A few weeks ago I had sent in a web site address that featured David Allen Harvey and his picture essay about Cuba. I was surfing through the LUG and came across some lucky guy's account of a photo workshop he attended in Wyoming, in which he was fortunately able to work with Harvey. It is just a few paragraphs, but is interesting. Harvey instilled his philosophy and impressed the student with his deft handling of the Leica M6.

I can't reprint without permission, but you can access it at:

http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/v18/msg05124.html

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), October 20, 2000

Answers

http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/v18/msg05124.html

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), October 20, 2000.

That was neat. Thanks, Al. Kind of puts back into perspective all the silliness with excessive bodies, lenses, and various films that many of us (certainly myself included) indulge in. Sigh.

-- Ken Shipman (kennyshipman@aol.com), October 21, 2000.

Great piece,very interesting.Once did a fashion shoot for a Ladies Magazine.Used one Leica M-3 with 35mm Summicron and borrowed 21mm Super-Angulon.Lens in one jacket pocket,film in another.The best part was the horror on the fashion editors face.She must have eaten all her Viagra in one swallow.The piece was published.It was good.I also never worked for them again......

-- jason gold (jason1155234@webtv.net), October 21, 2000.

A good friend of mine is a retired pro shooter, and he told me that once he was hired to photograph an event, and there were several other shooters there as well. This was back in the days of Nikon f2's, and most of the photographers were weighted down with motor drives and multiple bodies and big potatoe masher flash guns. But one fellow only had an M4 with a 50mm lens on it. My friend was affected by the fact that was all he brought to document an important event. He said to himself "I want to talk to that guy-now there is a confident photographer".

I don't have much experience with "documentary" types of photography, where you have no control over the events that you will be trying to capture on film. It must take some practice and more than a few failed attempts to get the hang of it.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), October 21, 2000.

I think it takes supreme confidence. I've tried to cover events and places with the minimalist approach, spent a month in Spain with an M3 and a 35mm bug-eye Summaron, and a year in the Philippines with only a 50.

The one thing that makes it hard to do with a Leica M is the frame line preview lever. I kept hitting it and cursing the lenses that I left home. You do get pretty accurate at estimating the framing... you just walk up to the right place, (within a couple of steps), and it is scary how good you get at it. Everyone should try this deprivation exercise sometimes.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), October 21, 2000.

I have been desperately trying to embrace the, "less is more" philosophy. This is a very difficult lesson for me to learn, being the equipment slut I am. DAH proves beyond a shadow of a doubt world class photojounalism can be done without bags and bags of equipment. I was curious, how much was this workshop? And secondly, is DAH always there as an instructor?

Thanks,

Jim

-- J.L.Kuhn (james.kuhn-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov), October 23, 2000.

I enjoy the warm, intimate colors of DAH's Cuba pictures, and I love hearing about what a working pro at Nat'l Geo. looks like when s/he's actually making the shots we covet.

I also love the 'less is more' philosophy (if you're a Leica shooter, all the more so since everything's so pricey!).

Many thanks for the link. This forum is great.

-- Tse-Sung Wu (tsesung@yahoo.com), October 23, 2000.

Try clicking on the David Alan Harvey feature on Dirck Halstead's site.

You are in for a treat if your computer is sound enabled. His audio commentary is a wonderful complement to the pictures.

The rest of photojournalist.org is terrific as well.

http://dirckhalstead.org/fe ature.html

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), October 24, 2000.

It's amusing to note how many folks find the idea of shooting with one camera body and one lens to be novel. Not too long ago (to me, anyway) news photogs used a Speed Graphic for everything. Later, the Rolleiflex was accepted and later still, a Leica with a 50mm lens, and finally a Nikon SLR. No gadget bags were carried, just a flash gun. I guess there just wasn't the variety of lenses and films available to be carried on the job. And of course, Speed Graphic and Rolleiflex shooters weren't accustomed to using different lenses, anyway.

-- Keith Nichols (knichols@iopener.net), October 24, 2000.

It's amusing to note how many folks find the idea of shooting with one camera body and one lens to be novel. Not too long ago (to me, anyway)...

This reminds me of buying my second camera.

After I'd accumulated a couple lenses for my singular, first SLR body, I bought my second camera, a Yash T4 P&S. I remembered that my father remarked, "Wow, you bought second camera?" and I felt a bit like a spendthrift. For us, the family camera was a wonderful old Zeiss Ikon Contaflex. (His one watch was a Rolex. Both bought in Hong Kong in the early 60s, both gave reliable service the following twenty years.) The thought of having a second, or third, camera hardly existed.

Now, like watches, TVs, stereos, cars, phones, computers, it's not unheard of to own multiple examples of the same thing.

Today it's so much easier to acquire than to jettison. Having a young family and being recent immigrants, of course, helped keep the buying bug at bay.

-- Tse-Sung Wu (tsesung@yahoo.com), October 24, 2000.

I worked many years a as pro, and I've tried many ways of shooting. As a matter of fact, a large number of my pictures were shot with a 35mm lens. But minimalism can be just as confining as being an equipment hog.

I always wanted a Leica, so I bought an M6, a 50mm, 28mm and a 90mm. They do anything I want. Even though I use the 50mm for many pictures, the other lenses are there for a reason. I've tried the excersize of using only one lens - Almost as neurortic a philosophy as the guys who have to own everything. Doctrines are confining, so make art instead.

My karma ran over your dogma,

Phil

-- Phil Marcus (pmarcus@swbell.net), September 17, 2001.

I tend to agree that the one lens idea is a bit restrictive. It's hard to get the variety of framing and so on out of a single lens, but if it works for you, great. One thing I would say about the 35 is that it's hard to shoot verticals with, and it's noticeable that DAH has very few verticals in his features. On the other hand you can always crop, but then the big deal about the lens tends to fade a bit, I think.

Certainly the 35 is incredibly versatile and I use it more than any other.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), September 17, 2001.