RE: Pix not sharp nor digital

Ah, you remember Russ Meyer too!

And we went to the South Bay drive-in to see Raquel Welch in One Million
Years B.C.

I guess the difference for me today is that ALL actresses under the age
of 40 are expected to be nude in at least some part of a movie that
isn't rated "G". If you're going to be PG or R due to violence and foul
language, you might as well put some flesh in it for good measure.

Has anyone seen Midnight Cowboy on TV (no, not Urban Cowboy...that's on
every other week). Midnight Cowboy got an "X" rating because of some
non-nude scenes. I have yet to see it ever play on HBO, Showtime, etc.

Getting back to still photography, are any of you feeling like digital
is pushing your Leica photography into the "B&W and grainy" genre? I get
such good results outdoor with color digital, I never buy color film any
more unless it is 400 ISO or higher. I feel like digital is my outdoor
camera, and Leica RF (primarily in B&W) is my indoor camera.

Jeffery Smith
New Orleans, LA


-----Original Message-----
From: leica-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:leica-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Martin Howard
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 1:35 PM
To: leica@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Pix not sharp nor digital

Mark Bohrer wrote:

> Hitchcock was a class act, a great filmmaker who chose excellent 
> talent for classics like Rear Window. Today's directors and producers 
> create mostly gratuitous trash.

Not to take anything away from the considerably talent and skill of 
Hitchcock, but I'm sure that in his day the majority of the directors 
and producers created mostly gratuitous trash too.  Our perception of 
what has become gratuitous changes over time.  That, and the fact that 
most of the gratuitous trash doesn't survive, makes comparing the 
greats of a past time with everything that is going on in the current 
one becomes a problematic endeavour.

> Even when Cartier-Bresson shot slightly risque stuff he did so in 
> classy style to communicate an idea.

Cartier-Bresson's "risque" stuff leaves me pretty cold.  I love HCB's 
photography but I don't feel that it communicates much beyond a very 
strong style of visual aesthetics, a style that has since been picked 
up and carried on most notably by Sebastiao Salgado (but others too).  
It is characterized by an almost total divorce of aesthetics from 
content -- which in and of itself can be read as a very astute 
commentary on social values in the post-modern age, but I doubt that in 
HCB's case it was that conscientious (in Salgado's earlier work, 
possibly more so).  HCB appears to have approached photography almost 
as an exercise in geometry.  Again, I state this not to detract from 
his talent, artistry, skill, or influence on photography, but merely 
because I like calling a spoon a spoon.

It is interesting to compare HCB with Jeanloup Sieff. With regard to 
"risque" subject matter, I find Sieff's ability to communicate an idea 
far exceeds that of HCB.

M.


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