[LRflex] Re: Age-Experience Dilemma :{
- From: "Ted Grant" <tedgrant@xxxxxxx>
- To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:23:47 -0700
Kevin mon ami relax!! :-)
It's nothing more than "HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR RESULTS?" What's good
bad or ugly??????
I don't understand why you'd be shooting Polaroid as a test exposure, total
waste of time outside and money! Unless you are a pro and shooting set ups
in the studio for an advertising client who wants to see what it looks like
for his $3 or $5 thousand a day he's paying for your creativity?
And particularly why Polaroid if you are shooting out doors? I imagine you
have a light meter? Take a reading, set camera aperture and shutter
speed.... Click! And that's it. Soup film and be happy. Obviously look on
ground glass and if it looks to your liking that's all that matters! Don't
mess with your own creativity trying to do what AA did.
I'd bet you're reading way too many books and techie stuff instead of
clicking away at subjects! We learn by doing! Shoot, shoot and shoot again
and again!! what you are interested in or what catches your eyes when you
respond . "Jeeeesh look at that!--- click!" It's that easy! Trust me shoot
more, read less!! It is nothing more than taking pictures of subjects that
you think make neat pictures. To hell with everybody else and trying to
imitate their techniques. Your photography belongs to you, so make your
hands set the aperture and trip the shutter on things you are interested in.
If you are not a pro and trying to do what Ansel did or even Galen Rowell,
then they mean diddlysquat! Your photography is your thing, it's your
reaction to what you observe and what you'd like taking pictures of .
Trust me ... too much techie stuff from books will completely addle your
brain and you'll screw up far more pictures because of all the damn numbers
these guys use! It's your gut feelings that count most.
>> I'm not impatient, but I am a realist regarding my goal and my age.
<<<<<,
WHAT IS YUR GOAL? I don't think you said what it is? Age, smage, forget
about that aspect! Hell I'm only 80 and I'm not whining about it until I've
reached 100 which I fully intend on doing. Friday afternoon I was out lying
on my belly in the garden shooting some flowers to post next week! :-)
My wife looked out the window and near freaked out as she thought I had
passed out! :-) Best bet for you is, get out and take pictures of what you
like doing. So you live in Germany and you're not as happy there shooting on
the street as in Asia... "BIG DEAL!" Get over it! Get your sorry butt out
there every waking moment; yeah I know you're still a busy working guy 61
years old! Once again, BIG DEAL! How do you think most of us learned? We
were shooting every waking moment day and night while our families were
babies and we were, in my case working 10 hour days, 6 days a week! But
every free moment I had I was out taking pictures of something.
You'll get over the Germany-Asia thing by going out and forcing yourself to
do it! Otherwise you'll be writing letters like this forever. Taking a
workshop isn't going to make you feel better about shooting in Germany.
Actually tell me or us on the LUG what your actual problem is with your
picture taking and many of us will give you all the free advice you can
handle.
Hell e-mail me some photos and I'll critique them and send it back to you
just to help out. Just attach them to an e-mail tedgrant@xxxxxxx Given I've
done this photo fun stuff about the world for 60 years as a pro we can do
one on one with e-mails back and forth and I bet we'll have you out in jig
time clicking away like an old pro! :-)
For the moment may I suggest you "cool your heels" about a photo workshop
until the LUG crew has given you some assistance to help get through this.
Trust me it's a piece of cake with the crew giving you the guiding light.
:-)
By the way you told us all the things giving you a pain in the butt, but you
didn't tell us what the actual problem is or when you are shooting? Is it
the results or other feelings? Ya never mind Asia and Germany stuff, we've
all gone through that kind of thing even in our own countries city to city.
You'll get over it. And at 61 you're just a young pup compared to many old
grumps on the LUG. :-) :-)
Cheers,
Dr. ted.
_____
From: leicareflex-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:leicareflex-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kevin Willey
Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 9:53 AM
To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [LRflex] Age-Experience Dilemma :{
OK, I'm 61 and still working long hours, so free time to gain experience in
outdoor photography is limited to weekends and vacations. I've purchased
and mostly read and often studied nearly 40 softcover books on photography.
Still trying to find my niche...strongly headed for BW in MF and color in
35mm. BW exposures are getting better, less wasted Polaroid shots to get an
exposure correct..but really no art yet. I've been reading Mountain Light
by Galen Rowell, et al. well known photographers. Street shooting in Europe
(live in Germany) does not appeal to me, whereas in Asia I love doing just
that. Galen Rowell's book is full of wonderful advice, that will take me
years to master. I'm not impatient, but I am a realist regarding my goal
and my age. Thus, I need to speed my learning process through the basics,
and I've decided to try a photo shooting workshop. Question: are any of
you aware of a specially recognized BW film workshop? I'd like to shoot my
Hasselblad 500CM and my Leica R8. Obviously, I want to avoid a class full
of Canon/Nikon/Sony full frame digital shooters based upon my assumption
that I will be much, much slower than them because of the different formats
and automation. So, I will scour the internet for a BW film shooting
trip/workshop. But I thought I would bounce this off you pros as well.
Thanks in advance,
Kevin
PS: looking for a recommendation on a wide angle R-lens? Will likely buy
off eBay. Erwin Puts is not too enthusiastic about the R Elmarit F2.8/24mm
compared to other Leica lens.
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