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New Yorker article on the "Cult of Leica"


dritz

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Anthony Lane, the author, did a pretty good, considering that he might have to write an article on mechanical watches, Harley Davidsons or submarines, at the next occasion his newspaper wants something of him.

 

Pretty good sources he found, IMO. Esp. the hint - NEVER heard that before - that O. B. put a filmstrip between his stretched out hands to arrive at the 36/ 40 frames/ length of a standard 35mm- film is just gorgeous ...

 

 

 

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Tony Lane does quite a bit of research on each of his articles; however, when he submits his script, it falls into the hands of the editorial / rewrite denizens with the green eyeshades. What comes into print is not necessarily what he wrote.

 

IMO, given the constraints, it's an excellent article, and a responsible introduction to the Leica for the non-believers <g>.

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Great article by Anthony Lane.

 

I felt like he successfully captured some of my own enthrallment with my camera.

 

Ironic that Steve Lee cited a "Morgan vs. Benz wagon" as that is the stable (minus one) of a certain longtime member of the Forum; as though the two had spoken of the analogy.

 

Hmmmmm.....

 

:)

 

Thanks.

 

Allan

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well, that depends on how you pronounce it.

 

a morgan+4 it is not,

 

but a morgan 4/4 it could be.

 

or do you call the latter a "morgan four-slash-four" or "four-divided-by-four"?

 

chris

 

the following is from a morgan web-site:

 

So where does the Morgan 4/4 name come from?

 

The Morgan 4/4 is the direct descendant of the first four-wheeled car built by Morgan in 1936. The name is derived from ‘four wheels, four cylinders’ and differentiated the Morgan 4/4 from earlier models that were all 3 wheelers.

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"Four by four" means a four-wheel drive. At least it does in this country.

 

Ah the innocence of youth! I wonder if you have ever driven a Morgan 4/4 or even a Morgan Aero Sports (3/2 that is three wheels and 2 cylinders and my steed for learning to drive!).

 

Yes Alan, I know to whom you refer. Whatever has happened to William these days? I haven't seen a posting from him for ages, I hope his Landrover sales are going well.

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Guest tummydoc

"Fifty miles north of Frankfurt lies the small German town of Solms.

 

Aha, my first two defective M8s must have been assembled at the other Leica factory in the other Solms :D

 

"With a Leica, all you hear is the shutter, which is the quietest on the market. The result—and this may be the most seductive reason for the Leica cult—is that a photograph sounds like a kiss."...Now, with an M8 in my possession, the shame gave way to a thrill. At one point, I stood outside a bookstore and, in a bid to test the exposure, focussed on a pair of browsers standing within, under an “Antiquarian” sign at the end of a long shelf. Suddenly, a pale blur entered the frame lines. I panicked, and pressed the shutter: kiss."

 

The M8?? Perhaps a kiss from R2D2 :D

 

"(“If the good Lord had wanted us to take photographs with a 6 by 6, he would have put eyes in our belly,” a scornful Cartier-Bresson said.)"

 

Someone knowledgeable of Cartier-Bresson's insecure anti-social personality for which he compensated with unfathomable arrogance would recognise that quote as not a commentary on photographic technique, but as what it truly was: a dig at his contemporary Robert Doisneau, whom he jealously despised.

 

"Ralph Gibson once went to a meeting of the Leica Historical Society of America and, he claims, listened to a retired Marine Corps general give a scholarly paper on certain discrepancies in the serial numbers of Leica lens caps. “Leicaweenies,” Gibson calls such addicts"

 

I'll wager Gibson didn't have the guts to call the late Roy Moss (whom he refers to) a 'weenie' to his face :D

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