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Re: Hardware fetish (long), was Re: [OM] Jane Bown

Subject: Re: Hardware fetish (long), was Re: [OM] Jane Bown
From: *- DORIS FANG -* <sfsttj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 16:42:57 -0500 (EST)
   Simon's message comes across loud and clear.

     I remember finding Jane Bown's book and her magnificent portraits
among other things. Many were breathtaking. In that book her equipment was
described as being really simple. It was an era in which most  
photographers doing her job were carrying 2-3 Nikon F2s and 3-4 lenses.
The stuff weighed a ton.
  National Geographic guys were taking stacks of Halliburtons on
assignment. I remember William Allard saying he took a dozen cases full of
Leica M and R equipment. Practically every lens in both line-ups. People
also took cases full of lighting equipment. The  apotheosis of this was
Greg Heisler, whose celeb shots were elaborate productions, similar, if
not identical to big-budget advertising. 
  I'm sure the industry reps were smiling. The days of Cartier-Bresson
and his 50mm available light portraits were over. They had converted 
an entire generation of photographers into average consumers. 
   Look at the market today. It is similar to the computer market.
The new F6, 7, 8 / EOS-1, v.1.1, 1.2, etc will be out every 24-36 months,
and the techies will argue endlessly about the features and the 
"better" lenses on the internet, reciting Photodo MTF gospels. Many will
flock to buy every update, others will just stare at their 'old' F5s and
feel dissatisfied, as if something is lacking, which is exactly where
the advertisers want you to be.
   What is lacking is that they will never own the stuff long enough to
have a chance to become intimately familiar with their equipment, to know
it so well that operation becomes transparent, autonomous and
graceful because it's no longer a machine between you and your subject
and/or your mind, but a passport to the realm of light.
   One of the core truths about photography is that to succeed on almost
any plane, it has to be about something else. When one obsesses on the
hardware or the process too much you become a dog chasing its own tail.
   This is nothing new. I remember reading Ansel (again, sorry) saying
that most amateurs of their day owned more and better equipment than
either Stieglitz or Weston. 
   Simon makes the point about comparing oneself to other photographers.
What does it matter if you're "better" or "worse" than the other guy ?
You are not competing with anyone, only walking your own path. Learn
from others, share in their triumphs and failures, learn from them,
pass on what you have learned. Trade seeds. Remember, it's always
been just you vs. your own limits.
   Times have changed. Jane Bown looks like a prophet these days. You
have William Allard going on NG assignment not with a dozen cases, but
a bag carrying two bodies and a few lenses. David Alan Harvey has done
huge assignments with one body and 28/35/50 lenses. He did the Viet Nam,
 NASCAR and the Cuba book on mostly one lens.  Anton Corbijn is
shooting celeb portraits on the street with one body and lens. There's a 
renaissance going on, a return to centering on seeing, relegating
the hardware to its proper role as tools in the service of vision.
  Same with technique. Too many beginners hopelessly complicate their
lives and hobble their image-making by becoming obsessed with the
technical. Facilitate your vision. Of course, if you're shooting a wide
variety of things, more than a NG photog, you may actually need more
stuff to do the job. Few of us will ever be in that position.
    Jane Bown has found through experience what works for her, and
she is producing first-rate imagery. The lesson here is to be sensitive
to what you do, how you're doing it, and what produces results. Galen
Rowell may carry a lot of Nikon gear afield, but he has remarked that
over 3/4 of his best were done with a 24/2.8 and a fast 85. Let the your
images tell you what works. 

                               *= Doris Fang =*

 Who owns way too much stuff, but uses just a few things.


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