OT; Thoughts...

It seems the photographers, the ones that use their cameras and not

the ones that like talking about them, are gravitating over here Jeff.

I'm not aware of any conspiracy or shared off-line email with anyone

and feel it's a natural evolution from recent events over there. There

are a few things about the Leica Forum that I enjoyed, namely the

tolerance and the mix of subjects to post photographs too. But this

favorite part of mine, of that forum, seems to be disappearing as all

the recent posts over there is gear or info related and while over

here in the last few days there has been an explosion of posted

photographs in perhaps a record amount of w/nw's threads. This is

awesome. I'm wondering what your stance, and perhaps how lose it will

be, now that there are many over in The Leica Forum that are looking

around in a mad panic for a new place to call home? Some of my

favorite photographers wont have trouble posting here but do wish to

include all that may want to join us and hopefully regain a sense of

community here. I'm looking forward to never hearing a Digi Vs. Film

debate or seeing that pancake bunny again...It's possible here.

Obviously you've had a few days to think about these events and would

like to hear what you, and everyone else, thinks about how this forum

could possibly grow into the next "best forum" on PN.

...to add onto what Eric said, I believe that the title of this forum alone is enough to restrict the content to mostly photo-orientated (sp?) dialogue. Street and Documentary has nothing to do with Leica, Canon, or Nikon and those wishing to discuss them already have the appropriate forums in which to do so.

I will mostly lurk for some time and only post if I'm absolutly sure that the picture or question ist Street and Documentary and not Travel or People or whatever and lives up to the high standards required by some members.

This site, and the "No Words" site, came into being about the time of the last fit of pique in the Leica Forum, about whether WNW should be shown there at all (if I recall correctly). There was a flurry of interest, which waned as the WNW posters drifted back to the Leica group. Although I posted there occasionally, I did try to limit my posts to those taken with my Konica Hexar Silver, although not exclusively.

 

I'm happy to see the talent back. This is basically street and documentary, and I hope to see it stay loosely in those boundaries, given there is a pure WNW next door for work that doesn't fit. For my part, I'm not too concerned about WNW posts that are on the fringe. But I really, really hope I never see a digital/film debate here, or anywhere else for that matter.

 

Hey, maybe someone should start such a Forum, where folks interested in that Digital/Film/DSLR debate can pontificate, spew and fume. I'd try to find a block for my browser for that site, but maybe they'd be happy there.

 

As for textual posts, I hope they stay away from hardware, which has been the case.

 

And finally, I hope we see the way clear to have a strong WNW focus here, since in my opinion, it ties strongly into the spirit of street photography. In addition to these threads being enjoyable, they are educational - seeing the mix, and the take that others have on a topic or theme.

Eric, you summed it up best on the <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BJcv">admin thread </a>when you said it's not about RF/SLR, "it's about certain mind sets that keep arguing with one another."

 

<P>Too many jerks getting upset because of Leica-mount CV lenses, never mind digicam lenses, on their precious <I>Leica</i> Photography forum, and too many jerks doing the sanctimonious it's-not-the-camera-stupid on their Leica <I>Photography</i> forum. It used to be a nice mix. It will probably come back.<P>

 

Gear talk this side of obsessiveness is fun - in a named forum, of course. It gives people new options, it helps them people get their bang for the buck and it's enjoyable when your photography's in the doldrums. But there comes a time when you have to shoot.

i say leave the gear and tech talk out. if you wanna know what somebody uses, mail them.

it's so nice to look at a wnw thread and see nothing but pictures... keep this baby

streamilned with beautiful pix and intelligent text. if we gonna do talk - let's talk about

something that's relevant to street and documentary photography. maybe about

techniques, experiences, influences, personal philosophies, law and so on. strapz and

capz - no thanx.

And great books...

Steve, I agree. That's why I said a named forum, a clumsy way of saying Leica, Nikon, Pentax, whatever. 'What camera do I need to shoot street?' belongs in the unarchived or camera equipment forums. I'm not aware the S&D forum was ever a gearhead forum. It should be self-evident that it's a lot of hot air. I can use my SLR like other people use RFs. On a different level, my lenses are probably technically better than Garry Winogrand's. It doesn't make the blindest bit of difference.

that's a point. i've only got one book - i'll be watching for the recommendations.

