SiMPLiFY Posted August 7, 2012 Share #1 Posted August 7, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) I am wondering if any of you have tried this assignment? I'd like to try it with an m2 and 35 f/2.8 summaron. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 7, 2012 Posted August 7, 2012 Hi SiMPLiFY, Take a look here The Leica as Teacher. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
01af Posted August 7, 2012 Share #2 Posted August 7, 2012 I am wondering if any of you have tried this assignment? I'd like to try it with an M2 and Summaron 35 mm f/2.8. I haven't ... but I think it's a very good idea—provided you have the time, the persistence, and the stamina to actually go through it. It's not easy! There are a few reports on the Internet from persons who did it, and all of them arrived at the conclusion it was a lot of work but a worthwhile experience. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiMPLiFY Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share #3 Posted August 7, 2012 It's not easy! Nothing worthwhile ever is. I want to become better. That is going to mean hard work and maybe even some tears and tantrums along the way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
01af Posted August 7, 2012 Share #4 Posted August 7, 2012 Nothing worthwhile ever is. This certainly is true. That is going to mean hard work and maybe even some tears and tantrums along the way. I wouldn't expect tears and tantrums. I'd rather expect losing momentum after the initial enthusiasm has worn out. Since it's a self-assignment, no-one except yourself will kick you to overcome some lazyness that may creep in after some months. But if you're serious about your intention to do it then don't hesitate. Go ahead! You cannot lose anything and may (will) gain a lot. And don't forget to write a report here when the year is done. Maybe it will motivate others, too, to take Mike's challenge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted August 7, 2012 Share #5 Posted August 7, 2012 I am wondering if any of you have tried this assignment? I'd like to try it with an m2 and 35 f/2.8 summaron. That was my situation for a few years beginning in 1965: an M2 with 50mm Summicron, although I did not make contact prints but viewed the slides and B&W negatives with a loupe. Believe it or not but I can still remember the good frames - but I can't remember what I had for dinner two days ago. -- Pico - "I am self-educated, but unfortunately had a rather poor instructor." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalArts 99 Posted August 7, 2012 Share #6 Posted August 7, 2012 I disagree with the author's statement that you won't learn this in "three years of photo school." This is the way we teach photography (at least in our department.) It's about teaching a process of slowing down. And which seems even more important today since the students come into class with a history of amassing a huge amount of redundant digital images already. But they have to follow the regimen or otherwise they drop out or flunk out. And that's one benefit of school, it 'forces' you to follow along with the program. Kind of like why people do yoga classes as a group rather than at home alone. And one can do this with digital, too. Put in a small SD card or limit yourself to x number of frames, etc.. Make jpegs and with no allowances for post processing in mind, etc.. (and you can make contact sheets in PS if you want.) It's not only about using film (or even using a Leica, of course.) It's just about a process of contemplation and paying attention to what you are actually photographing. Maybe wear a rubber band around your wrist and snap it each time you're about to depress the shutter button. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZDavid Posted August 7, 2012 Share #7 Posted August 7, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) I agree with the simplicity approach. I disagree with "looking at light and ignoring color." Our world is full of color. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmooney Posted August 7, 2012 Share #8 Posted August 7, 2012 I'm thinking about trying it with an X1 in the spring. B&W JPG straight out of camera. I hate post processing.... Can't say I'd never take a color shot on occasion though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stack62 Posted August 7, 2012 Share #9 Posted August 7, 2012 I did this back in the early 1980's for six months, except is was called a job not an exercise. After my first year of college I got a job at the local paper as their night photographer. After shooting my assigments - with only a Pentax K-1000, 50mm lens, and Vivitar flash - I'd go back to the darkroom and Dev. all the film and make the required prints. Prints were all on graded single weight FB paper, MG paper was available but they were too cheap to buy it. I learned a lot and by the time I started my second year of college I was miles ahead of anyone else in both printing and shooting!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiMPLiFY Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share #10 Posted August 7, 2012 I just want to use one Leica, One Lens and Tri-X because I have always LOVED the "look" of those photos even if they aren't tack sharp and have some grain. That's part of the beauty to me. Correct me if I am wrong but "I think" the point of shooting in B&W is to learn to see "light" and "form" as opposed to a cacophony of color. I honestly prefer B&W in a very colorful world. It whispers as opposed to screams "look at me!". