Natalie Merchant - RF maniac?

altair

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Who knew?

Click

She's of the band 10,000 Maniacs and has a wonderful, deep & fabulous voice.

I don't know why, but this has got me feeling all fuzzy & warm Now, I'm itching to go out and shoot with my RF's.
 

clay

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That picture is a screen capture from a video she did a while back. That post smells fishy with his claim to have taken the picture himself. She may well be a leicaphile, but this doesn't prove anything beyond someone's ability to use Cmd-shift-4 on a mac.
Here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4FpUhtfbBY
 

photoncatcher

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Yeah, I remember that video. I always loved 10,000 maniacs, and was a bit upset when she went out on her own.
 

SuzanneR

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I remember that video... great tune, and good to see her using that camera in it, but I'm with Clay. Something not quite right about that post. His "Leica" (or whatever) shot may well be tri-x in x-tol, but he probably made it from the TV.!! lol
 

sun of sand

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maniac

?


warm and fuzzy cause shes using a prop in a video
omg

"by what my eyes have seen"
how many ways can you show that really
pretty logical to use a camera

you have leica
hasselblad
whatever SLR
maybe holga/disposable if you don't want/care to appear of that world

those are going to be your main options

she holds the camera crooked

even if you didn't know she used one in the video all you have to go on here is one shot
not even

just one shot of her holding a leica


if she were holding a disposable would you still feel warm and fuzzy




connoisseur and practitioner of the fine art of rangefinder photography

oh boy
 
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Sjixxxy

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The way she is focusing the thing makes me believe that she is not a RF Maniac. Her right hand focusing method would block the rangefinder patch out. That is of course, unless she is really, really good and can scale focus by feel.
 

Eric Rose

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If it's a film Leica M, why is she looking at the back like it has an LCD? That's referring to the original posts still photo link. The video is great.
 

lxdude

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Man, it's amazing that guy has the gall to claim that he took the picture of her while she was out walking around. It's clearly a shot from the video. He might have taken it on Tri-X and all that, but it's obviously not a first generation image. If I took a picture that poor with anything more than a low grade point and shoot or disposable, I wouldn't be showing it off.

Does he think nobody remembers that video? It's a reminder of how easy it is for a phony to pass stuff off as his own. If I had any idea who owns the copyright on that video I'd bust him.
 

C A Sugg

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Ah memories -- 10,000 Maniacs playing for audiences of 20 on Tuesday nights in Richmond. Only problem was that you needed an advanced Humanities degree to understand the lyrics. (and the lyrics sheet)
 
OP
OP

altair

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Thanks all for your replies. First of all, I guess an apology is in order, since due to the blog writer's duplicity, my post is a bit misleading. I'm sorry, but I had no idea that the photo he claimed to have shot himself was taken from that video (clay, thanks for the link..that video was fun!). I agree, there's something peculiar about the way she holds and focuses the camera..this leads me to believe that Natalie isn't familiar with RF's. And the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the photo was similar to what Eric posted..that she was holding the camera like she expected it to have an LCD at the back..but I figured what the heck, I'll just post this. Oh well...and yes, I just can't believe that blog's writer would have the balls to claim the photo as his.

pakeha: Lol! I'm not a leicaphile myself, but I thought that I should've posted this on RFF too!

CA Sugg: Haha, that's funny...wish I can be there to see them play.

and lastly...

sun of sand: Would you just stop flaming people and then deleting your own posts? This post was intended as fun...and I can hardly understand what is it you're trying to say.
 

benjiboy

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She doesn't look like a Leica maniac to me, Leica maniacs hold their instrument like a musician holds theirs, and it just looks right, you can tell that they can really play it by the way they hold it.
 

SuzanneR

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Eric Rose said:
If it's a film Leica M, why is she looking at the back like it has an LCD? That's referring to the original posts still photo link. The video is great.
Click to expand...


She may not have quite the photographer's touch, but this video came out in the mid-90's long before LCD's and chimping were common, so I think you're seeing something there that isn't. I love the video, it's a great song, and a wonderful celebration of the art of street photography... the pictures both still and moving are great.
 
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maderik

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While I appreciate both the video and the song, many of the still pictures (e.g. the man in the elephant mask) are OOF (or at least not focused on the subject.) This is not surprising given her rangefinder blocking holding technique. But this is like pointing out all of the physics goofs in Star Trek - it's just a music video and not a documentary on a street photographer.
 

Sjixxxy

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The last line he writes before the image reads "And, no, it’s not what you think…" I feel that is him hinting at the joke that he really didn't take a picture of her on the street.
 

elekm

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Her camera handling is amateurish -- using the right hand to focus and then shifting it back to the shutter release. But maybe since then she's improved her camera technique.

I hold nothing against her. I like her songs -- not all of them, but most of them. I thought the video was cool -- nice feeling to it.

As for that other guy claiming to have shot a photo of her, well, that's seriously lame. Time to call him on the carpet for that.
 

Jager

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Hello folks. I'm Jeff Hughes, the guy whose blog this came from. My apologies if some felt misled by any inference that this was a shot taken by me while Natalie was out shooting with her M3. If you'll parse my words very carefully, you'll see that I never claimed such (and even dropped that hint at the end that Sjixxxy picked up on).

I DID take that picture. With my M6. It was indeed Tri-X. And yes it was developed in Xtol, 1:1.

But of course it was a shot from that video. I took the shot of my 21" computer monitor from a couple feet away, at f2. A little coarse, a little grainy, but it came out surprisingly okay, I thought.

I have heard since that Natalie is an honest-to-goodness photographer, and that she likes Leicas. I always liked her music. I liked her even more once I found she shares our passion for photography. I wouldn't critique the video too much - do bear in mind that it was a commercial production, with all that that brings.

If anyone wants a copy of the full size video - very much recommended - it's still available from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Mus...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1270313819&sr=8-1

Again, sorry if anyone felt deceived by my little blog post. I never intended anything other than a lighthearted plug for a cool chick who makes great music, looks good, and supposedly knows her way around a camera.

All the best...
 

lxdude

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OK, Jeff, good to know. Ya got me!

What I think was most misleading was you said you took it "...while she was out...", which implies that you were there at the same time.
Looking at your other posts, I couldn't see why you would feel the need to claim that, but hey, it happens. So many people brazenly claim others' work as theirs these days, like the Sean Peele wedding photog thing recently, or a young woman on p.net who had a "painter" duplicate her photo exactly and claim it as her own work.

Your hint had me puzzling a little, but I figured it had something to do with whether you personally knew her.
 

Voneville

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How funny, I remember the video, back then I didn't know anything about rangefinders except that they were expensive and everytime I went to the used camera shops that's pretty much the only camera I saw the crusty old guys fondling... Well those and the Nikon F's...

That would have been a great April Fools joke, have to remember that for next year... I think I may have to take a picture of Elvis or Jim Morrison...
 
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