[Leica] Ideal travel kit - Peru

["Walter Levy" <wlevy@home.com>]

Hi Dan -

My wife of 20 years was born and raised in Cuzco, which as you know was the
capital of the Inca empire.  We went there for two weeks in 1996 (the first
time for me) and stayed with friends in town.  What an experience!  Aside
from a couple of days when I was flattened by altitude sickness (at 15,000
feet) it was a wonderful, magical trip.  We experienced the Inti Raymi (a
theatrical re-creation of the ancient Inca rituals), visited the incredible,
isolated mountain-top city of Machu Picchu, drank corn beer, toured the
churches and cathedrals, and checked out the street markets.  I have a
wonderful photo of a local girl dancing in a parade at my stupid Web site
www.members.home.net/wlevy/ under the Peru link.

You asked why did I take a 105mm lens.  When I was assembling my gear for
the trip I didn't know what situations I'd be in and I figured there would
be times when I'd need some extra reach.  The 105 gave me that reach and
works OK as a portrait lens as well.  Not surprisingly I used the wide-angle
optics most of the time.

The most emotional experience of the trip came when we went to the cemetery
to visit my wife's parents' gravesite.  We discovered that the site had been
neglected and was in a shambles, so Tania decided to do something about it.
Incredibly, within an hour she had arranged for her parents' remains to be
exhumed, then at dusk I alternately held her close and took pictures as a
worker cremated the remains and ground the bones to dust.  I wondered if
1/8-second exposures with a 35-mm lens on an SLR would come out OK, and it's
interesting that some of them are pretty darn sharp.  It's like I was "in
the zone."  You may be wondering how Tania felt about me taking pictures of
this scene, but in fact she was quite OK with it and she's very happy to
have these pictures now.

The day we returned from our trip I immediately took my 22 rolls of Kodak
Max film to the one-hour lab.  Ironically, when I went back to pick them up
I opened one package at random and the first image I saw was the bones of my
wife's parents engulfed in fire.  Kind of creepy.  Anyway, I put together an
album of my favorites from this trip and we continue to enjoy them.  I'm
sure I'll be going back... Tania says we have to go in December because
that's when the fresh corn is available and you haven't lived 'til you've
eaten the roasted corn over there!

Walter (continuing to enjoy the LUG very much) Levy

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Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 11:28:24 -0700
From: "Dan Post" <dpost@triad.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [Leica] Ideal travel kit

Ah, Peru! Land of the Moche! Why the 105mm, Walt? Do the natives there
resent being photographed too closely? Seriously, I would like to know.
The people are most interesting- they have over the centuries developed corn
and potatoes that can grow at the various altitudes, and will plant several
crops a year that ripen at different times and heights to coincide with
their herd movements to the various pastures. They have developed a culture
that has survived pestilence, war, invasions, volcanoes, not to mention
doing it in one of the most hostile environments on earth!
Personally, I would use a wider 50mm to encompass as much of the color and
vitality as I could. I have seen shots of their market places that are just
simply beautiful! I'd definitely take a 35mm at least, as well!
Dan ( Does ya need someone t' carry yo' bag?) Post
- - ----- Original Message -----
From: Walter Levy <wlevy@jhmi.edu>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 7:42 AM
Subject: [Leica] Ideal travel kit


> Correction - 105mm, not 90mm on that trip to Peru, if anyone cares.
>
> Walter