Carl, out of editorial curiosity, I did some research and most credit the saying to Weegee (Arthur Fellig). some claim it was Robert Capa. Interestingly, Walker Evans' advise was, "f11 and hold it steady". My comment about the photos on the blog was more reacting to the photographers in the photos and the most important part of the saying, "Be there". I would imagine for most, f8 (or f11) has now become part of history. (also, lets not forget your sunny/16th rule: f45/15 - I use it all the time, when I'm in the sun that is!)
Lyle, my notion of equating persistence with luck is about the "be there" part of it. If you spend enough time out shooting, "lucky" things will happen. A corollary is that if you spend enough time out shooting, you will be prepared to take advantage when those lucky things happen.
I guess the modern version of the advice would be "Program, and be there."
BTW, for HP5+ in large formats, 1/15@f/45 sounds a bit thin--it would be right for brilliantly sunlit white subjects. General subject matter in direct sunlight would be 1/8, or even 1/4 when there's a lot of shadow area in the framing (assuming my standard, fairly aggressive PMK development).
Hartford, CT
4 comments:
was it Weegee that said, "f8 and be there!
Lyle, I'm not sure that gets attributed to any one person, but it could have been...
Another way to look at it is that for a photographer, luck and persistence are really just two sides of a coin.
Carl, out of editorial curiosity, I did some research and most credit the saying to Weegee (Arthur Fellig). some claim it was Robert Capa. Interestingly, Walker Evans' advise was, "f11 and hold it steady". My comment about the photos on the blog was more reacting to the photographers in the photos and the most important part of the saying, "Be there". I would imagine for most, f8 (or f11) has now become part of history. (also, lets not forget your sunny/16th rule: f45/15 - I use it all the time, when I'm in the sun that is!)
Lyle, my notion of equating persistence with luck is about the "be there" part of it. If you spend enough time out shooting, "lucky" things will happen. A corollary is that if you spend enough time out shooting, you will be prepared to take advantage when those lucky things happen.
I guess the modern version of the advice would be "Program, and be there."
BTW, for HP5+ in large formats, 1/15@f/45 sounds a bit thin--it would be right for brilliantly sunlit white subjects. General subject matter in direct sunlight would be 1/8, or even 1/4 when there's a lot of shadow area in the framing (assuming my standard, fairly aggressive PMK development).
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