Annual PDML Quotation List:

2007

The wit, wisdom and occasionally incoherent ramblings of the Pentax Discussion Mailing List, selected somewhat arbitrarily and compiled and archived annually by yr humble servant (me).

Other years: 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003

"The bible of Pentaxian erudition."

— Paul Stenquist (referring to this annual compilation, of course)

So here we are, presenting the annual PDML Quotations List once again. As usual it's an eclectic and somewhat random assortment. I basically pick anything that strikes me as funny, useful or profound at the moment I first see it, so it's entirely a product of my own taste and whims ...and of when I happen to be reading the list. I do take time off from the PDML occasionally, for business trips, vacations and for when life gets just too busy to pay much attention. Thus, there may be gaps of several weeks in the record, during which amazing things may have been written and entirely missed by me. So sue me.

The first quotation was chosen to go up front. And the last one was selected specifically for location, too. But everything in between is pretty much (pretty much) in the order in which it appeared on list, with the newest at the top and the oldest at the bottom. Other than that, I haven't specifically arranged anything, so if one quotation seems to be directly responding to the one before it, it's probably serendipity.

"Someone reading those quotes out of context would think I was crazy. Heck, they'd think we were all crazy. That is as opposed, of course, to reading them in context, which would remove any doubt."

— P.J. Alling

"Sounds like that 72 virgins thing. Sometimes men are so gullible."

— Marnie AKA Doe

"I hear a scream, no not from good sex, but from the kitchen."

— Dave Brooks

"I got some film for Xmas. Film and I've got a bicycle! I think it's 1977 where I live."

— Malcolm Smith

"When what one says is essentially meaningless, that utterance is equally effective no matter the context."

— Frank Theriault

"There's only so much Bisquick you can take."

— Doug Brewer (Taken from his blog because he doesn;t post to the list enough)

"As it is your site is an exercise in how not to present your images online."

— Adam Maas

"You want your center verticals to be perpendicular to the baseline and horizon. Usually. Frank would disagree."

— Paul Stenquist

"One can't know what to expect from 'peer judging' when one is peerless."

— Frank Theriault

"Film??!?? Good heavens. How quaint."

— Rick Womer

"They're just pixels. They exist only because you allow them to and they're willing to die in service to you:-)."

— Paul Stenquist

"It would have been cheaper to skip the lawyer and just buy a Leica."

— Scott Loveless

"When I'm not writing emails, I'm a pretty reasonable guy."

— Bill Robb

"I have modest lusts."

— Bob Blakely

"Now THAT'S a cat photo!"

— Christian Skofteland

"As a long time portrait shooter, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that your instructor was full of manure."

— Bill Robb

"You should try it. It's fun. In a pulling-your-own-teeth-with-vice-grips sort of way."

— Scott Loveless

"Event photography is like making love — position is important but timing is everything."

— Stan Halpin

"You're like my dog. He can't find any use for my hammer either."

— Bob Blakely

"I try to only show the good stuff, but sometimes I have a lapse in judgment."

— Dave Savage

"If I can't capture a timber wolf racing through a dense forest by starlight, the glass is NOT fast enough and the ISO is NOT high enough!"

— Bob Blakely

"One never needs new lenses. You only have to think creatively and use the lenses you have."

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

"I would rather miss the shot of a lifetime than have to listen to beeps."

— Joseph Tainter

"Getting to the wrong place quickly rarely helps anyone."

— Doug Franklin

"Every shot is a learning experience, if you're willing to learn from it, even if the lesson is 'that was a waste of time/space/film'."

— Adam Maas

"Sometimes the best choice is to not push the button, and look elswhere for a picture."

— Bill Robb

"It's 'ok' I guess... I mean if beautiful scenery, captured artistically and nicely composed is your thing"

— Christian Skoftland

"I always photograph shit with a telephoto lens."

— Scott Loveless

"You are not taking enough pictures of blonde, blue-eyed baby girls."

— Mike Wilson

"Pentax suggests that voters consider things such as focus and exposure when assessing photos. Yikes! What chance to I have if one is told to consider such things!"

