The Old Days.. (Page 7): It's not necessary to belittle yourself. I know compared to professional photographers, musicians, and videographers, my stuff is not anywhere near as good.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

It's not necessary to belittle yourself. I know compared to professional photographers, musicians, and videographers, my stuff is not anywhere near as good. But I also know compared to most (not all) people I know, my stuff is better than what they can do. I can be happy with my efforts, without needing to believe it's better than it is. Everyone fits on a continuum. I think it's a shame that people don't try unless they can be great. That lets out almost everyone. Some art is just objectively superior to almost everything else that is out there or attempted. If a piece of art of any form is still considered great by millions of people after 50 or 100 or 500 or 2000 years, I think we have to acknowledge that it is exceptionally good art (whether it appeals to us personally or not).

Rongnongno wrote:

It is not good to know your own limits as you auto... (show quote)

sjrkl99

In 1970, I told my dad i wanted a good camera. I was 13 years old & had a Kodak Instamatic 126.
He lent me his agfa "something" with a broken rangefinder bellows & a non working meter.
Dad showed me how to estimate distance in feet, & how to read the sheet that came with the film to adjust for exposure.
It became the foundation for my photographic knowledge. A darkroom followed soon after. i mowed lawns, raked leaves, delivered newspapers &
bought a Nikon F2 a few years later. Photography ended up, being the way i made a very good living. i ended up in the graphic arts business as
an image retoucher.
Funny how things work out...
2 years till retirement, I now work at Target, between the Electronics Dept & Guest Services.
Love chatting it up with the fine folks that cross my path, & doing some image editing for free to people who have no idea that it can be done.
:-)

whitewolfowner

aellman wrote:

And Trump, by comparison is a blessing. Never lies or distorts and has a honest, honorable business history. Worst case, it's a tie. I wish both parties had nominated better candidates. >Alan

You can't begin to compare who;'s the lair. 99% of the lies that Trump was accused of were drummed up by the lying media and the (CNN) Clinton New Network. I know this is true because I listened to him speak and know exactly what he said; not the lies touted about him. Apparently, you did not listen to him just the lies from the main steam media; the real fake news!

the hiker Loc: San Diego

PhotoRepro wrote:

The Time Life Book series on photography did it for me. Still have them. First camera when I was around 12 was a 35mm Konica. Last camera, Nikon D750. Phone cameras are fun & fine for quick snaps, but nothing beats walking around (on purpose) with a nice DSLR and a great lens. Okay, GoPros look like they'd be fun too.

the Time Life book series and the Kodak series and National GEo. mag. is what got me interested in Photography and my first camera was a Kodak 110 instan. I still have the books but now I use a Sony A65. I still have a few flim cameras such as the OLYMPUS 150 and the Cannon Sure Shot A1 W/P and the Nicon N60 with W/A len and a 70 to 200 zoom.Every now and then I take them out and use them. I have about 20 rolls of varous types of film.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

'T' deplorable on the loose in this thread.

Leitz Loc: Solms

blackest wrote:

... as a student you are encouraged to study the works of past masters. Study what works, technique, composition. Learn apply adapt. There is always something to learn.

Yes of course, emulating the masters is the best way to learn the basics, but I should think that at some point one would be inspired to go make their own photographs.

blackest Loc: Ireland

Leitz wrote:

Yes of course, emulating the masters is the best way to learn the basics, but I should think that at some point one would be inspired to go make their own photographs.

I think most people do work that way, probably influenced by other photographers work to some extent. Sometimes emulating an interesting work to figure out the setup. Almost certainly we have influences.

With flickr my usual search is for a lens i'm interested in buying, I do like to see what people have produced with it.

Later this week I should have a color enlarging lens from the ukraine, this one i have little idea of how it will perform shallow depth of field a flat field of focus and built in color filters, I think it will be interesting...

Rongnongno Loc: FL

blackest wrote:

.../...

So not everyone forgot that the soviet unions cameras were produced in Ukraine... Among other things.

Tom W Loc: Lincoln Co, WA

My first camera was a Brownie Star Flash, I believe it was called. A little plastic cheap camara. Don't even recall what size film it took but I gave it a work out. It's still packed away in a box somewhere. Graduated to an Argus C-3 in the service. Not sure if I had a camera or two between those two or not. Likely did. At any rate, upon meeting my father in law, wound up getting Exakta gear to match his. We'd swap lenses and stories and go on photo shoots together. At the time it was a "teacher/student" relationship when we had cameras in hand. I learned a lot from Eldon. Then not long before my daughter was born in March '72, I took a class at the local junior college. I learned a lot of what Eldon taught was good, solid photographic fact but a lot of it was his opinion as well. After the class, we'd still go on our photo shoot missions but they became much more two photographers with sometimes two different ideas on what would make the best photograph. All of those trips were most enjoyable and fond memories now. Eldon passed in 1984. I've wished often that he'd have survived to see the digital age in photography.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

I guess we will have to agree to disagree here. When you emulate someone else's style those are your own photographs. You are not taking a picture of their picture, you are making your own picture inspired by their style. And it's a lot more difficult to do than just shooting whatever is in front of your viewfinder that strikes your fancy. And it's not either / or. You can do both.

Leitz wrote:

Yes of course, emulating the masters is the best way to learn the basics, but I should think that at some point one would be inspired to go make their own photographs.

Leitz Loc: Solms

Bobspez wrote:

I guess we will have to agree to disagree here. When you emulate someone else's style those are your own photographs. You are not taking a picture of their picture, you are making your own picture inspired by their style. And it's a lot more difficult to do than just shooting whatever is in front of your viewfinder that strikes your fancy. And it's not either / or. You can do both.

Just be inspired, whatever it takes! Cheers!

Leitz Loc: Solms

blackest wrote:

Later this week I should have a color enlarging lens from the ukraine, this one i have little idea of how it will perform shallow depth of field a flat field of focus and built in color filters, I think it will be interesting...

Sounds like fun!

blackest Loc: Ireland

Leitz wrote:

Sounds like fun!

Should be, a google translated page in turkish says it should need 30mm of tube or something to get infinity focus, i need to get it in my hands to see if thats true and then get a chinese m42 helicoid tube to suit. I have some k mount extension tubes which i can put a m42 adapter ring in so i should be able to get it to focus on something before getting the helicoid. Might even be able to do something with an old panagor macro adapter hmmm, just thought of that :)

That lens has to be worth the €13 i paid for it just on entertainment value.

carl hervol Loc: jacksonville florida

I still have mine in mint shape.

mstuhr Loc: Oregon

I have the first one.
mike