Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/02/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Your words made so much sense Robert!! - -Adi>photography. The camera has been around too long to be able to lump it into > >I must agree that the Leica is not a restrictive camera, in the sense that >it should be used for a single type of photographic work. For several years >now I have been working on a series of pictures of a particular region in >Europe. I work with a 4x5 view camera and various 35mm instruments as well. >A very high proportion of my keepers are done with my M4 (most often with a >35/2 Summicron). Sometimes I can even do a whole session with the 4x5, >grabbing a few frames with the Leica along the way, only to discover later >that the Leica frames are the ones to print. Part of the reason for this is >that the M4 is always with me, ready to quietly and unobtrusively take >advantage of a pause in conversation, the light through a kitchen window, >the sudden appearance of a dog or chicken in a doorway. Also, I often use >it like a visual notebook: making pictures whose only excuse to exist is as >a shot-of-record or a documentation of something less artistic and emotive >than merely factual. In any situation, the M4 is likely to be the camera >nearest at hand, hanging on my left shoulder on a short strap and tucked >protectively up under my left arm. I suppose that somewhere there might be >a camera better suited to this sort of life-work, but I don't intend to >waste any time looking for it. My M4 and I seem to suit each other, and it >never complains even when I try a landscape with it rather than unpack the >4x5. It's not just a "professional camera" to me, it's a professional in >its own right. > >-Robert > > > >