How many female leica m users here!:)

How many female leica m users here!:)

  • Female with a Leica M

    Votes: 46 6.5%
  • Male with a Leica M

    Votes: 659 93.5%

  • Total voters
    705
I have seen a few female film photographers here in Japan. They usually use Hassleblads, Rolleiflexes or Minoltas. Plastic cameras are very popular with them, as are Polaroids.
 
pffffffffffffffft!

i look at the stats and can only shake my head at the waste... a Leica is not a Leica until is has been properly loved by a lady.
 
I wish I was a leica M user. I'm new to the forum although I've been reading it for much of this year after I was infected with Leica lust. Unless I rob a bank, find a bag full of money or something. I am just learning rangefinder photography so for now I must do with voitlander bessa. Although I do have an old leica digilux 4.3 that actually surprises me from time to time.
This is a male dominated forum for sure and sometimes there are some sexist things said that needn't be. Sometimes some nude photos of women get lewd comments that aren't necessary but oh well. Once there was a photo of a naked women with a black cat and while a beautiful shot and very funny it was also inappropriate in so many ways and kind of turned me off the forum for a day anyway. The lack of women has been brought up before and I think has something to do with women typically not having the time for forums regardless of nerdiness and skills. I get into things and want to learn more so am on various forums and all are male dominated unless they are women specific. And women's brains do work differently so how that influences things I do not know.
 
Heather (assuming that's your name)

I hope you get to satisfy your Leica lust soon and it's refreshing to get a woman's point of view.
Men can tend to be pretty basic at times so hence the childish comments... :DThanks for posting.
 
I wish I was a leica M user. I'm new to the forum although I've been reading it for much of this year after I was infected with Leica lust. Unless I rob a bank, find a bag full of money or something. I am just learning rangefinder photography so for now I must do with voitlander bessa. Although I do have an old leica digilux 4.3 that actually surprises me from time to time.
This is a male dominated forum for sure and sometimes there are some sexist things said that needn't be. Sometimes some nude photos of women get lewd comments that aren't necessary but oh well. Once there was a photo of a naked women with a black cat and while a beautiful shot and very funny it was also inappropriate in so many ways and kind of turned me off the forum for a day anyway. The lack of women has been brought up before and I think has something to do with women typically not having the time for forums regardless of nerdiness and skills. I get into things and want to learn more so am on various forums and all are male dominated unless they are women specific. And women's brains do work differently so how that influences things I do not know.

The lack of women has nothing to do with women not having time for forums. They have plenty of time, no less than men do. The fact is, photography as a form of art and as a hobby is not attractive to women. I have been a professional artist for nearly 15 years, some of which were spent in Santa Fe, a major center for art. There simply are few female professional photographers or artists whose medium is photography.

There are plenty of women involved in painting, sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking (etching, lithography, etc.). Why so few in photography when there are so many female artists in other media? I don't know. It has nothing to do with time though. I have done painting, etching, lithography, ceramics, and sculpture and all of them are more time consuming than photography. As with anything, those who want to do something bad enough will find the time. Women find the time to do every form of art in large numbers, except photography.
 
The lack of women has nothing to do with women not having time for forums. They have plenty of time, no less than men do. The fact is, photography as a form of art and as a hobby is not attractive to women. I have been a professional artist for nearly 15 years, some of which were spent in Santa Fe, a major center for art. There simply are few female professional photographers or artists whose medium is photography.

There are plenty of women involved in painting, sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking (etching, lithography, etc.). Why so few in photography when there are so many female artists in other media? I don't know. It has nothing to do with time though. I have done painting, etching, lithography, ceramics, and sculpture and all of them are more time consuming than photography. As with anything, those who want to do something bad enough will find the time. Women find the time to do every form of art in large numbers, except photography.

I don't believe this is true.
 
I don't believe this is true.

Why not? My belief is based on many years experience as a professional artist in both the midwest and in Santa Fe, a place with more artists than anywhere in the USA except New York and Los Angeles. I have known literally thousands of women who were artists or art students and few are photographers compared to the number of men. In recent years I have seen, here in Indiana, an greatly increasing number of women getting into wedding and portrait photography. They're still outnumbered by men in that field too but I do think eventually that may change in that one field of professional photography.

I know you are an art professor, and you're probably basing your disagreement with me on the enrollment you see in the college where you teach. I wonder, though, how many of your female students will end up as professional photographers of some sort or another and how many will move on to other careers after they graduate. Very few of my classmates of either sex stuck with photography long after they left school; it is too hard to make a living and most people don't have the dedication it takes to endure that struggle. Three of my classmates stuck with photography. Two of us are men, one a woman. If I remember right, there was about an equal number of men and women in my classes, but as I noted more men than women stuck with it. That's a small sample size based on the people I went to school with; you know more photo students than I do. How many of the men and how many of the women actually stick to it.

The women I went to school with who majored in painting, sculpture, graphic design, and printmaking have stayed with it to a much greater degree than the photo women did. I don't know why that is though. Most of these women do not earn a living from it. In fact, I cannot think of any that do. They're married and living off their husbands, which makes staying with art as a hobby or as a profession one hopes to make money at, easier. Those who majored in photo could do that too, but have not. Like I said, I don't know why.
 
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My gf loves mine, she always wants to use it (hated my old Nikon stuff). May end up buying her one sooner or later :p.
 
I think this forum needs a Ladies Lounge, where the female members can chat without worrying about the men chipping in and taking over a thread.
 
I think this forum needs a Ladies Lounge, where the female members can chat without worrying about the men chipping in and taking over a thread.

That is an excellent idea. I bet it would be one of the most "visited" lounges here ;)

Ladies chime in. What do you think?
 
Anecdotal evidence from a single eyewitness is the least reliable form of evidence. Let's not go making sweeping statements about the state of anything based on it. Anyone winds up just looking rash at best, ignorant at worst.

The perception of what constitutes gendered art and the numbers of practicing artists in each discipline (or for that matter, just about anything) is almost always confused by what is known as confirmation bias- if you think there's a lot of something, you will notice it and it will reinforce your view that there's a lot of whatever it is you're looking for; if you don't think there's a lot of something, you won't notice it and it will confirm your suspicion of lack.

For instance, someone once mentioned to me that you couldn't drive for more than two blocks here in Lincoln without passing a Pontiac. I'd never noticed that many Pontiacs, but now, sure enough, I can't drive two blocks without seeing one. Confirmation bias in my eyewitness account? Absolutely.
 
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I wish I was a leica M user. I'm new to the forum although I've been reading it for much of this year after I was infected with Leica lust. Unless I rob a bank, find a bag full of money or something.

You know, you can get a great Leica rig for not that much money.

This is what I make most of my photos with these days.

There are Leica bargains out there, for sure. The RFF Classifieds are a great place to start.
 
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