my surprise he was taking and transmitting images instantly to the >> grooms' family who live in Chile! >> >> But here I was with an M8 Leica doing a few happy snaps for fun and just >> couldn't imagine doing so with such an outlandish sized capturing >> machine. I >> dare not call it a camera! WHY? Well in reality, it's merely an >> "Electronic >> Instrument for an operator to record some form of digital image." But then >> I'm bias about the electronic phones of the day as "operators snap >> billions >> of recordings daily" But have the audacity to call themselves ... Pardon >> the >> expression... "PHOTOGRAPHERS!" >> >> When in reality they're merely "EIO's"! Electronic Instrument Operators! >> :-) >> Most without a clue of what makes an interesting and moving photograph! An >> image of some sort? "Yes!" >> >> However next week I begin lessons from a very talented professional >> photographer who captures absolutely amazing photographs with a >> "iPhone-Camera!" :-) And I truly do not refer to him as an "EIO" for fear >> of >> having to eat his iPhone-Camera!" :-) >> >> Quite possibly my "Old-man attitude" toward the i-phone may well change >> shortly. :-) We shall see. >> >> Thanks again for the "blog-site" on this topic. >> >> cheers, >> Dr. ted >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Lottermoser" <imagist3 at >> mac.com> >> To: "LUG" <lug at leica-users.org> >> Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2012 7:46 AM >> Subject: [Leica] About current photography >> >> >>> <http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/in-an-age-of-likes-commonplace-ima >>> ges-prevail/?smid=fb-share#/1/> >>> >>> a note off the iPad, George >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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 > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information