Amateur Photographer – 30 August 2019

subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 24 August 2019 13

when it came to the
operating mechanics. Two
particular things stick in my
mind. The fi rst was the look
on people’s faces when a
Leica appeared, and the
second was self-doubt that
I was comfortable using a
rangefi nder model after
my more modest DSLR.
Much to my surprise, and
that of other colleagues,
the owner sold the Leica
within six months, citing
a variety of operating
reasons for the quick
offl oad. Make of this case
what you will, though it
does confi rm that buying
the most expensive is no
guarantee of matching
high satisfaction.
James Baxter

What makes a

photographer?

I’ve just read Amy Davies’s
Viewpoint (AP 3 August)
discussing the moment at
which you can call yourself
a photographer. She
makes a number of valid
points, but many of them
are to do with technique

• what modes are used,
  that kind of thing. My view
  is that whether a person
  is a photographer or not
  happens in the mind. My
  brother and his wife make
  a good case study. He has
  decent camera equipment
  and a reasonable technical
  understanding of how it
  works. His wife has very
  little technical insight and
  only ever uses a small
  compact camera or the
  camera on her phone,
  which is not the most
  advanced, I might say.
  However, he takes snaps;
  she takes photos. She has
  the ability to see the

potential in a scene and

will make an effort to

capture it. So between the

two of them it is she who is

‘the photographer’.

Steve Walker

Take a bow Amy Davies.

Your Viewpoint (AP 3

August) will certainly ruffl e

feathers and cause stiff

upper lips to quiver. Saying

that her shooting mode

of choice is aperture

priority generally rather

thanmanualwilljoltquite

a fewfolks.Assherightly

makesclear,‘thecamerais

justa tool’,soit’suptothe

individualtodecideon

preferredhandlingusage.

Contrastthatviewwith

anexperiencea coupleof

yearsbackwhenI joined

a familymembertoattend

a respectedcameraclub’s

meeting,attractinga good

crowdwiththepromise

of wisdomfroman

experiencedjudge.His

outlookcouldnothave

beenmoredifferent,

advocatingashedidthat

yourfirstchoiceshould

alwaysbemanualmodeto

ensuretotalcontrolfrom

theoutset.

Noddingheads

seemedto

backhis

opinion,

thoughlater

chatsover

a pintshowed

therewere

contradictory

linesof thinking.

Operating circumstances

vary greatly, of course, so

surely it has to be a case

of mode for mood when

it’s that telling picture you

are af ter.

Craig Harris

The evil one

This EVIL (Electronic

Viewfi nder Interchangable

Lens) camera may well be

Sony’s last A mount

offering, but it’s a beauty.

Despite Steve Millward’s

lamentations (Inbox, 18

May), the Sony A99 II is,

I understand, still in the

Sony catalogue despite

being no longer promoted

by Sony or vendors, and a

range of top-quality and

budget Sony and third-

party lenses continue to

be available.

I bought an A99 II when

it was fi rst released and am

supremely satisfi ed with its

performance and 42MP

capturecapacity.It joins

mySonyA900and

APS-CSonyA290,and

a versatilecollectionof

lensesincludingseveral

Minoltaheritagelenses

anda mount-converted

PC-Nikkor35mmf/2.

shift-onlyperspective

correctionlens.

I expectmanyyearsof

servicefrommyA99II

andhopeotherowners

anticipatethelike.Toround

outmyshootingoptionsI

alsousea FujifilmX100S,

andoccasionallyshoot

35mmand 120 rollfilm.

GrahamLockerbie

James’s shooting experience with a Leica left him cold

Back in the day

A wander through the AP archive. This

week we pay a visit to September 1994

ThisDarkroomSpecialfeaturedHermanLeonard’sphotos

JAZZclub...nice!Evenif youdon’trememberTheFast

Showorindeed1994,you’llenjoythisissuefromthe

archives,asthereis a wonderfulfeatureonHerman

Leonard’shugelyevocativeshotsof NewYorkjazz

clubsfromthe1940sand’50s.Thiswaspartof a

wider‘darkroomspecial,’whichanalogueenthusiasts

canstilllearna lotfromtoday.Evenin theageof

thedigitaldarkroom,thereis nothingquitelikethe

black& whitelookyougetfroma masteranalogue

technician,soit’sreallyimportanttheseskillsdon’t

disappear(saiddarkroomspecialalsogeneratedone

of themostpun-tasticheadlinesever:‘Lith,the

universeandeverything.’).AndwhoremembersJohn

Claridge?Thisgiantof portraitphotographyalsogota

prominentslotin theissue,andit’sa shamewedon’t

hearsomuchfromthegreatmanthesedays.Other

highlightsincludea featureonJohnTarrant,a master

of moodycolourphotography.A crackingissue.

1994

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Graham is ‘supremely satisfied’ with his

Sony A99 II, which he bought in 2016