Hodinkee and Leica

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

That’s really awesome! I used to be in the motion picture industry but in tech now. Photography just helps me have a creative outlet. Hope you can post some pics.

I shut down a couple of years ago and haven't picked up a camera since but I'm starting to get the itch again.

I used to hang out at APUG a lot back in the day. Have a few thousand posts there.

[Laszlo]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

That’s really awesome! I used to be in the motion picture industry but in tech now. Photography just helps me have a creative outlet. Hope you can post some pics.

Originally Posted by Blansky

I shut down a couple of years ago and haven't picked up a camera since but I'm starting to get the itch again.

I used to hang out at APUG a lot back in the day. Have a few thousand posts there.

I’ll try and find you there. I stopped shooting about 5-years ago and missed shooting film but it had become prohibitive. It was dying and died for quite some time. And the whole Instagram craze and anyone can shoot a great pic and be a photographer on a mobile phone with a quick add filter approach in a few seconds killed the craft for me. Then the itch came back out of nowhere and I fell right back into it. The break was healthy. You should definitely pick it up again, as it sounds like the Art was deep rooted for you. And I think digital as a whole at least for me feels close enough to film and film (especially medium format) has come back in the strongest way. I love seeing Hasselblad and Rollei prices rebounded and young artist appreciating the craft as it was intended.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

I’ll try and find you there. I stopped shooting about 5-years ago and missed shooting film but it had become prohibitive. It was dying and died for quite some time. And the whole Instagram craze and anyone can shoot a great pic and be a photographer on a mobile phone with a quick add filter approach in a few seconds killed the craft for me. Then the itch came back out of nowhere and I fell right back into it. The break was healthy. You should definitely pick it up again, as it sounds like the Art was deep rooted for you. And I think digital as a whole at least for me feels close enough to film and film (especially medium format) has come back in the strongest way. I love seeing Hasselblad and Rollei prices rebounded and young artist appreciating the craft as it was intended.

I always did all my own processing and printing to maintain control and when switched to digital after ensuring to myself that it was archival, I spent a lot of time making digital photographs look exactly like my film photographs.

If you put them side by side on the wall, from 3 feet away you could never tell the difference.

And you're right, sometimes you just need a break. Thinking and doing something for 40 years, it's good to get some fresh air. And as you say the itch comes back. I have a walk around camera, a Canon 50SX I used on vacations to Hawaii that is pretty fun. Something like 35-1200mm.

But one of these days I'll get the big guns out again.

BTW, tell me your thoughts on Vivien Meier's work. Me, I'm extremely impressed, but as a street guy I was wondering your thoughts.

[Laszlo]

Originally Posted by Blansky

I always did all my own processing and printing to maintain control and when switched to digital after ensuring to myself that it was archival, I spent a lot of time making digital photographs look exactly like my film photographs.

If you put them side by side on the wall, from 3 feet away you could never tell the difference.

And you're right, sometimes you just need a break. Thinking and doing something for 40 years, it's good to get some fresh air. And as you say the itch comes back. I have a walk around camera, a Canon 50SX I used on vacations to Hawaii that is pretty fun. Something like 35-1200mm.

But one of these days I'll get the big guns out again.

BTW, tell me your thoughts on Vivien Meier's work. Me, I'm extremely impressed, but as a street guy I was wondering your thoughts.

Absolutely love her work --- the expressions and stories she captured were without a doubt breakthrough for street work, if not the founder of it.

Some of my favs are Goldin, Capa and Strand. God, they're all amazing.

I'm heading to Canada tomorrow --- hoping to get some wintery street work in Vancouver.

[Blansky]

Have fun. Don't forget to order chips and gravy.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

Absolutely love her work --- the expressions and stories she captured were without a doubt breakthrough for street work, if not the founder of it.

I'm sure you know but there is an amazing documentary on her called Finding Vivien Maier.

Unbelievable story.

[Laszlo]

Originally Posted by Blansky

I'm sure you know but there is an amazing documentary on her called Finding Vivien Maier.

Unbelievable story.

Oh, I did not know this! Thank you. I'll definately hunt for it on Netflix or Amazon. A must see for sure.

Wow, I just read the synopsis (incredible!):

Finding Vivian Maier is the critically acclaimed documentary about a mysterious nanny, who secretly took over 100,000 photographs that were hidden in storage lockers and, discovered decades later, is now among the 20th century’s greatest photographers. Directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, Maier’s strange and riveting life and art are revealed through never before seen photographs, films, and interviews with dozens who thought they knew her.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

Oh, I did not know this! Thank you. I'll definately hunt for it on Netflix or Amazon. A must see for sure.

