Sunday, May 17, 2015

Toledo Medieval Fest, June 2014

These images from Toledo (some sections and one of the June Medieval Festivals) are brought to you by:

My Leica M4-2,
My Konica Hexanon 35mm f2
My Leica Summicron 90mm f2 
My film stock Kodak BW400CN ISO 400

But enough with the technical babble.  Here's the goods!



This is the surviving mosque in Toledo, now a museum. 


View of Toledo, from a street that goes down to the Puerta Bisagra (Bisagra gate). 


The arches under which one walks to exit the city through the Bisagra gate.  This one leads to a small courtyard in which there's a statue of Alfonso VI (I believe). 


This very jovial man serves up churros and chocolate in the Kiosko Katalino, right outside the walled city, across from Puerta de Bisagra. 


Festival Medieval, in the beautiful park right across from the Puerta Bisagra. 


Band of musicians performing during the "Festival Medieval." 



This lady was not only the juggler and stilt-walker but also their gymnast/entertainer. 


The banners all over the place.  I thought they offered a nice abstract... and at the same time expressed very well the spirit of the celebration. 


Artisan/vendor at work. In fact, I bought a nice piece of jewelry from him... using a credit card!

So, these are memories of a town to which I'll return in the summer of 2016 (and I intend to make it happen), when I take another group of students to Toledo, with my university.  This time, I know what to expect, and not only will I take my Leica with again, but will probably pack my Summicron 50mm, just to see what happens.  In the meanwhile, I'll go back to my routine, but will return to look at these images (and others that I'll post later), and hope that you get interested in going there too. 

So long!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi,

I'm a recent convert from digital going to analog and after playing with an old trusty Canon AE-1 for a couple of rolls I purchased a Leica M6. I noticed you use some non-Leica lenses and since I am looking for an affordable lens I think I'm gonna go with a non-Leica to start. Could you give some information on the lenses and especially what kind of adapter you need for them?

Thanks in advance.
Koen

Unknown said...

Hi,

I'm a recent convert from digital going to analog and after playing with an old trusty Canon AE-1 for a couple of rolls I purchased a Leica M6. I noticed you use some non-Leica lenses and since I am looking for an affordable lens I think I'm gonna go with a non-Leica to start. Could you give some information on the lenses and especially what kind of adapter you need for them?

Thanks in advance.
Koen

Francisco Solares-Larrave said...

Hello, Koen! I'm sorry about the late reply, but I just forgot to write back to you after I posted these photos because I had a lot of things to do.

There are lots of choices in M-mount these days, so you won't need an adapter. For instance, the Zeiss Ikon lenses (of which I own two), the Konica lenses (discontinued, alas, but still available). There are also the Cosina-Voigtländer lenses sold by Cameraquest and other stores. They are, I believe, copies of older lenses, but that doesn't mean they're bad. I have a very nice, fast 35mm lens in one of my Leicas, and I really like the "poetic" rendering it produces. These are all a lot more affordable than Leica glass.

Now, the offerings in 50mm tend to be better priced (that is, affordable) than wide-angles like 28mm and 35mm. If you prefer the 50mm field-of-view, then you're lucky.