Female Leica shooters

[olivier_reichenbach]

After I ingenuously started a post with «Gentlemen», it suddenly occured to me: where are the

ladies on this forum? Is it that very few ladies shoot Leica or that very few Leica ladies are

interested in spending so much time on photo forums? Or are too busy doing really useful

things? ;-)

[john_sutera]

yea, they're out making pictures instead of talking about the ones that got away.

[albert knapp md]

Interesting question... Do we have any female Leicaphiles as

members of the Forum ? If so, can the members of the better

sex please make themselves known.

[george_b1]

Well, my bride of xxx years has been shooting a Leica since 1969. She bought "us" our M4, M6, and now, "our" M7. I've been relegated to the M4 for years!

 

She's a much better photographer than I, and she claims that a woman's vision, and the way they look at the world, is almost a perfect match for a 35 mm lens.

 

She hates computers, and only commandeers ours to send e-mail messages to errant grandchildren. Oh, and she'll be 77 soon.

[al_kaplan1]

George, don't tell her that you ended up with the best camera...LOL!

[kps]

i'm female, and a leica shooter. ;-) as the co-owner of a small guitar shop, i'm used to folks calling and asking (upon hearing my voice on the phone) "is there someone there who KNOWS guitars?" once i laugh and say "fire away," they realize pretty quickly that a woman can love AND know guitars. same with the leica. i'm as passionate about the Leica as most folks posting on this (or the LUG) forum, and i shoot as much as i can (i develop and print my own B&W too). i confess to owning too many bodies and too many lenses, but i love and use 'em all. when folks address the list as "gentlemen" i don't take offense. i just consider myself "one of the guys."

 

i check the forum daily, and i've gleaned quite a bit of valuable information from this forum and the LUG. i promise you, there are lots of us (female leica shooters) out here!

 

happy holidays (and best of light) to one and all....kim

[fay_cori]

I�ve been wondering when someone would mention the subject and had almost thought of posting the question �Does one have to be male to join the forum?�. I�ve been lurking for about nine months and log on every night for information and entertainment. Up to now I�ve been rather hesitant to make any contribution. Most of you seem to know so much about photography and I�m happy to learn, watch you flaming at one another and improving my vocabulary of contemporary words of invective!.

 

I recently switched to an M7 from an M6TTL and I love it! I�ve been photographing most of my life (I think I�m a contemporary of Dr Knapp) and I never go anywhere without my camera in my handbag.

 

I don�t know why there aren�t many women on this forum. Maybe they just get on with their own thing and don�t have the time to spare. Perhaps this posting will encourage a few more female �lurkers� to come out of the woodwork.

[douglas_green1]

One reason that Leicaphiles are so predominantly male is that Leicas are basically male jewelry. Women tend to use jewelry as jewelry and hence have little need for Leicas.

[maureen_stretch]

Another female Leica shooter here, mostly R8 but lately have also gotten back into the M system. I've loved Leica lenses since the 80's. After an absence I got back into photography a couple of years ago.

 

Guess I'm not the only female to lurk these pages. Like the others I have gotten lots of useful information on the cameras and lenses and am very glad that Tony started this site.

 

Maureen

[al_kaplan1]

Now that we know you're here there's no excuse for not jumping in with a comment now and again. I guess I must have suspected something, because I can remember using convoluted words forms like "repair person" in a post or two.

[linda_kasparek]

Hello!

 

I've been lurking here daily for the past month or two and just jumped head first into an M7 and 35mm f2 'cron ASPH outfit a couple of weeks ago. I turned in my first two rolls of film to the lab yesterday and will pick them up on Monday... I am also a DSLR shooter (Canon D60); I bought the M7 mainly for candid photos since the D60 is very massive looking with the grip and 28-70mm lens!

 

I'm still trying to figure out this film workflow thing. I think next time I'm going to get the negatives developed and a contact sheet printed, then have the good ones scanned for further processing in Photoshop. I currently print with a Canon S9000, but I'm exploring other options for B&W printing so I've been lurking in the various printing forums as well.

 

Anyways, I've seen some very beautiful and inspiring work in here and enjoy the informative (and entertaining ;) ) banter. I still have much to learn - sigh - and look forward to when I can actually have something useful to contribute!

 

Linda

[albert knapp md]

Welcome to Maureen, Kim, Linda and Fay ! I hope that there are

many other female Leicaphiles out there who will make

themselves known to us and contribute to the Forum.

[ray .]

Yes, welcome, female (Leica) photographers... a mix of the feminine viewpoint couldn't be anything but a good thing here. Please don't be afraid to say whatever's on your mind any time you wish!

[psychophoto]

Go <a href=''http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=

0017oH">here</a> for an interesting, related discussion. The first response is

classic.

[vic_.]

Can one tell by looking at a portfolio whether the photographer was male or female? Are there any telltale signs?

[olivier_reichenbach]

Thank you, ladies. At last! The coming out of the Ladies Leica Shooters! But why were you so

shy and did not make your voice heard more often? There is no Augusta National syndrome

here. And, Linda, don't worry, what is posted on this forum is not always useful or smart or even

instructive, so take a chance, you might be surprised at how more useful than you think your

contribution could be.

[ali1]

Olivier,

I too am a female Leica Shooter, Lucky enough to inherit a Leica M2 that had been used only a few times. In Wagga Wagga (central New South Wales, Australia) all the professional photographers (eg: earning money) are male. We have a camera club here and there are about 1/2 females and 1/2 males. For basic interest out of a population of approximately 58, 000 mine is the only active Leica taking photos and the envy of most people.

Ali

[james_h]

Kim Sherman, Fay Cori, Maureen Stretch, and Linda Kasparek,

ali ali, I�m glad you ladies are here!

 

When I read the question I thought �certainly there are female

Leica shooters other than Tina Manley, but maybe none on this

forum. Then I thought, what is the percentage of Leica

photographers compared to those who use other high-end

equipment (Nikon, Canon, Pentax, etc.) and how many of them

are women... ? Maybe the numbers and averages are the same?

(I do not know, as mathematics and statistics are not my

strengths).

 

I agree with Al Kaplan, now that you ladies are out from the

shadows (and any others that may still be in the background)

please join-in with questions and answers.

 

Sincerely,

[ellis_vener_photography]

Susan Meiselas, Wendy Watriss, Lori Grinker, Eve Arnold...

[travis1]

Hey Olivier, great thread. I wanted to ask this long ago, but the overwhelming "maleness" in this forum stopped me from doing so. ;)

 

Ladies, you guys(er gals) are definitely welcomed here! Just join in the banter! ;)

[peter_l_ck]

Olivier, I think it is the result of our way of using our tongues: as long as we identificate photographing and hunting ("shoot")- which is an old male business - the one-sidenes will continue. Peter

[john_r._fulton_jr.]

I think this is a terrific forum. One of the things I like about it is that there has

never been (in my short time here) any hint of sexism or jokes at women's

expense. You guys (& I mean the men) are good. Another Leica forum (not

MUG, but e-mail distributed) finally caused me to leave because of the

occasional raw, sexist nature of content. When i called them on it I was

lambasted and told that the people posting "were just having fun" and that it

was nothing to worry about. I was told that the older gentleman was a "nice,

kindly man" and that I was the one who had a problem. Anyway, I've been

impressed with the "neutral" nature of things here. Many thanks.

[fay_cori]

Yes John R F, I agree with you that I�ve never seen any sexist remarks on this forum. In fact, I am always amazed at how generous you are when discussing the expertise of your female partners. You probably never actually say it to them, but it is nice to know you are thinking it!

 

I don�t have any hangups about being included in the generic �one of the boys�. I do a website in Wales UK for an all-women international organisation, Soroptimist International, and never mind that I am referred to as �The Webmaster�.

 

There is one sexist thing though that surprised me. When I switched to a Leica M not one of my female friends even noticed. But oh, delight, a great number of my male friends (and several whom I didn�t know beforehand) looked right past my smiling face to the black item hanging round my neck. I can�t describe the �look� but if I had realised what effect that Leica M has on the male sex I would have bought one thirty years ago! Now I suppose you�ll tell me that _I_ am making a sexist remark.

[status_flo]

from my experience girls take a different approach to photography (at least with the people my age). my guy friends tend to do things in a more techy sort of way and make sure that they know exactly the best way to do something before doing it.. where as a lot of the girls i know probably shoot more film and wait to see how things turn out, then if they don't get the results they shoot it again.

[jay_.]

My wife has said numerous time how much she would like to shoot my Leicas. Or just take a baseball bat to them ;>)