While we're OT, does anyone know where to get <a href="http://templates.earthstores.com/1129/proddetail.asp?id=4C41434D4173746F7265&prod=294729">this shirt</a> in SF?

now that's what i call lose moderation! lets have some fun!

 

(make the shirt...)

"that's a point. i've only got one book - i'll be watching for the recommendations."

 

Well, I'm dieing to know which one?

OK Steve, for starters, anything by Daido, or City Stills by Ray Metzker.

How closely is this forum going to define Street/Doc photography? I'd like to be able to post the occasional tree/shrub shot. I've hardly done any photography involving "nature". Are the moderators going to get uptight about the occasional tree?

<p>

 

<center><img src="http://members.shaw.ca/mywebspace88/SLR2.JPG"></center><center><i>~~~</i></center>

I think the birds thread was reasonable - it would fall into documentary and some into street. Trees and other nature subjects...eventually this would decompose into the NW Forum, which is truly terrible. I think what makes this work is that there is a focus other than random postings...

jamie,

 

the book is by andreas gursky -it doesn't seem to have a title but it's the one with the river

on the cover. not street - but i love his work. next on my purchase list is 'subway' tho'...

ashamed to admit i saw it for the 1st time about 2 weeks or so ago.

 

brad,

 

i went to the moriyama.shinjuku.araki exbo which is just up the street from me a couple of

days ago. it was the first time to see moriyama's work in bulk. i liked some of his older

stuff. i'll check on the other guy you mentioned. cheers for that.

<i>City Stills by Ray Metzker</i><br><br>

 

seconded

Steve,<p></p>

 

Check out the new <a href="http://www.aperture.org/store/books-detail-back.aspx?

id=418">Sylvia Plachy book from Aperture</a>. Very well done - a haunting mix of old

and new images (with some beautiful widelux stuff).

Steve,

 

Bystander: A History of Street Photography

 

One of these days I'll get tired of pushing this book, but I think it's important for people involved with street to connect with their roots. Facinating book, I think.

Steve: 16 Metzker pix <a href= "http://www.jacksonfineart.com/myindex.php?

mode=past&exhib_id=47&year=2004"><B>here</B></a>.

Thanx guys. i'm going get me an amazon account and a faster connection for those

monster threads. rockin stuff from ppl i rarely get to see like tom, barry, markus, jamie

and many others.

 

thanks again. now back on topic to the OT; thoughts...

 

like eric says: anything is possible here and echoing peter, let's continue to raise the bar

and not cap(tain) it, cos that boat is sinking.

Eric,

 

Thank you for welcoming me back. I'm not sure whether I feel more uncomfortable in SD forum or in Leica forum. I am not a gearhead but I kind of like those guys who have a real passion about something, even their lens shades.

 

Personally, I don't like the book "Bystander" and the professional street photographers who want to raise snapshot to the status of art and attache a lot of significance to street snapshot. I think they are pretentious.

 

I'd like to tell story with snapshots and post them as mini essays to share with you guys. I don't care too much about image quality per se. I don't want people to admire my photographs but I wish they get the story. If they don't, it is OK. I don't take photography (or gear) seriously and I think most of them are cliche.

 

I have to admit that I was pissed off when Jeff removed my "digital darkroom" essay a few weeks ago. I started to think that I don't belong to the elite group here. So I left this forum and hanged out with the Leica guys because they don't care too much about photography.

 

I don't know where to go now. Perhaps Olympus forum. If you don't see me here or in Leica Forum, I might be there.<div></div>

Steve, check out <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BIru">this thread</a> about books, at least the comments by me and Tom. Also, I highly recommend "Bystander," there is no other text on street photography that comes close.

As a Hexarian AFer I always felt a bit guilty--well, just a microbit guilty--about contributing to the forum "over there," i.e., the L forum, if you will. From the looks of "over here," seems like this may be

THE place to be. And if/when I get my hands on a scanner, I can post some photos instead of mere words.

No need to feel guilty, S. Linke. 99% of what I posted "there" was from a sony digicam.