— Frank Theriault

"I knew there was something more involved here but I couldn't verbalize it with the limited mental resources I allotted for the task."

— Cory Waters

"I've been channeling Dave Brooks before I even knew who he was."

— Dave Savage

"I managed to resist that. Glad to see you are weaker than I."

— Mike Wilson

"Just enough information to be totally useless."

— John Sessoms

"After all, the worst thing we can do is laugh at your equipment. After we've pulled your trousers down."

— Mike Wilson

"I long ago came to terms with & embraced my stupidity."

— Dave Savage

"If you are into self abuse, then 35mm Mamiya cameras might be for you. I'll take a nice spanking from a middle aged lady first."

— Bill Robb

"I have been offered work as an escort driver (oversize loads, not girls)."

— Dave Brooks

"I was trying to organize my recent photos and I realized I hadn't submitted a cow photo in a while."

— Steve Desjardins

"I thought that was in poor taste, even for me."

— Mike Wilson

"Sorry, I'm having one of my moods this morning."

— Bill Robb

"Since I'm a day-to-day contract worker, love is a good thing. "

— Paul Stenquist

"Coming back to conceptual photography, to me the problem is that for being photography, there are way too many words involved..."

— Fernando

"There are enough people who literally boast about how they dislike pictures or films or music or books or whatever that are acclaimed by the critics, often for no other reason, it seems, than the very fact that the critics like them."

— Toralf Lund

"Minimum wage would be nice."

— Dave Brooks

"Accuracy is for the unimaginative."

— Paul Stenquist

"Seriously Tom, that's not getting joy out of photography. That's getting joy out of being a dick."

— Doug Brewer

"Never underestimate the power of nostalgia."

— Toralf Lund

"When resources are scarce, you have to focus on your goals."

— George Sinos

"Great personality, very affectionate. The cat, not the ex-wife!"

— Christian Skofteland

"That's so sweet it makes me want to puke."

— Dave Savage

"You're eccentric until you die or you run out of money... Then you're insane."

— P. J. Alling

"I'm not qualified to judge other peoples photos, but I gave it a go anyway."

— Dave Savage

"I work cheap, but I still want money."

— Dave Brooks

"No art here:-)"

— Paul Stenquist

"Well if you're out cruising the ditches, the women in my village will feel safe tonight."

— Dave Brooks

"I'm not paranoid, I just like To Know."

— Cotty

"If England hadn't spawned a lot of bolshy free-thinking Anglo-Saxon peasants where would we all be?"

— Bob Walkden

"They're talking out of their bottoms. But if they're paying, they're allowed to ;-)"

— Cotty

"Hey, you said be brutal, not necessarily constructive."

— P.J. Alling

"Only Cotty wastes bandwidth."

— Dave Brooks

"Hard to find a grey grad shaped to fit mountain peaks, I've noticed."

— Rick Womer

"Naturally, you want to do what I do."

— Doug Brewer

"Let's just say the weekend was rather moist, and not in a fun, steamy, girlfriend, back-seat kinda way either."

— Cory Waters

"You give great puffin!"

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

"I rarely have any intention when I shoot."

— Frank Theriault

"Oh good, so you guys can take turns tolerating me :)"

— Annsan

"I don't really remember the city or much of the trip, except I remember there was a liquor sale on that weekend."

— Dave Brooks

"I think of DPReview as porn. I go there to look at the pictures, then words just get in the way."

— Cotty

"A good test removes as many variables as possible between the articles being compared."

— Bill Robb

"Sometimes I wish there were two of me then I could stand on my own shoulders."

— Cotty

"Sometimes a statement of facts can be humorous."

— Norm Baugher

"If you want I can post naked pictures of myself — a different pose every week."

— Bob Walkden

"I believe this problem is not confined to Italy..."

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

"I think he is a national treasure who should be preserved for all time. Shall I order a tank and some formaldehyde?"

— Peter Jordan

"You need to use all caps for this sort of thing to be effective, though."

