--- graywolf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Folks who never see anything out there but 2:3 > images are, I think, rather > limited creatively. I see images that are square, > images that are round, even > images that need to be printed triangular for crying > out loud. > > If you chose that disipline, or to use only one > lens, or only one format it is > pretty much the same as wearing a hair shirt. It may > be good for your spirit, > but it does nothing much for your pictures, at least > in the long run. > > Think about something here. HCB used a Leica. A > Leica RF. A Leica RF's frame > lines do not perfectly define the negative borders. > There is no way he could > frame his photos that precisely. But claiming that > he did made him famous. There > are millions of idiots that believe and try to > emulate him, just as there are > millions who buy into the zone system which is > another photographic crock that > made a photographer famous. > > You know what? I just realized all this stuff, while > photographic, is really > about religion. Oops! > >
Tom, 1) I am, apparently, an idiot. I have no argument with that, BTW <g>. 2) In my first post after I heard of his demise, I did mention that HCB was my God. Of course it's religion! <vbg> Now, I'm not in the least bit upset by your comments. After all, I know you like to blow off steam once in a while, and you are, after all, my favourite iconoclast. <vbg> But, give credit where credit's due. If HCB made millions (which he didn't need, BTW, as he came from a very rich family), it was because of his photographs. It was not because he did or did not crop them. I doubt if most people looking at his photos in Life or Paris Match or whatever in the 30's, 40's or 50's even knew that he (almost) never cropped, nor did they care. They were simply moved by what they saw. HCB was trained in art before he ever picked up a Kodak Brownie. I think he could see in circles, squares, panoramic rectangles, triangles even octogons if he really put his mind to it. But, his tool was a Leica RF (after he dumped his Brownie). It was, in effect, his canvas. Would you buy a rectangular canvas, then paint a square image on it, because "that's what you saw"? Of course not! You'd buy a square canvas, wouldn't you? Well, HCB could have used a 6x6 tlr (except they were called 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 back then) if he wanted to, but he chose not to. It didn't suit his needs. So, his canvas was rectangular. He adapted to his tools, rather than the other way around. The other advantages of his tool far outweighed the aspect ratio of the image, in his opinion. Parallax error? Yeah, sure, it existed. But from several feet out, it really didn't make that much difference in the framing of an image (says the man who shoots with a rangefinder). In any event, you live with it, and maybe even compensate for it (I don't, but maybe he did). There's lots of reasons for not cropping. Maybe it's just a mental discipline, sort of "if one gives in and does it once in a while, one will fall down a slippery slope and do it all the time - then one will get sloppy with one's framing in the viewfinder, and the photos will suffer in the long term". Or something like that... Maybe the decision not to crop is a mindset based on emotion more that rationality. Maybe it's just a different way of looking at things. Maybe it's just one part of a much larger methodology. I'm not saying that "no cropping" is the right way of doing it, or that cropping is wrong. It's a personal choice (kind of like whether one believes that God exists - ya gotta decide on yer own). Personally, well, I think everyone here knows what my creed is. You crop? Great! Your photos look terrific! (really, I'm not joking here) You take many photos with your big press camera, and that has a very imprecise viewfinder, plus a Big Freaking Huge Negative that can be cropped virtually at will with no ill effect on qualtity. But, even if you crop your 35mm prints, hell even if you had a Pentax 110 and cropped those, it doesn't bother me. I only get to look at your prints, and I like them just fine! <g> I think it's maybe just a bit unfair to criticize someone for what he's decided to use as his personal method. Just an opinion. I could be wrong, you know... <vbg> cheers, frank ===== "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca
