blandness

A photo-pen pal has written, "Thou shalt never use a Light Meter" as his 2nd

commandment of his photoreligion. He continues, "A meter is the dumbest crutch

on earth. On a Leica it's a disgrace, like training wheels on a racing bike.

Those who use a meter are camera operators, those who don't are photographers."

Bold statements, I know, but he is a masterful street photographer who has sent

me quite a lot of his work (all fiber-based, mostly 8x10, some cut/cropped from

11x17 and sent as "post cards" through the mail). He's sparked in me a train of

thought.

 

Perhaps a better way to go with the M8 is to go so far as to remove the meter

and have only a manual exposure mode. (That is tongue-in-cheek.)

 

I wonder if I should set down the M6 and pick up a 4 for awhile and see if my

photography becomes less bland. And ask him what his 1st Commandment is.

"..but he is a masterful street photographer who has sent me quite a lot of his work (all fiber-based, mostly 8x10, some cut/cropped from 11x17 and sent as "post cards" through the mail)."

 

I would ask him for tips on printing.

His comment is going to receive a lot of flak so I'm staying away from this one. As for his probable 1st, I suspect he'd stick with a single prime lens with a focal length of his choice. That lens is glued permanently to the body. Multiple-lens gig would be a henious crime. And any zoom found in your bag would render you to be banished into the twilight zone.

Might as well guess focus too.

Well, most of the great photographs being done today are being made by camera operators

then. Whatever dude.

<i>he is a masterful street photographer</i><p> Any chance this masterful street

photographer's work might be, uh.. <i>visible</i>?

sounds rather pompous.

"Might as well guess focus too."

 

Lomoleica, Doug? :)

 

Heck, why bother with a camera?

He has apoint. For the first ten years of my Leica III I never used a meter. I only used Ilford XP1/2 and I knew that in sunlight I would always get an acceptable picture at f9 1/500th. Out of the sun i would use F6.3.

Commandment #1 is: Thou shalt not use digital.

What snooty posturing! We should use whatever tools help us achieve our seperate

visions. If you don't need a meter to get the maximum performance from your camera,

God Bless!

 

But I often do and shoot chromes more often than not. Why bracket chromes when you

don't have to? Why wonder about exposures? I've used a simple incident meter for half a

century and have no reason not to, especially when one quick reading usually carries me

through many exposures.

 

To each his own.

Let's see him do it with color transparancies!

Sounds like your friend has a bit of a self security issue. Not only is what he said idiotic for it's boldness, it just makes no sense. A light meter has as much to do with picture quality as a clutch does with how well one drives. It's a tool to be used in the creative process. The meter simply says "here's what I see" and you have the choice to work with it or not.

 

Ansel Adams used the 8x10 format AND he used a light meter. Was he simply an operator?

 

Not for nothin', but your pal is a ninny.

Thought he was using Polaroid?

The above provokes another thought: Why do filmmakers still print exposure info on the inside of the boxes or on accompanying spec sheets? Who reads them and does anyone actually refuse the meter and use the instructions? Hmmm. Shouldn't the barcode be enough?

This individual has passed the feistiness test and should be admitted without delay to the

Leica area for further provocative postings. While it can be fun to guess the light--and with

practice I can get pretty good at it--sometimes I'll get it wrong. A light meter is an excellent

tool for judging the intensity of light and getting good exposures. Why should I, or anyone

else, be deprived of such a useful tool?

If this credo works for this particular photographer all the more power to him. There are

"masterful" photographers who do use light meters on or in their Leicas. End of discussion.

There aren't many "masterful street photographers."

<i>see if my photography becomes less bland</i><p>Tony, they'll be as bland or unbland

as they always were. You're stuck with yourself and your vision, for better or worse. All a

light meter does is aid in the accuracy of exposure. The rest is voodoo.

If you want to make life hard, why not also remove the rangefinder and cover one eye with a patch? Could also wear a loincloth made from a potato sack while shooting.

 

I'm afraid that doing things the difficult way doesn't make them any better, nor does using a 50 year old camera and lens.

This is April 1 stuff..... Can't believe it was posted one month and two days later...

I totally agree with your pen pal Tony...though I own a good meter and rely on P all to often. I remember when I first got involved in photography...about 1969. I had saved up my money to by a then popular Agfa 120 folder that didn't have a meter. I went back to my camera salesperson to buy one a few weeks later (this back in the days when the guy behind the counter really cared about photography...something harder to find these days). He showed me the tables on the side of the box of Tri X I had and told me to go out and shoot a roll going by that table. He told me to do this every week for a couple of months...and then he told me that when I had got to the point that my exposures were all reasonable WITHOUT using a meter...then he would sell me the meter. Some of the best advice from a salesperson I ever received.

Resonable, yes. But that's working within the exposure latitude of the film. Yes, I could eyeball color neg and get "reasonable" results. If I were aiming for "reasonable" would I shoot with a Leica?

Reminds me of my dad. Refuses to use the dishwasher even though it saves water and time. I guess its a way of proving to yourself you are useful but if you think that way you might as well sell the car for a horse and move into a lean-to in the woods.

Legend (and perhaps fact) has it that Eggleston at one point in his career removed the viewfinder from his Leica.

 

No meter, No finder... No winder!

 

It's Leica koan. Dang.