>Whenever it looked like a play might result in a touchdown, he pointed it at
>the team and just held down the button until the play was over.
> I commented that shooting that way kind of took the challenge out of
>getting a good shot. His comment was that, at what Sports Illustrated was
>paying him, he wasn't interested in challenge. The bottom line was get the
>shot.
> He must have shot thousands of frames that night; but only two photos ran
>in the magazine.
This is the difference between "art" and "production." I'm trying to move
between the two. For some time, I've been a fairly well-paid computer
consultant. On one gig, I was explaining to the client about the aesthetics
-- and long-term financial rewards -- of doing something "right" versus
just knocking something out for the short haul. He said -- and this was
inspiring -- "You know the problem with you, Steinman? You're an artist! We
have no time for art!"
>... I just accept the
>fact that I'm an anachronism with my ancient OM-1's, enjoy the photos I take
>with them and make my living doing something else these days...
It is possible to make a living at art, but it is not an easy or high
living for all but a very few. You generally have to die before your work
is appreciated, and that makes the benefits difficult to enjoy... :-)
Back to Oly content -- I think there is a real big market out there for
"artists" versus the Nikon/Canon market for "tool users." That guy at the
football game -- what would he do with an 8-spot metering system? Turn it
off!
Olympus can continue to market their creations to artists. It isn't a big
market, but it's a relatively uncrowded one. Ask anyone who drives a
foreign sports car, or uses a Macintosh computer -- a company can survive
just by marketing to those who appreciate elegance and aesthetics.
Sometimes it isn't an easy survival -- witness all the "Mac is dead" talk
of a year ago, but such companies have to remain true to their ideals --
witness Apple's doubling of stock price since introducing the iMac computer.
I agree with others that a "me too" auto-everything SLR is not where
Olympus should go, but that still leaves lots of room for an OM 5/6 that
caters to the niche market. While Apple made "me too" computers, they
crashed, but some turquoise plastic and shooting some sacred cows ("What,
no floppy?") has brought them to the point that a fifth of new sales are to
ex-PC users.
(Sorry if I've insulted anyone here. A PC gets the job done. It's just a
tool. A Ford gets you from here to there -- it's just a tool, too. I drive
a Ford, because I'm utilitarian about getting around, but important things
I leave to Olympus and Apple! :-)
: Jan Steinman <mailto:jans@xxxxxxxxxxx>
: 19280 Rydman Court, West Linn, OR 97068-1331 USA
: +1.503.635.3229
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