Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/01/30

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Subject: [Leica] Rant!
From: joelct at singnet.com.sg (Joseph Low)
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:45:20 +0800
References: <18699496.1327981263865.JavaMail.root@mswamui-backed.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Sounds like a "Walking Eagle"

Joseph Low

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg at leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of 
Doug
Herr
Sent: Tuesday, 31 January, 2012 11:41
To: lug at leica-users.org
Subject: [Leica] Rant!

I went to a talk on Friday night on bird photography by a well-known
wildlife photographer who is sponsored by one of the Big Two camera makers.
I won't mention names.  What a friggin waste of time & gasoline.  If I'd had
to pay for parking I'd have demanded a refund.  His approach to wildlife
photography is buy-the-longest-lens-you-can and
buy-the-newest-and-fastest-(sponsor brand)-body-you-can, and he came across
as the sponsor's paid spokesman (which he is).

He said NOTHING about light except for how to use more flash, NOTHING about
composition, color (except more is better), NOTHING about bird psycology or
bird identification, except for hiring a bird guide (more on this after I
stop seething).

His photos were compositionally shallow and bland: no use of color or forms
to give a sense of depth or to draw attention to the bird, hardly any
discussion of the foreground or background except how to obliterate it.  The
best I can say for his photos is that they show what the bird looks like.
Nothing about how it relates to its habitat.  Empty, shallow mainstream
photos.  And the camera maker pays him to promote this and "teach" it to the
unsuspecting wanna-bes.

I'm still seething but I gotta get this out of my system:  He can't identify
some really obvious western birds - and he's lived in the west most of his
life.  He got Great Egret, Mountain Bluebird and Williamson's Sapsucker
right but he showed a couple of captive raptors side-by-side, photos made at
a rescue facility where he was TOLD what they are and he thought the birds
in his photos were the same individual, when one was obviously a Prairie
Falcon and the other was obviously a Buteo, probably a Red-tailed Hawk.
They didn't even have the same eye color.  He couldn't identify a Rail in
one of his photos (fullframe, good light).  He had no idea if it was a
Virginia Rail, a Clapper Rail or a King Rail.

This is the crap that a major camera maker is promoting as wildlife
photography.  This is what the sponsor has trained the unsuspecting consumer
to think of as good wildlife photography.  Buy our stuff and you too can
make these great photos.

Grrrrrr grrrrrrr grrrrrr grrrrrrr grrrrrr grrrrrrr.


Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com



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In reply to: Message from wildlightphoto at earthlink.net (Doug Herr) ([Leica] Rant!)