Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/06/19
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At 10:11 PM -0400 6/19/01, Dave Jenkins wrote:
>I'm sending Mike Johnston a check for a subscription to his newsletter.
>I think he's one of the best photo-writers around, and I'm sorry he was
>made to feel unwelcome on this list. There ought to be room for
>diversity of opinion, and that diversity ought to be met with civility
>from all parties.
I enjoy Mike's writings, and I agree that he one of the more
interesting writers around, just because he is quite opinionated and
not particularly tolerant. Those same traits are not always treasured
on a mailing list.
I enjoy diversity of opinion; that's why Mike grated on me at times
as the range of his acceptance of other's opinions extended only
millimeters beyond his own opinions. When a difference of opinions
arose, he hid behind pedantic nitpicking. In the end, due to some
insecurties he has, he has to bolster his ego by putting others down.
He has a lot of expertise, but not more than a lot of other people on
this list have. His opinion is not the last word on many subjects
except that during his time here, others often got tired of arguing
long before he did.
>However, when one person is looked up to as a god whose pronouncements
>come directly from Mt. Sinai, it severely limits discourse. Mr. Puts, in
>my opinion, is the photographic equivalent of a bean counter, which may
>be defined as a person who knows the cost of everything and the value of
>nothing.
Erwin's writings often are presented in a stiff and pedantic manner,
due to a large part because English is a second (third? fourth?)
language for him as it is for many of us. Fortunately, his technical
writings are substantiated by a lot of testing and painstaking
analysis. He separates his technical work and his personal
photographic work, and tries to keep his technical work as objective
as possible. Some of his test results don't jibe with my own, and he
is open to discussions on this. Yes, he gets rather petulant at
times, but I find him more open minded than Mike by a fair measure.
Try him on a one-on-one basis.
>Dave Jenkins
- --
* Henning J. Wulff
/|\ Wulff Photography & Design
/###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
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