[Leica] Trip to Italy

["Hans Pahlen" <hans.pahlen@mark.komvux.se>]

Travel report

I like to read travel reports on the LUG, so here is my own humble
contribution:
After arriving in Rome, we rented a car at the airport, and went into
central Rome to meet another Leica enthusiast and shop owner, Luigi
Crescenzi. It is not easy to navigate in Rome, but with the help of my wife
and a Rome map, I found the way. We had a very nice lunch, the Italian way,
with several dishes, and talked a lot about Leica things. Luigi and I are
very different in our Leica interest. He is a collector, and I am a user. He
showed me a LTM Summilux 50 prototype lens, and some other very valuable
things. He had a hard time to understand why I preferred Tom's rapidwinders
to the original Leicavit. I wonder how many of his clients that are actually
using their Leica gear...

In the late afternoon we went on North to the Bolsena lake and the small
city called Marta. On May 14, at 4 AM, the city was awaken by the sound of
drums and people marching on the streets. But we tried to sleep, and went
out at 8.30 to photograph the fiest and procession, called the Barabbata.
I had hoped for some clouds in the morning, but I had to accept the very
hard light with large contrasts. Exposure was the usual sunny 16, and there
was nothing I could do about that.

There was already a lot of people on the streets, and I am glad that I
brought the SA 21. It was almost impossible to use any other lens. Most of
these shots are B/W Tri-X, not yet developed. As the procession started to
move, I switched to a Summilux 35 and another body with the Summicron 50 DR.
I used Fuji negative color in my M4 with the 35, and these 6 rolls were
developed in a 1 hour lab. Some of these color pix are published at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/5799/barabata.htm

I am satisfied with these shots, although most are merely a recording of
events. I like the SA 21 shot best, that is on top of the page. That is the
only shot that I am a little proud of, sofar. I will develop the rolls of
Tri-X in the next days, and hope for the best.

The procession went all the way up to the church, but after 3 hours I felt
that it was time for a large beer and a little rest. At 2 PM it was all
over, and everything went back to normal. Late in the evening there was a
large fireworks by the beach.

After another day, we went to Rome. This time of the year, before it gets to
hot, the city is full of tourists. As usual when walking around, I brought
only one camera with 35 or 50 mm lens. It was so full of tourists, that I
ended up photographing other tourists!
Well, not all of the time, but it was hard to find anything genuine apart
from the usual tourist places. Anyway, we had a very good time, and I burned
some rolls of Tri-X.

The flight Rome-Brussels was booked on Sabena. However, we were put on a
Virgin Air flight. This is a budget company, and they only offered a glass
of water or Coke, nothing to eat whatsoever. I promised myself and my wife
that this was the first and last time we would accept to fly with this
company. The Sabena flight Brussels-Gothenburg was like coming to heaven,
with all the professional services, meals and drinks that we all have been
used to, and taken for granted.

As we came home, the weather in Sweden had changed to become almost as good
as in Italy. Great!

/Hans