M
martin-f5
Guest
ist leider noch in englisch und super lang,
aber interessant zu lesen.
Leider hab ich den link zum Orginal nichtmehr
In the Hague, the city in the Netherlands where I studied, is a special store. From the outside you see broken windows held together with plastic and tape, while on the inside you will find yourself in a photographers paradise. All kinds of cameras, darkroom equipment, and boxes with enlargement paper are everywhere. In the centre of the dimly lit store is a counter. And behind that counter sits Hans. He’s the kind of man you don’t want to mess with. He’s big, has a red beard, a loud voice, a razorblade sharp tongue and in a way he makes you feel you’re dealing with an authentic Viking instead of a shop owner. And of course, he is no ordinary shopkeeper. He is a teacher, a teacher of photography, for those aspiring to become good photographers. He is an ex-war-photographer, worked as a forensic specialist in photography, and for reasons I still cannot grasp chose to begin a shop to teach people how to master the craft photography. All the pros in the city come to him for technical advice. You’ll never get accepted as an official student, you’ll never pay any fees, and you can be sure that if he accepts you as a talented would-be photographer, he’ll shout and grumble at you for every mistake you make. And I’ve been shouted at a lot, I can assure you.
When I entered his shop for the first time my goal was clear. I wanted to become a photographer, and a damn good one. I had practiced with a simple Praktica, which I upgraded to a Nikon F601, with multi-pattern metering, a built in motor drive, and two zoom lenses covering a range from 35 to 200 mm range. I was proud of my equipment. But Hans was not impressed.
“Do you know what you are measuring when you meter a scene?” I sought the words to explain what I thought I was doing, but I could not answer the question, except for the obvious answers found in handbooks of photography. Hans went on: “You own two zoom lenses, but can you tell me what the characteristics are of a 35 mm lens? Or of a 200 mm? Do you know how a 50 mm draws the picture? Let me guess”, said Hans, “you use the zoom for framing, don’t you?”. I had to admit I was. He pushed further: “Did you ever
calculate the depth of field when taking a shot?” I had no idea what he was talking about.
It took half a year before I dared to show him some of my pictures. And I was criticized fiercely for what I had to show. He noted several major flaws in the technique of my pictures. Because of wrong metering the grain had become more poignant in my pictures. Dark areas showed little detail. Images were blurred because of the lack of a fast lens, and I used the wrong lens for the perspective I wanted. “But what gear are you using?” I asked him in despair. He exclaimed: “Why do you people always think it is the camera that takes the pictures? All you need to take the most beautiful pictures in the world is a simple Praktika with a 50 mm. And your eyes. Stop wasting your time talking cameras, and go take pictures!”
I sold all my Nikon gear, and bought a second-hand Canon F1, with a 50 mm lens. It is a difficult camera, because it is merciless. One mistake, and you are doomed. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it is a horrible camera. I did not know what I was doing. I was used to letting the camera do the thinking for me, and was punished with results that did not satisfy me. With the Canon, there was nothing there to relieve my mind when taking a picture, no automatics of whatever kind to help me out: Just film, a light meter, a shutter, a diaphragm and a lens. A basic camera. But less turned out to be more. For a basic camera gives you the possibility to experience the basics of photography. Which shutter time do you use? When can you still get a sharp picture? When do you use which lens to get the picture you have in mind? How do you handle extreme lighting situations? And in the end: How do you get the picture you want? With the help of Hans I gradually mastered the camera, and it did not feel as a camera anymore, but as an extension of my eyes. This simple camera trained my mind in a way that made it a tool for fast, swift, intuitive working; with experience and knowledge of how to take the picture I had in my mind. I also started to go to the library and got all the books of the great masters, which I studied. The masters of photography could do without multipattern metering and zoom lenses. They could have made their pictures with a Praktica. It is the eye that takes the picture. And the camera is an extension of the eye.
After five years of doing all kinds of photo work, and specializing in theater photography, I started working as a research journalist. I stopped working as a professional photographer. Around that time, digital cameras with resolutions of 3 MP made their way into the market. I never was too much interested in digital photography because of the lack of quality, at least in my view, and the high prices that had to be paid for a quality that did not equal film. And I was horrified by the prosumer cams thrown on the market with unacceptable shutter lag, slow auto focus (or, rather, the absence of a good manual focus possibility) and slow cycle times. But I also did not like them because of the inability to control them. Look for the basics on a digital camera. Most of the time, they are hard to find, hidden in menus. In the digital world at that time, a basic digital camera was not needed, nor wanted, except for the professional SLRs. It is great to see some traditional companies finally starting to build digital ‘basic’ cameras, like the Epson/Cosina digital rangefinder, and the Leica Digilux 2. In the end, I bought a 4 MP prosumer camera that had an acceptable shutter lag for shooting around the house. It is a nice cam for fun work,
but I would never dream of using it on an assignment. Since then a lot of good cameras have come out. And by now I’m convinced digital is as good as chemical photography. With a big assignment on the horizon, I’m even considering digital for my pro-work.
aber interessant zu lesen.
