margaret

Hello Doug,

 

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The "new" news, which you imply in your post, is that that ee

cummings is the author of the poems entitled "Cats". Ohhhh dear!

Those holding the copyright on T.S. Elliot's works are going to be

very, very dismayed about this. To paraphrase,

 

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the naming of poets is a serious matter,

it's not just one of your every day things,

name them wrong they'll get mad as a hatter,

you'd better duck when the couplets they fling!

 

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;-)

I like this quote from a book on Medieval Drawings:

 

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"... The principal differnence for the observer between a drawing and

a painting is in the amount of information each gives: a drawing

tells one nothing about colour, and often nothing about the modelling

of the forms. But drawings are not therefore interpreted as being

flat and colourless any more than a black-and-white photograph is

thought to depict a scene whose natural colours are monochrome; the

imagination supplies these deficiencies, and what is seen is the real

world expressed through a convention of colourlessness. Reality is

more effectively evoked through suggestion than through statement."

 

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Says it for me.

Hey there Ned, Arches and Doorways of Paris would be interesting, but

I am in Grenoble, and there are plenty of those to start with. :-)

 

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What I meant when I said that being smarter would help is that my

preferred film is the Delta 100, and the Gigabit has a very different

result. The range of greys is wonderful, but there is less contrast.

So before using it again, I need to go back over what I have done,

and reconsider light and subject matter. I printed a contact sheet

for a friend who had used it also, and just from the sheet he seems

to have had better success than I did.

 

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The difficulty in focusing the enlarger with this film is another

matter, as there is very little grain.

 

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As for needing a tripod, in fact it wasn't necessary.

 

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I do think it is worth trying, and since there is one last film in

the fridge, will eventually do so.

Go to the web site, click on the upper right hand icon, it will take

you to a page that will then lead you to at least seven different

laguages - including English (and French, Italian, Dutch.) I have

used this film, and am trying to figure out how best to use it again.

Some sunny days might help. Being smarter than I am might help too,

but the sunny days are likely to happen first. :-)

Tape you camera, do what you want, but wear the strap diagonally

across your chest, who's going to steal it that way?

I picked up a role of 12 in a Italy a year and a half ago, very

practical at times.

Thank you for the continuing update, Mike. The second photo has a

striking resemblance to the works of Edward Hopper, without the

unease that I find Hopper instills. I don't remember if this question

has been asked, but at what distance from the subjects were you

shooting?

Amateur. Have only owned one other camera before the M6, a Minolta

Himatic rangefinder, so the switch was relatively smooth. I do a lot

of charcoal and brush and ink drawing, too, sometimes working from my

photos. Hi Anam! I never knew that an object could be the source of

so much pleasure, before using the Leica.

Having purchased the 28 Elmarit before Christmas, have been eating a

lot of lentils; better than beans.

Thank you Mike for the photo of your friend, and all the other photos

you and others have posted. Like John Chan, I appreciate and learn

from the work of others.

Thank you Jack and the annonymous contributors for this initiative.

If Mike can make these ladies look so wonderful (and he does,) where

are his pictures of men, making them look great? No pledges from me

until I see some of the male models.

If you are in Grenoble for a few days, take your films to either Fnac

or A2C. Fnac will have a decent job of developing done in a day or

two for colour. For black and white, a contact sheet is fastest, but

if you are around for a few days, ask for "la bande de lecture" -

development and contact prints, for not much more than the cost of a

contact sheet.

 

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What are you interested in seeing? If you are in the center of town

take the tram, get off at Place Ste-Claire, go to the Maison du

Tourism and get a street map. From there you are in the center of

what is left of the old city. You are also in proximity to several of

the daily outdoor markets that make living in town worth while. Walk

around. There are also plenty of small and very good restaurants

around.

 

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Contact me directly by email if you want any more precise information.

Paris can be wonderful, but it takes time, much time, to find the

places that are off the beaten track.

Watch out for your credit card while paying for things. DON'T let it

out of your sight. Copies of the number and any magnet information on

the strip are easily made, and a counterfeit card issued quite

quickly. This happened to us last summer/fall, and we still don't

know when or where it was done.

Sikaan, when it comes to having strangers take a photo, my experience

has been that while I popped the strap around the woman's neck, who

so kindly offered to take the picture, she was unused to a weighty

camera, and couldn't keep it still. The picture was blurred, so

perhaps you didn't miss anything, after all.

Bob, you said in referring to me "most of the post I have seen from

Margret have been faily vitriolic in content. She does not often post

just to 'talk' Leica." ????? Are you confusing me with someone else?

I have posted a technical question, about a film developing problem,

a question about bokeh, something I had never heard about, responses

to queries about why I have an M6, and several other things that I

considered to be rather anodine. I would appreciate you pointing out

to me just what vitriolic comments I have made. I do not mind being

taken to task for something I have done, but an accusation for

something I don't think I have done needs some clarification.

In my opinion, the Leica M6 is basically a camera made for women.

