What are Leicas for?

I don't know what to say when people talk about others who photograph birthdays, babies, family celebrations and other events of the kind... with a fine camera. That is to say, a Leica.

Case in point, the feelings that arise when people read that Gary Winogrand's Leica M4 is now in the hands of a family friend who uses it for birthdays, funerals, Christmas and Thanksgivings.

What's wrong with that? Given my newly acquired status, I use both my metered and unmetered bodies for family pics.

Should I call them artistic because of the camera they were made with (which, as you can ascertain, is my M4-2 with Konica lens), or should I dismiss them as family snapshots?

On the other hand, who can say whether these are prosaic, daily life images, completely void of value?

To be quite honest, those who would consider my use of a Leica M4-2 a waste, just because I'm not doing other type of images, should be out in the street, producing images themselves. From where I see, a camera, however legendary, is a photographic tool, and using it for that purpose is far preferable than leaving it to rust, no matter how much we revere the dang object.

Hence, these shots are artistic snapshots... 'cuz they're pretty, not because they were made with "artistic" gear. What's your take?

Street shots only with rangefinders?

Is there a law about this?

(Chicago, near Art Institute, M6TTL, 35/f2 Hexanon, on Ilford XP2)

How about an SLR for the job?

(Same gear, under the L rails in Wabash Street, Chicago)

Or medium format? Doisneau already showed it, right?

(Stairs up to the L station, Wabash Street, same gear & film as above)

It seems to be counterintuitive, but one of these days I'm going to try it. Either with my Nikon D700 or with my Mamiya C220, with B&W imagery, of course.

In the meanwhile... who takes street shots with anything else but a Leica? Who has? Is there a difference between quality, attitude, and, of course, perception?

Crutchless Photography

Not long ago, I started playing with meterless Leicas. Especifically, a 1957 DS M3 purchased from National Camera Exchange for something below $500. Highly recommended, by the way...

Back to the issue... that purchase perhaps was not a good idea... Or probably it was, because it helped me start flying without electronic help.

Here come some early efforts with the M3 and Kodak Portra or Ilford XP2.

DeKalb garage, on the way to my office.

Stairs inside a university building.

Who said "no" to landscapes with rangefinder cameras? I did... once, a long time ago, before realizing I had done the one above (the Kishwaukee river flows around my university campus).

Something similar with my M4-2... on BW400CN film and with my Hexanon 35/f2 lens.

Hot dog vendor in campus.

Mimi stalking a chipmunk in the back of the house.

Table and chairs for not so terribly hot days (I'm curious about how they'll look in winter).

I admit having to do a bit of Photoshopping on these images, but mostly an exposure adjustment of maybe one stop. Considering that I tend to overexpose, and that I had to adjust the levels only one bit, it's not too bad.

BTW, these are all Walgreens scans off the film I left with them for developing.

More later!

About a year ago..

About a year ago I started this blog. On a whim... while awaiting delivery of my newly acquired Leica M4-2 camera.

Lots of things can happen in a year. Little did I know, for instance, that we'd be adding one family member in May 2009. Above is Edmund, our son, just in July this year. Not his first Leica portrait... but the best (I think; I know, the photo needs a bit of editing yet). BTW, it was with my Konica Hexanon lens at 1/30th, f2 on BW400CN Kodak film.

An old favorite from Denver CO, where I took my M4-2 in a type of maiden trip. Done at 1/1000 at f5.6 on Fuji ISO 400 Superia film.

Nice sample of my eye-meter at work: 1/60th at f2.8 on Fuji Superia ISO 400. This is our cat Mimí, doing what she does best: showing her moxie!

Something we'll apparently need in the years to come...

More on whatever later!

Randomness

Pottery near window in a Colombian store (2006).  We ended up buying a nice, blue creamer there.

Brazilian musicians playing at Bembo Haus, in Nuremberg, during the Blaue Nacht, an event in which all museums stay open until late, with free admission and hosting musical events.  Done with an M6TTL, Summilux 35mm and Provia ISO 400 pushed at 1600.

Silly scene in Providence, RI.  This is near the main drag in town.  Done with my M3, Summicron 50mm (collapsible and unfiltered), on Agfa ISO 400 film (developed in T-Max).  

Random shots have the value of the unexpected, the common and ordinary that turns into a strange thing once it's recorded in film.  

Let's see if I can find more for later; right now, I'm busy with a newborn at home...  Of course, he's a handful, and he's keeping us busy.  So far, he was already photographed with my M3 and my Elmar 90mm lens, but since it's color film, I won't develop it.  Later on, once I have it, I'll see to post it (provided it's reasonably exposed). 

New Toy!

Here it is!  One more Leica lens... 

A nice Elmar 90mm f4 lens, with caps, recently came home.  It is now part of my M3 classic system, as you can see...

Of course, pretty much immediately, I loaded film it into my M3 and proceeded to burn it.  I went without a meter here, so I recall that the exposure of all the images was about the same I use with my Summicron 50mm collapsible, but with a tad of an opening to compensate for the lens's length.  So, the one above was shot at f5.6, 1/1000 on B400CN film. 

