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I was skimming through my photo library and came across this image from my most recent trip to Iceland. Given it didn’t get dark till very late, these photos were made in the wee hours of the morning. I was sitting down and having coffee in the hotel’s dining room, when the light caught my eye. It is nothing special, and yet it is.
February 14, 2023. San Francisco
On a rare windless late-night drive along one of the fjords in Iceland’s Westfjords, moody cloud cover and near-perfect reflections were great ingredients for a monochromatic landscape vista. Made with Lecia M11 using Leica 90mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M. ISO 800. Shutter speed 1/90th of a second. Aperture f/4.8.
August 2, 2022. San Francisco.
This photo was featured on Leica Camera’s social media feeds on August 1, 2022
One of the great joys of living in San Francisco is having a cool and foggy summer. This year especially, I feel grateful for the chilly weather. The entire planet seems to have been enveloped by obscene heat, which is taking its toll not only on humans but also on flora and fauna.
Early in the morning or late in the evening, I find myself on the edge of the waters, enjoying the cool air of the ocean. In the evenings, however, I am enthralled by the multiple formations of Pelicans flying over the restless waters of San Francisco Bay. I captured a few such formations using the Leica M11 camera with a Leica Summilux-M 90mm f/1.5 ASPH Lens. These are edited versions of the photos I captured with the Leica M11.
The 90-Lux lens is a beast of a lens and renders the highlights in only a Leica lens can. These images were made wide open. ISO 64. 1/2000th of a second. Aperture f/1.5. I set the lens to focus on infinity. I intentionally wanted to avoid sharpness. Instead wanted to render what my eyes were seeing and what I was feeling.
July 26, 2022. San Francisco
Given my eyesight, I have struggled to use Leica’s rangefinder cameras. I love the M-Monochrom series of cameras, and I love the colors that come out of the old M9 camera. But they are more collector’s items than my everyday cameras. For me, the SL bodies with their astonishingly good viewfinders make them ideal devices, especially for using the M-lenses and other vintage lenses.
Despite my reticence, I decided to try out Leica’s latest flagship rangefinder — the61 megapixel M11 model. With this camera, Leica has streamlined its entire range of cameras around a singular interface — three buttons layout, the menu layouts, and the features on SL and M-bodies mimic each other. The M11 can be used with a new version of Leica’s viewfinder, a boon for someone like me who struggles with the rangefinder.
I don’t quite have a full opinion on the new camera, but I wanted to share these two photos made in Iceland. I was visiting the country to speak at Startup Iceland. The first image (on the left) is right out of the camera, with no edits. The image on the right is my B&W conversion. I used my trusted Leica APO-Summicron-M 50 f/2 ASPH lens. Both images were captured using the following settings: Aperture: f2, ISO 100, and exposure time of 1/250th of a second.
The bigger sensor and the new color science make this one of the more exciting M-cameras since the M9. So far, the camera has impressed me — and (Read more...)
Photography, or rather landscape photography, strums my heartstrings like none other. A trip undertaken to indulge in one’s passion in life is often a reason for one’s soul to smile. And then why do I find myself cringing at the idea of such adventures?
The answer is relatively simple – I’m not too fond of the gear. To be more specific, I hate the weight of the gear. Is it such an unreasonable reaction? Or is it?
Perhaps, I have become accustomed to the idea of my devices — iPhone, iPad, and MacBooks — becoming more powerful and adding features. And at the same time, finding ways to trim their weight.
The sight of a backpack filled with gear – camera bodies, lenses, and other paraphilia fills me with dread. My two camera bodies — my original Leica SL and Leica SL-2s, along with three lenses — the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 ASPH (2.5 lbs), the Leica APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90-280mm f/2.8-4 Lens (4 lbs) and the Leica APO-Summicron-SL 50mm f/2 ASPH (1.67 lbs), some filters, four extra batteries, and a charger, plus a few other do-hickeys, add up to just over 20 pounds on my back. And this doesn’t include the weight of the laptop and the bag itself. A landscape photo adventure means carrying at least 30 pounds on your back. And I am not one of those who camp in the wild. Otherwise, the total weight on (Read more...)