Not picking on William Sommerwick; I don't understand what all this
"state-of-the-art" accomplishes that cannot be done just as well,
often better, using the human brain and manual methods. When
everything is relinquished to automagical control, the photographer
becomes disengaged from the task at hand and is reduced to being a
camera holder. Result? Taking instead of making photographs with
significantly lower yield.
We are rapidly losing "The Art" of using a completely manual camera.
Henri Cartier-Bresson never let a *knob* winder, manual focusing
with a RF window *separate* from the viewfinder, and the lack of any
light meter whatsoever stop him from making photographs. He defined
"street shooting" and the "decisive moment." Into sports
photography? Look into "One Shot Charlie" (Charles Hoff) of the NY
Daily News who used an enormous view camera for his sports coverage.
Into editorial work and photojournalism? Check out what Alfred
Eisenstaedt used for his Life Magazine work. There are more:
Margaret Bourke-White, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Paul
Strand, Edward Weston, Clarence H. White, Robert Capa, W. Eugene
Smith, Ansel Adams (his 35mm works), et alia. Look beyond what they
did and what they used to **how** they used their gear; the tricks
and techniques. It's there to be found; all it takes is a little
digging for it.
IMHO it only requires a little study and practice to develop the
skills. Evaluative matrix metering? The human brain has a near
infinitely more sophisticated evaluative matrix. Motor drive?
Timing skill is much more accurate and not that hard to acquire.
Even at 10fps, the fastest of them, a motor drive leaves 1/10th
second between frames. Most are 3fps to 5fps. A *lot* can happen
in 1/10th second; even more in 1/3rd to 1/5th second. It's a
shotgun approach that *may* get the shot some of the time, but is
guaranteed to burn lots of film *all* the time.
It's not just "this" or "that," it's the whole shebang, all nine yards of it:
Film Selection
Lighting
Focal Length (Perspective)
Critical Focus
Shutter Speed
Lens Aperture
Composition
Timing
Print Materials and Techniques
It all plays together as a symphony with the photographer as
conductor who must exert control throughout. This cannot be bought,
not even by Bill Gates. There's *no* technology that has *all* of
it, in spite of all the efforts by Big Yellow and camera
manufacturers to make The Public believe differently. They use the
same marketing model as for diet pills, electric shock muscle
stimulators, P.T. Barnum, and Snake Oil, by selling the dream of
what people *want* to hear: money can replace *knowledge*,
*thinking*, effort and practice. It's naught but smoke and mirrors.
-- John
John,
Photography has not stopped with Capa and White. There are young pro
photographers now making fine images with state of the art
technology. It is not smoke and mirrors to those who have learned how
to use it. The control is there, just different.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California, USA
mailto:wincros@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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