Photo courtesy LIFE magazine

I want to be the type of person who always brings a camera along. You know the ones, dedicated to their craft even when it’s inconvenient or unnecessary. I read about people like that and think, “That should be me.” So I try. I leave an old Canonet in the car. When the weather calls for a jacket I stuff an Olympus Stylus Epic in the pocket. If I’m going somewhere I think might be photogenic I bring a “good” camera. I even choose cameras like the Olympus OM or Leica M because they are small and quiet and convenient to carry. So you see, I’m almost one of those people. The next step is to actually use the camera I have with me.

I love taking photographs, but I don’t have what you’d call a strong artistic vision. (Wouldn’t that be nice?) Lacking the appropriate creative drive, I just sort of fumble around with unclear ideas and hope something shows up. I spend a lot of time not taking pictures. Not ideal, but that’s where we are.

Buying and selling a lot of cameras helps. Not because I think they’ll make me a better photographer, but because new cameras trick me into carrying them, and into taking more photographs. And that will make me a better photographer.

So when I’m looking all nerdy with a Leica or whatever around my neck in the grocery store, remember, that’s me – trying.

Roger Ebert:

Of all the gizmos forced upon us by the modern world, is any more melancholy than the leaf-blower? The device is manifestly useless. It blows leaves from one place to another, and then the wind blows them back again.

Leaf blowers are noisy, polluting, silly things. Leaves are beautiful, natural, normal things. How did we get to the point where we feel we must use the former to get rid of the latter?

A few months ago I picked up a bag full of beat up Olympus cameras and lenses from a guy on Craigslist. (See this post.) I was told that the OM-2n was not repairable, but I continued to use the OM-1n and have become very fond of it. I like it so much I bought a working OM-2n to go with it – and it’s beautiful. I chose the 2n for its automatic exposure option and the ability, to use its off-the-film metered TTL flash.

The above photo shows the OM-2n (with an 85mm f2) next to my black Leica M7. The Olympus looks smaller, because it is. That surprised me too. It also costs about 10 times less. It may be just the novelty, but I’ve been grabbing the OMs on the way out the door more often than the Leicas. This little discovery could end up saving me a lot of money.

To see what an OM can do in capable hands, take a look at Jane Bown’s work. Good stuff.

Marco.org

But there are a lot of people – including, significantly, most people over age 40 – who don’t like reading tiny text on bright LCD screens in devices loaded with distractions that die after 5 hours without their electric lifeline.

I agree. Probably because I’m one of ‘em.

mcsweeneys.net:

When my guests come over it’s gonna be like, BLAMMO! Check out my shellacked decorative vegetables, assholes. Guess what season it is –fucking fall. There’s a nip in the air and my house is full of mutant fucking squash.

You’ve got to have something to say. It could be conceptual, or you can try to save the world as a photojournalist. But you can’t just be a technician. Everybody’s a technician. You’ve got to have an idea.

via pdnonline.com

Well dammit, now what do I do?