Author Topic: Martin Leichter: An Appreciation  (Read 1184 times)

Ed Wenn

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Martin Leichter: An Appreciation
« on: May 07, 2014, 06:29:51 PM »
Apologies if this has been discussed already. I've not been on FW much recently so I might have missed it.

I'm sure a lot of you will know Martin Leichter and will be sad to hear that he passed away last summer (at least I assume this is 'our' Martin because all of the biographical facts line up):

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=166422219

Myself and Damion were always huge fans of Martin ever since we joined in with the fun on toycamera.com many, many years ago and found him there holding court (in fact Martin was responsible for suggesting the name of that site). He was an incredibly erudite and articulate writer and I loved reading his comments. The man didn't suffer fools gladly :-)

I'll write more on this subject later, but I have to leave off now and wanted to kick this off before I missed the opportunity.




Francois

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Re: Martin Leichter: An Appreciation
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2014, 10:41:04 PM »
I probably would remember him better by his nickname...
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

astrobeck

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Re: Martin Leichter: An Appreciation
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2014, 11:11:11 PM »
Hmmmm....I thought he had moved to Florida, but I could be wrong.

At any rate, sorry to hear the news.  He participated in one of the early postcard exchanges...
If I recall correctly, the postcard was a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Regrets,
Becky

This-is-damion

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Re: Martin Leichter: An Appreciation
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2014, 12:07:38 PM »
Martin was indeed something of a legend.

He was basically a really nice guy encased in the exterior of an angry man.... and I mean that as a compliment!

We exchanged a few emails and even in pleasant conversation he came across very "direct"

Although we hadn't spoken in a few years - I will miss him


Ed Wenn

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Re: Martin Leichter: An Appreciation
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2014, 01:05:37 PM »
Becky: Martin spent some of the year in Florida (I'm assuming to escape the northern East Coast winter) and some of it in Brooklyn.

Damion: He was indeed a legend. I always loved hearing from him. He was more active on toycamera.com, but if you look through his old posts on FW you can get a flavour of his direct delivery and 'no beating about the bush' way of communicating. There is no doubt that I've missed him over the last year or so; it's a shame that he'll not be coming back. Rest in Peace, Mr Leichter.

I'll leave you with some quotes from old posts:

"Has anyone had a POSITIVE experience with any of the TIP 600 films where you don't have to do anything to the print except admire it after it develops?"

"When you're in your 80s, all sorts of technological aids are welcome even if you still have your first camera from 1938, a Brownie Six-20."

"I still am very fond of this piece and use it. Please, no discussion pro-con of APS. Excepting ebay, tout me on  to any available lenses other than the two "usual" ones, I'd like to talk. Thanks."

Francois

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Re: Martin Leichter: An Appreciation
« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2014, 02:58:09 PM »
Oh yeah, now I remember him!

Somehow, he didn't come across as being that old (at least to me)...

Oh well...
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.