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiMPLiFY Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share #11 Posted August 7, 2012 I agree with the simplicity approach. I disagree with "looking at light and ignoring color." Our world is full of color. If I lived in New Zealand I would agree. Beautiful country! Very colorful indeed! I do love color but only for certain images and locations. I do not live in such a location. B&W is my goal and Leica is my instrument. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiMPLiFY Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share #12 Posted August 7, 2012 stack62, I love your website and admire your work! BEAUTIFUL! Can I run away from home and be your assistant for a year? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spydrxx Posted August 8, 2012 Share #13 Posted August 8, 2012 I bought my first Leica and (and only one) lens many years ago when I was impoverished but traveling extensively, and almost without exception (2 rolls on a borrowed lens of another focal length), I used it constantly for almost 5 years. I felt I knew it pretty well after several months. Eventually funds became available and my shooting needs changed, and I began to add to the lens stable...nothing dramatic for another 10 years or so. It was important to me to become thoroughly competent with the one lens and not have to obsess over "I'm going to for a few weeks...which lens should I take with me". A few of my Leica friends kidded me, but always told me I could borrow their different lenses if I felt the urge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrism Posted August 8, 2012 Share #14 Posted August 8, 2012 You chaps are simply asking for some old fart stories. One camera and one lens was the rule when photography was done on pocket money, vacation jobs and then student grants (and none of them could be Leicas in my circumstances). It wasn't till I had a salary that I explored interchangeable lenses. Probably the lessons learnt from the discipline of a single camera and lens were just as good when it was from necessity rather than choice, but the subjective experience was rather different! How I drooled over the nice ad for a Spotmatic, a Petri FTee (such shame) and even the badly-printed-on-cheap-paper ads in AP! I wouldn't have had to waste all that energy if it were self-imposed! Chris The not so tremendously old man from the age of mercury batteries, and cadmium sulphide meters if you could afford them, selenium from the USSR if you couldn't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiMPLiFY Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share #15 Posted August 8, 2012 I used 110 cameras because I didn't know any better and it took a long time to save up enough to have that film developed. I threw away those tiny negatives too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdsheepdog Posted August 10, 2012 Share #16 Posted August 10, 2012 For what it is worth, an exercise that I still do once in a while if there nothing remarkable about the place and time that I find myself in is to use only one f stop, or only one shutter speed, or only one point of focus all day, or through one roll of film. If nothing else, it forces you go and look for images that you might otherwise miss. The question on the blog that was often asked is "why a Leica?" My answer would always be: "If I take a bad photograph, there is no point trying to blame the equipment.";) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted August 10, 2012 Share #17 Posted August 10, 2012 Hello Kathleen, Welcome to the Forum. It's a shame you threw your 110 negatives away. 1 day you might want to see them. I learned photography w/ an M w/ a 90mm F4 due to circumstance. I recommend it as a 1st lens. I found it is a good lens to learn w/ because it requires you to learn to compose, frame & choose your depth of field. A 90 on a full frame camera cuts out the foreground, sides & top. You have to figure out what is most important & how to capture it. In return it allows you to construct an image w/ a very pleasant perspective. You also learn about tripods, lens shades, cable releases, hand holding, frame selector levers & table tripods. Very instructive. That said: After I learned from using a 90mm lens as my only lens I came to realize a 35mm lens is how I like to look @ the World. I have used a 35mm for 90% of my pictures for many years & have traded the 90mm for a 135mm. Best Regards, Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
01af Posted August 10, 2012 Share #18 Posted August 10, 2012 I learned photography with an M and a 90 mm 1:4 due to circumstance. I recommend it as a first lens. I think that's bad advice. I found it is a good lens to learn with because it requires you to learn to compose, frame, and choose your depth of field. Any lens requires you to learn all this. If circumstance had forced you to start with a 21 mm lens then you would recommend that now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyedward Posted August 10, 2012 Share #19 Posted August 10, 2012 I'll soon be in the position of having one camera a single lens for a year when my MP and zeiss 50/2 arrive, though I'll admit to having ordered some porta alongside Adox cms 20! I have no experience of rangefinders or film, but plan on shooting street at night in my nearby city of manchester, and cant wait to make a start! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted August 10, 2012 Share #20 Posted August 10, 2012 I think that's bad advice. Yeah I'd agree. I think even a 75 would be too restricted to learn composition. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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