Wow, I just read the synopsis (incredible!):

Finding Vivian Maier is the critically acclaimed documentary about a mysterious nanny, who secretly took over 100,000 photographs that were hidden in storage lockers and, discovered decades later, is now among the 20th century’s greatest photographers. Directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, Maier’s strange and riveting life and art are revealed through never before seen photographs, films, and interviews with dozens who thought they knew her.

Maloof bought a box of stuff at a locker clear out sale. In it he found a massive number of negatives, film and prints. So he went and found a bunch of other people that bought some of the boxes and bought them up....and NOBODY had heard of the photographer. AND WHY???

Incredible story. And very sad.

[Laszlo]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Maloof bought a box of stuff at a locker clear out sale. In it he found a massive number of negatives, film and prints. So he went and found a bunch of other people that bought some of the boxes and bought them up....and NOBODY had heard of the photographer. AND WHY???

Incredible story. And very sad.

I just went to her archived web site, so many beautiful photos that I never saw before. Incredibly sad indeed. And why is such a great question. Incredible!

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

I just went to her archived web site, so many beautiful photos that I never saw before. Incredibly sad indeed. And why is such a great question. Incredible!

The thing is she didn't have any form of web presence (obviously) or representation etc, in fact NOBODY had seen what she shot. She was a nanny.

She made thousand and thousands of pictures, didn't even develop half her film she shot, and people she worked for knew she liked to take pictures but they had never seen any of them.

[Laszlo]

Originally Posted by Blansky

The thing is she didn't have any form of web presence (obviously) or representation etc, in fact NOBODY had seen what she shot. She was a nanny.

She made thousand and thousands of pictures, didn't even develop half her film she shot, and people she worked for knew she liked to take pictures but they had never seen any of them.

Absolutely heartbreaking and such a shame she passed without any recognition. She didn't seem like a recluse or anything, maybe it was her role as a nanny and possibly repression on woman during that time. They should make a movie about her if they could just muster up a solid thread. Would make for an absolutely incredible film.

[BreguetRolex]

Packaging is sure awesome from leica and so is the build quality of the cameras themselves... Sure glad I do not have to depend on making a living snapping pics tho...

E3A3D742-753B-488A-A4A9-7D3CF4D3ED38_1_105_c.jpeg

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

Absolutely heartbreaking and such a shame she passed without any recognition. She didn't seem like a recluse or anything, maybe it was her role as a nanny and possibly repression on woman during that time. They should make a movie about her if they could just muster up a solid thread. Would make for an absolutely incredible film.

Her pictures had a rather warm quirky feeling to them and seemed " a bit off" in a good and charming way.

In later life she became a hoarder and actually ended up on the street dumpster diving.

One would think a life of quiet desperation, but she loved the kids she worked with and seemed to have a lot of fun, and the photography was just an outlet she enjoyed.

Personally for me, one reason why I haven't picked up a camera for 2 years is that, I feel I have no motivation to, because what do I do with the pictures. Being a pro for all these years, I always had a reason to take pictures and the ones I took for personal reasons were just fun.

Although lately, I'm beginning to remember life before 1976, when I took picture for the enjoyment, like Vivien Maier, and not for an end purpose. Hence the fact that she never even developed hundreds of rolls of film.

People photography as you know is sort of a 3 part exercise. The first is interacting with people and the fun that entails (or not, for photographers that don't do people stuff). The second is darkroom/lightroom processing, and the the third part is taking what you shot and making it "art". The art part also circles back to the first and second part and the three aspects become interdependent.

But different photographers can also be perfectly engaging in only one or two of the aspects and not the others.

It appears Vivien Maier was one of those. Her joy was in the shooting and not the rest.

[Watch Expert]

When camera goes digital, smart phone can produce equal quality pictures to $2000 cameras made in 2000s. Unless you own a professional studio; ordinary outdoor photography can be made with smart phone and produce satisfying quality.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Watch Expert

When camera goes digital, smart phone can produce equal quality pictures to $2000 cameras made in 2000s. Unless you own a professional studio; ordinary outdoor photography can be made with smart phone and produce satisfying quality.

You're right, to a point.

Most people don't do a lot more with their images than put them online or make small prints.

There is a definite difference between full frame megapixels and what a small sensor or phone can deliver, and there is a reason pros want high MP count for photoshop manipulation etc and for printing large prints. Back in the day we were blowing up 30x40 prints with 8 MP but as time passed, 20MP or more was way better. Hasselblad had a 50, then 100 then now a 400 MP camera.

But you're absolutely right, most people don't need it.

[ralfoto]

If you al are looking at Vivian Maier might be a good chance to see another real American master who has been overlooked, Helen Levitt......she was amazing.....

