Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2025/11/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hilarious! I got ChatGPT to have a look. It came up with: I could **not** locate a reliable source for the specific phrasing you asked about ? that George Bernard Shaw described using a Leica camera as ?like producing frogspawn.? What *is* well-documented, however, is that Shaw made a somewhat similar comment about photography in general. For example: > ?The photographer is like the cod, which lays a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity.? ([PhotoQuotes][1]) This comes up in photographic-history texts attributing it to Shaw. ([PagePlace][2]) Another version: > ?A photographer is like a cod, which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity.? ([Goodreads][3]) **So**: * Yes ? Shaw did make a remark about the photographer / photography process being analogous to many eggs laid so that one may succeed. * No ? I couldn?t find a credible reference linking that remark specifically to using a Leica camera (rather than photography in general). * And I couldn?t find any credible source where the analogy uses ?frogspawn? rather than ?cod (fish) / eggs?. [1]: https://photoquotes.com/quote/the-photographer-is-like-the-cod--which-lays-a-mil?utm_source=chatgpt.com "The photographer is like the cod, which lays a mil | PhotoQuotes" [2]: https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781317329541_A30632951/preview-9781317329541_A30632951.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com "FOURTH EDITION" [3]: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/141623-a-photographer-is-like-a-cod-which-produces-a-million?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Quote by George Bernard Shaw: ?A photographer is like a cod, which produces a ...?" Regards, Peter On 04/11/2025 10:09, Peter Klein via LUG wrote: > A Facebook group posted a 15 year-old Guardian article about playwright > George Bernard Shaw's lifelong interest in photography. He began with > large format and wet plates in the late 1870s. > <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2010/sep/07/george-bernard- > shaw-photographs> > > ...and in the 1930s, he was using an early Leica. > <https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b8/f0/05/b8f0050381edffecb6f318a3ecba52e2.jpg> > > In the Facebook thread, one Michael Dembinski remarked that "GBS > described photography using a small-negative camera like the Leica as > being like producing 'frog-spawn'. Looking for this quote, I asked > Google AI, which helpfully told me that "Shaw was a keen amateur > photographer who owned a Leica M Monochrom " > > Nice try, AI. Although, come to think of it, Shaw was a friend of H.G. > Wells. So perhaps he used Wells' time machine. > > --Peter > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information -- Dr. Peter Dzwig