Simple, logical, reliable, discreet, shamefully expensive, like good

jewellery. As for someone having the patience - for which

read "someone" a man - to teach me, excuse me, please, but being an

auto-didact - oh, sorry, is that word too complicated for those who

think that Deity is spelled Diety? - as I was saying, being an auto-

didact, it was a snap. A close friend of mine, when I showed it to

her, was equally taken with its beauty and simplicity, and understood

perfectly why I would go to the sacrifices I have gone to in order to

obtain it.

 

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Yes, I use it. No, I don't know all the technical details of the

working of a camera. However, I know and incorporate those that I

need to know, and as I perceive a need for other information, I will

obtain it, either from reading about it, (see above, "auto-didact')

or in the exchange of information with others. Who is jeaulous? My

husband.

 

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I respect and admire the choice of other women, for whatever

photographic equipment they chose. Don't kid yourselves, boys, if a

woman, ANY woman, decides she wants an M6, she does not, I repeat

NOT, need an XY to show her how to use it. And she will use it in her

own way, at her own pace, and in her own sweet time. Some of you know

this already, others are going to find out, eventually.

 

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p.s. David, among my girlfriends, the Miata is considered to be a

ladies sports car. My regards to your wife.

I can draw, and do that too, sometimes while out taking pictures,

sometimes of the same things I have photographed. Both are about

seeing the world, for me, and seeing it slowly, even though the

depression of the shutter is much faster than sitting and drawing. If

I draw from a photo I have taken it is another way of seeing the

scene, and I am still astonished at how much more there is to see

than at first. By doing photography my drawing is benefitted, by

drawing my photography is.

 

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Both are pure pleasure. Both are about light. Pencils are cheaper,

and lighter, but I'm not giving up one for the other.

A precision - here in France where photographers run into trouble is

when they wish to publish their photographs. The question of the

right to one's self image is at stake. That is one thing. What people

outside of France are likely unaware of is a French particularity.

There have been court cases recently of photographers being sued by

architects, painters of fishing boats in picturesque villages, and so

on, when the images of the works in question were published in works

for sale - magazines and also post cards. The courts so far have

given judgments in favour of the authors of the works, regarding them

as "intellectual property" and condemming the photographers to heavy

fines far outweighing whatever recompense their work brought. In the

case of architectural works, for instance, these are "intellectual

properties" that are in the public view. This is a complicated and

thorny issue here - but what issue that goes before the law doesn't

become that? - and photographers are protesting, but are limited in

what they can do. The great Willy Ronis was condemned in court for

publishing a photo he took of a woman several decades ago, with her

permission, and which was published much later. What recourse would

someone have for a photo published in a different country, at least

outside the European Union? I do not know, but the point is, don't

assume just anything goes. And don't shoot me, I'm just the piano

player i.e. I have nothing to do with the French legal system.

"Shealth" photography? I'm not sure I understand - do you

mean "stealth"?

Thank you all very much for your help. After talking it over with my

husband, who developed this for me, he realises that the problem is

indeed one of agitation. In fact, HE was the one who was agitated at

the time, and couldn't concentrate on what he was going (agitated for

reasons that had nothing to do with the developing). So I guess I

will try another roll of 400 at 800.

 

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I too like the Ilford products, prefering Delta 100, and then HP5, so

that was why I thought the new delta 400 was worth a go. Thank you

once again, and I will let you know if it works out! ;-)

Alfie, it is your photo, your collection and your sweetie - keep it!

Have just seen the results of a role of the new Ilford Delta 400, shot at 800, and each and every frame has striations marks of light that seems to have leaked from the perforations at the top and the bottom of the film. Some frames were shot indoors under low light, full aperture and slow speed, others outside in bright light, closed down, 1000s. If the film was not correctly inserted in the camera and there was some slack, 1) would this occur and 2) if it were improperly inserted, would the film still have advanced correctly? Because it did. Has anyone either an explanation, suggestion, or the same experience with this film, pushed to 800?

Hey there Alfie,

Well done. It is always a good idea to get on the cat's good side if

you want to be accepted, and it is obvious that you did. Clear too

that both the princess and the cat like the lens, and for sure the

princess likes the photographer. Good thing, to chose a leftie, (I am

left handed too) and I think that the cat would prefer to stay with

the both of you, rather than the room mate. What I couldn't see was

the crucial ring finger on the left hand - where is the diamond?

Thank you to all who have answered here, and explained what bokeh

means. It seems to be a trendy concept at the moment, there in the

non-French speaking world. Here in the photo magazines, what is

criticised is appropriate and inappropriate use of the depth of

field. Aiming to have the bokeh as a dominant characteristic of the

photo makes IT the subject. Maybe it hasn't caught on here because

this is, after all, the country that gave the art world expressionist

and pointillist painting.

 

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Thank you again. I will now retreat to the safety of the circle of

confusion.

What I meant to say was that let's face it, the only way to get rid

of that mechanical wathc bug is, well, you know the rest, buy one;

like Leica, new or used. Same beautiful precision.