Hi all everyone Leicaphilic,

Okay, I guess that everyone wonders what the PLUG group is all about. It's a ragtag band led by Kyle Cassidy of guys who beat up Leicas and use them rather than sticking those suckers on the shelf to rot. I guess that I'm an honorary member so basically being this street/photojournalist sort of dude, I hope to reveal the story of the PLUG and what PLUG does and what it doesn't do.

Oh, by the way, I did catch a cool pictures of Kyle's M6... hard to say because it looks rather concealed with gaffer's tape or something. I don't have to worry about Leicaflex weight hehehe. Oh, by the way I got some solid close-ups using the Summicron-R 50mm 1:2 of course. Shooting at 16 inches is fairly difficult because I had to focus in near darkness with a depth of field of about 1-2 inches total if you remember that you have large coverage with faraway objects than near objects. For those who complain about my pictures with short depth of field, deal with it. I didn't have my 35mm lens yet and I would shoot at 15mm if the R-series weren't so darn expensive :)

And now for the rollout (PLUG pictures plus some offbeat scenes of Philly bohemia): http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=162878 . And enjoy and critique and devestate me at will. :)

Leicafully yours, Alfie

-- Albert Wang (albert.wang@ibx.com), November 15, 2001

Answers

I've never been a proponent of seeking other's opinions on my photography. Unless they are paying for it ;-)

It seems like an important part of becoming a better photographer (whatever that means) is to become one's own best (or worst) critic.

Having said that, what is your own critique of these pictures?

To others, what are your technique and standards for self-criticism?

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), November 15, 2001.

My personal critique is that I am generally pleased by how the photographs turned out. The daytime and night scenes bear out why Leica for me means a lot in terms of solid contrast and especially in the detail.

For some of the "problems" I saw in my own work in this series:

For the landscape shots, I noticed a slight bluish tint which appears on the scan but not in the print. I suspect that shooting in Philly polluted air affects my Summicron? I don't know what factors would be encountering shooting from a high story level but I suspect that a filter (which I don't like to use) would have sufficed?

I like the composition of my photographs. Vibrant, full of motion, and certainly with vivid colors. The nice overcast tungsten lighting added a "softer" and more artistic feel to the pictures.

The picture I find more and more interesting (and thought it was flawed at first) is that of Angel Serraty with the baseball cap. I shot that photograph in a rush and focused very well in the dark lighting. What is most interesting in shooting wide at such close distances at about 1-2 feet with 50mm lens is that the narrow depth of field brought me his eyes and nose and cap in total focus while the cuff of his shirt was thrown beautifully out of focus. The only problem is I don't know whether that was due to his moving around or my bad focusing? It's hard to tell in low lighting especially with yellowish street lights around him.

I enjoyed shooting the Leicaflex Standard quite a bit to the point that I'm not going to be using the Nikon F I had planned to shoot my own engagement photographs.

So that's my basic self-critique. I am happy about the results and it makes me want to shoot with more Leicas in the future :)

sincerely, Alfie

-- Albert Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), November 15, 2001.

Looks like the portrait Angel Serraty is blurry not from camera shake but from Angel's movement because I used a loupe on the print and found an afterimage even in the sharp baseball cap he was wearing. Whew, well I shot that one at 1/15 sec. wide open. And it was certainly the price to pay but it's a good Leica photo to me according to my eyes :)

Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), November 15, 2001.

You should shoot more and post it to critique site/street photo list and write less about leicaphilia or the like.

jasper

-- Jasper Tiong (jasnev@yahoo.com), November 17, 2001.