Sam Abell's Leica cameras?
Mark Westling
Sam Abell notes that his images came from "lenses between 24mm and 90mm" and
from both Leica R- and M-Series systems.
Does anyone know what Abell's preferred system was/is? M or R? I really
love the quality of his images.
TIA,
Mark
R. Saylor
quality of his pictures.
Richard
Charles Stretch Ledford
Westling" <mwes...@earthlink.net> wrote:
During the early 1990's, Sam and I were friends of sorts, and he was a
mentor of mine.
From what I recall, he always carried around a Leica SLR.
--
Charles "Stretch" Ledford
STRETCH PHOTOGRAPHY
"North America and the Entire World"
http://www.StretchPhotography.com
Joshua Hakin
work through the years, and he is actually more partial to his Olympus setup
(28mm, and 90mm lenses). I think he shoots Canon now.
The greatest lesson I have learned from him is that brand name means nothing
in the face of true photography, a philosophy he lives by and teaches.
Joshua Hakin
"R. Saylor" <rlsa...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
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Sarawoot Chittratanawat
:)
"Joshua Hakin" <j.h...@odyssey.on.ca> wrote in message
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R. Saylor
<sc...@mizzou.edu> wrote:
>Do you guys have any books of Sam Abell to recommend me? He has many books
>:)
I just like to look at the National Geographic articles which feature
his pictures, such as January 2001 about the Japanese Imperial Palace.
He doesn't even worry about white skies! :-) He tries to capture
exactly what his eyes see. Some of his shots don't even have the level
horizon so favored by amateur photographers. No flash or filters
either.
Richard
R. Saylor
<j.h...@odyssey.on.ca> wrote:
I don't think Sam Abell cares anything about brands. He only wants a
camera which can capture what he sees with his eyes. I think he even
prefers AE and AF for most stuff. From what I've read, he uses common
sense rather than mathematics to get the right exposure.
Richard
Joshua Hakin
fancy Nikon (like I see a lot of in photo magazines of other photographers),
or pretending he is a great photographer because shoots this film or with
that camera, or brags about how much gear he owns. He is a great
photographer because he is pure and simple. He knows what he wants in his
work and promotes that, and nothing else. He is a breath of fresh air to the
art where to many others taint it with trivialities and egos. May everyone
learn his powerful lesson.
Joshua Hakin
Tony Polson
> I love what this man is about. You don't see him in portraits cradling a
> fancy Nikon (like I see a lot of in photo magazines of other photographers),
> or pretending he is a great photographer because shoots this film or with
> that camera, or brags about how much gear he owns.
If this represents your ethos, what on earth are you doing subscribing
to an EQUIPMENT newsgroup? Are you here just so you can show us your
"moral superiority"?
> He is a great
> photographer because he is pure and simple. He knows what he wants in his
> work and promotes that, and nothing else. He is a breath of fresh air to the
> art where to many others taint it with trivialities and egos. May everyone
> learn his powerful lesson.
Another contribution to "Pseud's Corner".
--
Tony Polson, North Yorkshire, UK
ERNReed
>
>> I love what this man is about. You don't see him in portraits cradling a
>> fancy Nikon (like I see a lot of in photo magazines of other
>photographers),
>> or pretending he is a great photographer because shoots this film or with
>> that camera, or brags about how much gear he owns.
and Tony Polson replied:
>If this represents your ethos, what on earth are you doing subscribing
>to an EQUIPMENT newsgroup? Are you here just so you can show us your
>"moral superiority"?
Just a thought here: Maybe some of us read the equipment newsgoup to find out
more about how to use the equipment? rather than to "brag" about equipment?
Anyway, I myself have wondered whether Sam Abell uses SLR or rangefinder
equipment. This is because I'm trying to correlate style of photography with
instrument used -- if people prefer a rangefinder over an SLR, is this
reflected somehow in the style of the images they produce. It's an academic
exercise for me (if I were actually enrolled in formal studies at the moment
I'd probably be trying to produce a thesis on it, but in my informal situation
I'm not exerting that much effort). I think, though, that that is a valid
question to explore using this group.
----------------------------------------------------------------
E.R.
http://members.aol.com/ernreed
If you aren't spamming, avoid the junktrap
Joshua Hakin
I meant no harm. Just wanted to express my respect for Mr Abell.