Leider hab ich den link zum Orginal nichtmehr
In the Hague, the city in the Netherlands where I studied, is a special store. From the outside you see broken windows held together with plastic and tape, while on the inside you will find yourself in a photographers paradise. All kinds of cameras, darkroom equipment, and boxes with enlargement paper are everywhere. In the centre of the dimly lit store is a counter. And behind that counter sits Hans. He’s the kind of man you don’t want to mess with. He’s big, has a red beard, a loud voice, a razorblade sharp tongue and in a way he makes you feel you’re dealing with an authentic Viking instead of a shop owner. And of course, he is no ordinary shopkeeper. He is a teacher, a teacher of photography, for those aspiring to become good photographers. He is an ex-war-photographer, worked as a forensic specialist in photography, and for reasons I still cannot grasp chose to begin a shop to teach people how to master the craft photography. All the pros in the city come to him for technical advice. You’ll never get accepted as an official student, you’ll never pay any fees, and you can be sure that if he accepts you as a talented would-be photographer, he’ll shout and grumble at you for every mistake you make. And I’ve been shouted at a lot, I can assure you.
When I entered his shop for the first time my goal was clear. I wanted to become a photographer, and a damn good one. I had practiced with a simple Praktica, which I upgraded to a Nikon F601, with multi-pattern metering, a built in motor drive, and two zoom lenses covering a range from 35 to 200 mm range. I was proud of my equipment. But Hans was not impressed.
“Do you know what you are measuring when you meter a scene?” I sought the words to explain what I thought I was doing, but I could not answer the question, except for the obvious answers found in handbooks of photography. Hans went on: “You own two zoom lenses, but can you tell me what the characteristics are of a 35 mm lens? Or of a 200 mm? Do you know how a 50 mm draws the picture? Let me guess”, said Hans, “you use the zoom for framing, don’t you?”. I had to admit I was. He pushed further: “Did you ever
calculate the depth of field when taking a shot?” I had no idea what he was talking about.
It took half a year before I dared to show him some of my pictures. And I was criticized fiercely for what I had to show. He noted several major flaws in the technique of my pictures. Because of wrong metering the grain had become more poignant in my pictures. Dark areas showed little detail. Images were blurred because of the lack of a fast lens, and I used the wrong lens for the perspective I wanted. “But what gear are you using?” I asked him in despair. He exclaimed: “Why do you people always think it is the camera that takes the pictures? All you need to take the most beautiful pictures in the world is a simple Praktika with a 50 mm. And your eyes. Stop wasting your time talking cameras, and go take pictures!”
I sold all my Nikon gear, and bought a second-hand Canon F1, with a 50 mm lens. It is a difficult camera, because it is merciless. One mistake, and you are doomed. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it is a horrible camera. I did not know what I was doing. I was used to letting the camera do the thinking for me, and was punished with results that did not satisfy me. With the Canon, there was nothing there to relieve my mind when taking a picture, no automatics of whatever kind to help me out: Just film, a light meter, a shutter, a diaphragm and a lens. A basic camera. But less turned out to be more. For a basic camera gives you the possibility to experience the basics of photography. Which shutter time do you use? When can you still get a sharp picture? When do you use which lens to get the picture you have in mind? How do you handle extreme lighting situations? And in the end: How do you get the picture you want? With the help of Hans I gradually mastered the camera, and it did not feel as a camera anymore, but as an extension of my eyes. This simple camera trained my mind in a way that made it a tool for fast, swift, intuitive working; with experience and knowledge of how to take the picture I had in my mind. I also started to go to the library and got all the books of the great masters, which I studied. The masters of photography could do without multipattern metering and zoom lenses. They could have made their pictures with a Praktica. It is the eye that takes the picture. And the camera is an extension of the eye.
After five years of doing all kinds of photo work, and specializing in theater photography, I started working as a research journalist. I stopped working as a professional photographer. Around that time, digital cameras with resolutions of 3 MP made their way into the market. I never was too much interested in digital photography because of the lack of quality, at least in my view, and the high prices that had to be paid for a quality that did not equal film. And I was horrified by the prosumer cams thrown on the market with unacceptable shutter lag, slow auto focus (or, rather, the absence of a good manual focus possibility) and slow cycle times. But I also did not like them because of the inability to control them. Look for the basics on a digital camera. Most of the time, they are hard to find, hidden in menus. In the digital world at that time, a basic digital camera was not needed, nor wanted, except for the professional SLRs. It is great to see some traditional companies finally starting to build digital ‘basic’ cameras, like the Epson/Cosina digital rangefinder, and the Leica Digilux 2. In the end, I bought a 4 MP prosumer camera that had an acceptable shutter lag for shooting around the house. It is a nice cam for fun work,
but I would never dream of using it on an assignment. Since then a lot of good cameras have come out. And by now I’m convinced digital is as good as chemical photography. With a big assignment on the horizon, I’m even considering digital for my pro-work.