And so was this one above!

Now... where would I be without PSE6?  See... in the end, I did overexpose most of these shots, so I had to resort to the shadow/highlight sliders. 

The lens works well; the turning of the rings, both aperture and focus, is nice and dampened.  The only concern I may have is a slight squeak close to the infinity, that I hear every time I turn the focusing ring a bit fast, from the closest to the farthest distance.  However, it's been relatively quiet for a while. 

Later I will post either more shots with this one, or more with any of my other long Leica lenses.  Who said that rangefinders are not efficient with telephotos?  We'll see soon.  Meanwhile, dust off your big guns!

Composition Heaven or Nightmare?

Welcome to a metering and composition nightmare! The parallel lines at Red Rock Auditorium near Denver, CO.

Making lines and subject work?  Hmmm... easier said than done!  Take a peek at the following shots.  First, above these lines, some runners up the seats.  Below, a graceful young lady who was lending moral support to someone in the crowd (M3, 50mm 'cron, Agfa APX ISO 400, at 1/1000 sec. and aperture between f8 and f11; the second: same shutterspeed, but at f5.6, most likely).

What's your take?  What do the lines do for the subjects? 

And finally, by the stage, an exhausted athlete (same gear and film, but aperture between f5.6 and f8; I like to use my lenses as open as possible, hence the f-stop).

When I was taking these photographs, I was in hog-heaven... or whatever the expression be to say I was in a high...  In the zone, going Zen...  Through the viewfinder, all these shots looked like a million bucks. 

Not so much later.

While I like the one on the top (it has a nice, eerie look to it, and the men look like wild animals climbing the steps), when I was getting ready to scan the negative the lighting, the metering and the grain (something I'm becoming a stranger to) posed a series of challenges.   I won't add that I had to contend with some Newton rings, so there's a few negatives that will need to be re-scanned.  However, these ones looked good only after a second examination (not pixel-peeping).  Now... I like them, but I'd like to hear about your experiences using lines in the composition. 

If the first has a nice, lyric air, what do you make of the second?  Does it need cropping?  Is the human element getting small and buried in the geometry?  How about the tired runner in the bottom photograph?  I perhaps should add that it's the one I like the best in terms of contrast, sharpness and lighting. 

Anyway, I'd like to know about your reactions.  

BTW, I did print these images... and Ansel Adams's famous dictum came to mind: "the negative is the score, the print is the performance."  My negs don't look too good, but the prints have a nice sharpness about them...  I must be a decent conductor. 

Thanks!

Travel Photography

Why does it happen...

That most of our best shots...

Happen when we travel?

Any ideas?

BTW, and before I forget, these are all Leica shots, ranging from Bogotá (Colombia), where I captured the girl talking to her dad about the dog who won't budge; to Barcelona, where my rarely used Summicron 50mm yielded a scene in Plaza del Pí; to Chicago, which I still consider a travel destination because it's not the town where I live. 

Is it perhaps because of the distances we need to cover to get these shots?

Is it maybe because we always assume that the greener pastures are beyond our horizon?

Or just because these are to us unfamiliar sights?

It annoys me... because, for one reason or another, some of my best shots are, indeed, from far away locations. 

Makes me feel glad I had a Leica back then.  

Flash and the Leica

Which of these two photographs was taken with a flash?

I'll reveal only that this one was done with my Elmarit 28mm f2.8.  I cannot recall what film it was, but I'm pretty sure it was Kodachrome.  For the next one, I used my Konica Hexanon 35mm f2, and the film was (true, very true!) Velvia ISO 50. 

Considering that I believe that flash photographs should NOT look as if they were taken with a flash, I must concede to being extremely proud of one of these two. 

Please, excuse the poor scanning and lousy exposure.  So far, I've been uploading scans from labs, but if I dig deep enough in the past, I find my own clumsy scans only.  They're not too bad in print, I should add, but nobody would believe it from looking at them online. 

Did you guess which one was the flash one?

I should add that I do believe in the power of flash.  It's portable light, it's useful, it's progress, and to use it, one must exercise the intellect, and guess where the light will strike.  It's not easy, so I think that most of the Leica users who bemoan about flash are actually the ones who do not know how to use it, or, worse yet, don't want to learn.  

At some point in my life, I too believed that flash photographs were only for parties and for indoors, but later, much later I learned that a flash works like salt in a meal: just a little bit of it goes a pretty long way.  In short, we must handle it with care, while enjoying the results. 

Why is that others simply reject the use of flash?  It's not like some photographs don't need it. 

Oh, well... I consider it useful, good and a blessing. Long live flash!

BTW, it's the second photo.  I used my Leica SF-20, with one full stop dialed up for underexposure (to tame the output).  Also, the shutterspeed, a typical Leica quirk, went down to 1/4th of a second.  However, instead of a well-lit cat and a dark background, I got a nicely illuminated domestic scene, in which Ben shows that he'll defend his owner's peace at any cost. 

Take care and hope to return soon!