Joshua Hakin
"Tony Polson" <tony....@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:6iah7t83699u5aan8...@4ax.com...
Michael J Hoffman
interesting. My approaach to equipment is much the same. I want the
fewest items necessary to yield the results that I need. However, one
must be well versed about all the equipmennt in his system to
effectively determine which combination of lenses (short of owning the
entire line) will produce the desired results.
The National Geographic Photography Field Guide states that Sam Abell's
walk around pack contains two Leica rangefinders outfitted with a 28mm
and a 90mm lens, respectively.
Michael H
"My psychiatrist sent me for an MRI because she thinks I have a magnetic
personality."
R. Saylor
(Michael J Hoffman) wrote:
>I, too, am a fan of Mr Abell. His minimalist approach to photography is
>interesting.
I'm not absolutely sure that Sam Abell has returned to Leica. I seem
to have heard somewhere that he tried another brand (not Olympus) for
awhile, but went back to Leica because he kept breaking the cameras.
However, that might have been a story about the other minimalist,
David Alan Harvey, and I got them confused.
Anyhow, judging from his photos, it would seem that he does use mainly
something like 28mm and 90mm, and if there ever was a minimalist, he
is one. I really cherish the fact that he only wants to record his
visual impressions and not embellish them with a lot of manipulation.
With the present trend of digital manipulations, I'm afraid that it
will soon be hard to differentiate between photos and photo-realist
paintings.
Richard
Tony Polson
Al Feng
rlsa...@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> Interesting question, but I doubt that it has anything to do with the
> quality of his pictures.
>
> Richard
Bullshit, of course Leica has everything to do with the quality of his
pictures. You think he could get the same art with an auto-fazzled
Japanese piece of shit? Of course not!
--
Al Feng Knows! (Even more than Ron Ng!)
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
McEowen
pictures. You think he could get the same art with an auto-fazzled
Japanese piece of shit? Of course not! >>
I'm glad to see we are maintaining a high level of discourse . . . but back to
the point, the thing that has always impressed me about Sam Abel's work is that
so much of it seem to be shot right on the edge of the light disappearing --
the guy must only work about an hour a day! -- Also, he seems to tend toward
slight underexposure thus increasing saturation. I can remember quite a few
Abel photos that were close to falling apart technically just because he shoots
under extreme light conditions. IT's beautiful stuff, no doubt, but the thing
that makes it work is the light, not the lenses . . .
ERNReed
>walk around pack contains two Leica rangefinders outfitted with a 28mm
>and a 90mm lens, respectively.
My copy says,
"... his own walk-around pack contains only a 28mm lens and a 90mm lens, two
camera bodies and one film type." It doesn't mention a brand in connection with
Sam Abell.
Joshua Hakin
Ilanshanon
Thanks, Josh. Really interesting article.
Ilan Shanon
PBurian
>walk around pack contains two Leica rangefinders outfitted with a 28mm
>and a 90mm lens, respectively. >>>>
Michael: Thanks for the plug for the book, but nowhere does it mention what
brand of cameras and lenses he uses.
Peter Burian, Co-Author
Michael J Hoffman
profile with that of William Albert Allard; or perhaps I extrapolated
the Leica rangefinder conclusion from the mention of a 90mm lens. As
far as I know, there are no 90mm lenses currently manufactured for any
SLR, including the Leica R series.
While my conclusion was presumptuous, I believe it is correct.
Heinz Richter
>far as I know, there are no 90mm lenses currently manufactured for any
>SLR, including the Leica R series
What about the 90mm f/2 Summicron-R?
Heinz
HRphotography
http://hometown.aol.com/hrphoto/myhomepage/business.html
FOTOgraphicART
http://hometown.aol.com/fotogrart/myhomepage/business.html
GMB Custom Black & White Lab
http://hometown.aol.com/gmbbwlab/myhomepage/business.html
CJMorgan59
>> Interesting question, but I doubt that it has anything to do with the
>> quality of his pictures.
Al Feng alf...@my-deja.com wrote:
>Bullshit, of course Leica has everything to do with the quality of his
>pictures. You think he could get the same art with an auto-fazzled
>Japanese piece of shit? Of course not!
