crapstain: Leica

Showing posts with label Leica. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Leica. Show all posts

Monday, March 24, 2008

The Leica M8; help me think, people!

isn't she lovely? the first time i saw a Leica rangefinder in person was when i met Bill Allard (yes, the National Geographic Magazine staff photographer!!!!!) at a gallery showing in Charlotesville, VA; he was wearing it (Mr. Allard actually asked my opinion of a particular photograph and he agreed with me; i nearly passed out). i have a thing for German cameras. actually, i have a closet full of Contax SLR film cameras and Zeiss lenses that i won't use often because they're...well, film cameras. it's painful to shoot with film and not know if i've got the shot or not and then have the expense of film and processing when i could be shooting digital. okay, i have an embarrassing little point and shoot, which is okay for taking snapshots, but how do you put filters on a point and shoot? how do you manually adjust your aperture on a point and shoot (okay, yes, i know, you can use the cute little pictures on the dial to adjust it somewhat, but you can't get that custom fine tuning you get with fully manual control). how do i shoot macro (my favorite thing to do in the world just for me, by the way) on a point and shoot?!? okay, the little fake macro function is so not working for me!

okay, so the Leica M8 is $5K just for the body. add a couple of lenses and...well, let's suffice it to say that it would take me about 10 years to save up enough money for this camera.

so i had this brilliant idea (you should know that i have a long and winding history of really bad ideas for business ventures) that i would start an on-line camera store, specializing in professional cameras as well as day-to-day cameras so i can get it at cost. that would bring my saving-up time down to maybe 5 years...even less if i actually earned money selling cameras, right?! okay, i realize this is probably a bad idea. and i'm sure that your brain is way more functioning than mine, so send me your ideas! just look at her...she's also lovely in silver...!

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Quotableness

"This above all: to thine own self be true." -Wm. Shakespeare

"Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away." --unknown

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WHOO HOO what a ride!'" - unknown

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it." --Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Enneagram

Type Seven in Brief

all info from http://enneagraminstitute.com

Sevens are extroverted, optimistic, versatile, and spontaneous. Playful, high-spirited, and practical, they can also misapply their many talents, becoming over- extended, scattered, and undisciplined. They constantly seek new and exciting experiences, but can become distracted and exhausted by staying on the go. They typically have problems with impatience and impulsiveness. At their Best: they focus their talents on worthwhile goals, becoming appreciative, joyous, and satisfied.

We have named this personality type The Enthusiast because Sevens are enthusiastic about almost everything that catches their attention. They approach life with curiosity, optimism, and a sense of adventure, like “kids in a candy store” who look at the world in wide-eyed, rapt anticipation of all the good things they are about to experience. They are bold and vivacious, pursuing what they want in life with a cheerful determination. They have a quality best described by the Yiddish word “chutzpah”—a kind of brash “nerviness.”

Although Sevens are in the Thinking Center, this is not immediately apparent because they tend to be extremely practical and engaged in a multitude of projects at any given time. Their thinking is anticipatory: they foresee events and generate ideas “on the fly,” favoring activities that stimulate their minds—which in turn generate more things to do and think about. Sevens are not necessarily intellectual or studious by any standard definition, although they are often intelligent and can be widely read and highly verbal. Their minds move rapidly from one idea to the next, making Sevens gifted at brainstorming and synthesizing information. Sevens are exhilarated by the rush of ideas and by the pleasure of being spontaneous, preferring broad overviews and the excitement of the initial stages of the creative process to probing a single topic in depth.

Sevens are frequently endowed with quick, agile minds, and can be exceptionally fast learners. This is true both of their ability to absorb information (language, facts, and procedures) and their ability to learn new manual skills—they tend to have excellent mind-body coordination, and manual dexterity (typewriting, piano playing, tennis). All of this can combine to make a Seven into the quintessential "Renaissance person."

Ironically, Sevens' wide-ranging curiosity and ability to learn quickly can also create problems for them. Because they are able to pick up many different skills with relative ease, it becomes more difficult for them to decide what to do with themselves. As a result, they also do not always value their abilities as they would if they had to struggle to gain them. When Sevens are more balanced however, their versatility, curiosity, and ability to learn can lead them to extraordinary achievement.

Take the test and find out your number :)