— Bill Robb

"I'm not an artist - I have no imagination. Purely a snapshooter and recorder of passing time. That way, every one is a gem. Or they are all crap. Pick one."

— Mike Wilson

"I went into a washroom and got confused — thought it was a Dada gallery or something. I spent 1/2 an hour watching the performace artists, until I realized they were just pissing."

— Frank Theriault

"Everything I shoot is wonderful, so I don't have this problem."

— Bill Robb

"Reading mail and making prints at the same time can prove costly. I just printed a Bill Robb message on Velvet Fine Art paper. "

— Paul Stenquist

"Rattle some bones, burn some incense, prostrate yourself before the lesser god of the black box."

— P. J. Alling

"I can't tell the difference between food and art, apparently. Which explains a lot...."

— Mike Wilson

"Hard to be brutal when the photo is that good."

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

"You've failed the entropy test."

— Bill Robb

"Dyslexia comes in handy sometimes."

— Marnie AKA Doe

"Film? Hey, man, this is 2007. Get with the programme!"

— Frank Theriault

"You know, there is nothing worse than a convert..."

— P.J. Alling

"I'm just scannally-challenged."

— Norm Baugher

"I could write another 'Yellow Journalism/Victorian Morality/1950's Horror Movie-style' description of Cotty's experiments, but I'll leave that that to your imagination."

— P.J. Alling

"This is a great list, it's helped me a lot, except for spelling."

— Dave Brooks

"Sometimes you just have to be satisfied with the knowledge that you have brought a small amount of happiness into your viewer's lives."

— Bill Robb

"When it comes down to going on a trip, I always take a couple of my best lenses rather than the convenient option."

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

"I even like the cat photos."

— Marnie AKA Doe

"I am no Godfrey."

— Perry Pellechia

"I'm waiting for them to shuffle my gods."

— Tim Øsleby

"At some point, you have to decide if you want to take pictures and learn to compromise a bit, or take up ice fishing."

— Bill Robb

"I am NOT upgrading to smaller fingers."

— Marnie AKA Doe

"Some topics are too stupid to discuss."

— Bill Robb

"The PDML is swimming in self-fulfilling prophesies."

— Scott Loveless

"I swear, I'm reading too much Bill Robb these days."

— Cotty

"One nice things about fog is that I can use the mediocre FA 28-200 with seeming impunity."

— Tom Cakalic

"You could treat yourself with a new FA* 600/4. Already have one? Ok, buy another for backup."

— Tim Øsleby

"Ain't no angels on this list brother."

— Cotty

"For some strange reason, the bastard child of two Pentax cameras doesn't bother me nearly as much as what Cotty does."

— Scott Loveless

"Wedding photography is as stressful as you care to make it."

— Bill Robb

"You may as well charge like a Rolls Royce, the pictures won't be around long enough to prove they are a Chevette."

— Bill Robb

"If somebody offered me the choice between photographing another wedding, and rolling around naked in an open plague pit whilst licking a leprous dog's bottom, I would choose the plague pit every time."

— Bob Walkden

"Just because you didn't change anything doesn't mean nothing changed."

— Doug Franklin

"Common sense says I can't do both, but I'm not common."

— Tim Øsleby

"You can never have too many lenses."

— Bill Robb

"If the answer involves Ken Rockwell, you're asking the wrong question."

— Doug Franklin

"There's nothing quite like an active banana!"

— Rob Studdert

"Is there such a thing as non-excessive ecstasy?"

— Kostas Kavoussanakis

"Has he called anyone an idiot yet in this thread?"

— William Robb

"I do like to twiddle mine occasionally, just to remind me of the good old days."

— Rob Studdert

"Pedantry does not produce photographs."

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

"We don't need Hell. We got Norm."

— Dave Brooks

"I've found that lowering one's standards is infinitely cheaper."

— Doug Franklin

"It's so great to have all this free entertainment delivered to my inbox on a daily basis."

— RG2

"I get raked over the coals on a daily basis by people who don't know any better and by people who definitely know better but like torturing me."

— Scott Loveless

"What is this 'Mark!' thing???"

— Bob Blakely

Other years: 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003

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