[Leica] How the M6 changed my life

[Jim Hurtubise <jim@inap.com>]

Well, it may be a little too dramatic to say the M6 changed my life,
actually I don't have much of a life :-). Anyway, last fall I had two
photographs accepted as finalists in the 1998 Gordon Parks Photography
Contest. The contest is put on by Fort Scott Community College in Fort
Scott, Kansas, Gordon Park's hometown. The contest is so named to honor the
achievements of Parks and to recognize the work of photographers who
continue the tradition of socially concerned photography championed by Parks
and many others of his era. I was recently very honored to be informed that
one of my photographs, "Father and Son", was awarded an Honorable Mention
and will be included in a traveling exhibition throughout the U.S..  The
photograph was taken in 1996 and although I was not fully aware of it at the
time, this image signified a dramatic change in the type of photography I
was doing. Although it was not taken with a Leica, it was the type of image
that eventually led me to purchase first a Konica Hexar than finally an M6.
Up to this point, I had been using an F3 and FM2 and photographing mostly
static objects, buildings, bridges, details, etc., but I eventually began to
feel that I needed and wanted to capture the "human condition" or at least
my own personal vision of it. Wandering the streets for hours and miles at a
time with 2 SLR bodies and extra lenses, it became painfully obvious, (I
mean that literally-herniated disc in my neck), that I needed to lighten the
load and the M6 ultimately became the answer. So I would like to share with
the LUG one of the images that started me on the path to a Leica and I
welcome any comments. The image can be viewed at
http://www.ftscott.cc.ks.us/parksweb/98winhm4.html . I would also recommend
taking a look at some of the pastwinners at
http://www.ftscott.cc.ks.us/parksweb/parksweb.html. Unfortunately the scans
do not do the images any justice, but it is still worth a look.

Jim Hurtubise