LOL. Yes, it has everything to do with that brand of particular camera and
absolutely nothing to do with the image maker.
(That's sarcasm for any of you who might mistake it for something different).
The fact is that with any experienced image maker, you're going to have a
difficult time -- if not near impossible -- to tell which brand of camera they
use just by looking at their images. What you might be able to distinguish is
the idiosyncrasies of a given photographer's particular way of shooting
compared with that of another photographer, but not whether any given image
maker was holding a German camera of Japanese camera on any given day.
Technical spec of an image may be related to the use of one particular camera
over another. But the art of image making itself is primarily a component of
the person behind the lens; the greatest factor in the equation not being the
brand of tools, but rather the image maker themselves.
CJ
CJMorgan59
I don't know.
But it's altogether possible he might tell you that for some situations he
prefers his rangefinder, and for other situations, he prefers his SLR (in a
somewhat similar way that a carpenter may find a handheld screw driver more
useful, while for other situations it makes more sense to him to use a
screwdriver bit for his drill).
CJ
PBurian
My only point was that he did not mention Leica, in the National Geographic
Photography Field Guide.
Peter Burian, Co-Author
PBurian
>far as I know, there are no 90mm lenses currently manufactured for any
>SLR, >>>
Well, there is the Tamron 90mm Macro.
<G>
Peter Burian
PBurian
Interesting it says he most recently moved to Canon.
Peter Burian
Mark Bergman
"PBurian" <pbu...@aol.com> wrote in message
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Tony Polson
Joshua Hakin
"Tony Polson" <tony....@btinternet.com> wrote in message
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Alexander Magedler
>
> >As
> >far as I know, there are no 90mm lenses currently manufactured for any
> >SLR, including the Leica R series
>
> What about the 90mm f/2 Summicron-R?
But Canon still produces a 2,8/90 TS E ;-)
--
cu
Alex
http://members.teleweb.at/amms/
"Das Leben ist unsicher. Iss den Nachtisch zuerst."
Tony Polson
> Sigma ROCKS!!!
I think that should have been spelt:
Sigma R - E - C - H - I - P - S ...
... but never more than once!
Mark Bergman
format) shows the 90F2-R lens as current and available. Given it legendary
status and popularity I can't see Leica dropping it from the lens line.
"Alexander Magedler" <am...@chello.at> wrote in message
news:3A7D7E24...@chello.at...
Alexander Magedler
>
> The latest Leica Catalog (which is also available at their web site in pdf
> format) shows the 90F2-R lens as current and available. Given it legendary
> status and popularity I can't see Leica dropping it from the lens line.
check out
http://www.leica-camera.com/produkte/rsystem/objektive/tele/index.html .
No 90 mm metioned.
I´m quite sure Leica will drop the entire R line within the next
years(at least they will stop R&D). It´s the M line where they make
money ;-)
Paul Farrar
Michael J Hoffman <deltad...@webtv.net> wrote:
>Okay group. I stand corrected. I may have been confusing the Sam Abell
>profile with that of William Albert Allard; or perhaps I extrapolated
>the Leica rangefinder conclusion from the mention of a 90mm lens. As
>far as I know, there are no 90mm lenses currently manufactured for any
>SLR, including the Leica R series.
>
>While my conclusion was presumptuous, I believe it is correct.
>
>Michael H
There is the Olympus 90/2. Abell has used Olympus (4T, I believe. He likes
the spot metering system, which is so simple and logical that other camera
makers won't put it on their offerings); and according to one person who
saw him last summer, he was using Olympus at that time. He also used
Olympus between his Leica R and Canon periods.
Paul
Mark Rabiner
>
> Read this commentary about Sam Abell
> http://www.photo.net/photo/workshops/abell
Would love to see some of his pix!!
mark rabiner
R. Saylor
Richard
On 07 Feb 2001 19:15:07 GMT, Mark Rabiner <ma...@rabiner.cncoffice.com>
wrote:
Doug Payne
> Would love to see some of his pix!!
ERNReed
>>Would love to see some of his pix!!
Richard replied:
>Mark, check out the Jan 2001 issue of National Geographic.
Also, National Geographic "The Photographs" -- some are in there -- and several
other issues of the magazine.