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by ralfoto

If you al are looking at Vivian Maier might be a good chance to see another real American master who has been overlooked, Helen Levitt......she was amazing.....

I wonder why, on her website there is a picture of Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother.

Somebody screwed up.

https://13748652.weebly.com/

[Laszlo]

Originally Posted by ralfoto

If you al are looking at Vivian Maier might be a good chance to see another real American master who has been overlooked, Helen Levitt......she was amazing.....

Her work was outstanding. Wow.

Courtesy of Google Images:

[Laszlo]

Originally Posted by Watch Expert

When camera goes digital, smart phone can produce equal quality pictures to $2000 cameras made in 2000s. Unless you own a professional studio; ordinary outdoor photography can be made with smart phone and produce satisfying quality.

Equal quality no way!? Sorry I can’t even accept this as a realistic comment. Even a basic point-and-shoot outperforms an iPhone by leagues. And if any phone outperforms the other, Samsung trumps Apple. As for the joe-consumer an iPhone of Samsung is just fine for Instagram and family viewing.

[Laszlo]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Her pictures had a rather warm quirky feeling to them and seemed " a bit off" in a good and charming way.

In later life she became a hoarder and actually ended up on the street dumpster diving.

One would think a life of quiet desperation, but she loved the kids she worked with and seemed to have a lot of fun, and the photography was just an outlet she enjoyed.

Personally for me, one reason why I haven't picked up a camera for 2 years is that, I feel I have no motivation to, because what do I do with the pictures. Being a pro for all these years, I always had a reason to take pictures and the ones I took for personal reasons were just fun.

Although lately, I'm beginning to remember life before 1976, when I took picture for the enjoyment, like Vivien Maier, and not for an end purpose. Hence the fact that she never even developed hundreds of rolls of film.

People photography as you know is sort of a 3 part exercise. The first is interacting with people and the fun that entails (or not, for photographers that don't do people stuff). The second is darkroom/lightroom processing, and the the third part is taking what you shot and making it "art". The art part also circles back to the first and second part and the three aspects become interdependent.

But different photographers can also be perfectly engaging in only one or two of the aspects and not the others.

It appears Vivien Maier was one of those. Her joy was in the shooting and not the rest.

I really hope you pick up the craft again. The passion is still obviously there. And as for what to do with your photos? I wonder about this as well. But it has and now still brings so much joy to me that I don’t mind if I’m my only fan. The whole process of going out and shooting, the post, and sharing through whichever channel is available to me, makes me feel really good.

PS, apologies for the late reply, I’ve been up here in Canada.

[Andrejb]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

Well, you guys can make your own assessment on Leica, it’s still the finest street camera on the market. It hasn’t made me a better photographer, it’s a tool for better photography.


















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Great shots man. Which model are you using? I’ve been dabbling with the idea of getting my first LEICA just because I love photography as a hobby and I just want something small and quick to boot with me around town. I have the option to get a LNIB Leica X2 ($500) My dad is a professional photographer and has been shooting for 25 years and says I’m crazy and I think I’m crazy and told me to get the fuji X100F instead because it’s more camera for the same price haha. But European made is always more appealing to me.


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[uscmatt99]

Originally Posted by Andrejb

Great shots man. Which model are you using? I’ve been dabbling with the idea of getting my first LEICA just because I love photography as a hobby and I just want something small and quick to boot with me around town. I have the option to get a LNIB Leica X2 ($500) My dad is a professional photographer and has been shooting for 25 years and says I’m crazy and I think I’m crazy and told me to get the fuji X100F instead because it’s more camera for the same price haha. But European made is always more appealing to me.


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Can't speak for Laszlo but a great camera to consider if you want to dabble in street photography is a Ricoh GR. Short of a Leica, it has the BEST interface for street work. It's got a lens that shares the same field of view as a 28mm lens, classic for street photos. They had a model called the GXR that was out several years ago which had a native mount for Leica (and other brands) M-mount lenses. That's when I built up my lens collection I use on my M10 now. The GRII and GRIII are autofocus cameras, but have modes that mimic zone focus shooting as you would with a Leica for street stuff. There are kits that include an optical viewfinder, or you can use the LCD on the back of the camera if you're more comfortable with that. To be honest, even though I've got a Leica and a gaggle of lenses, I still want a GRIII

[gnuyork]

I have the X2 (and the X1), both great cameras, the X2 being better, but still slow for autofocus by today's standards. What I like about them is a shutter dial and an aperture dial, and a button for ISO. No menu diving for the basics. I usually always shoot manual, having those tactile controls is huge.