Why The Leica M11 Might Be the Best Career Move

I was thinking about this latest iteration of the Leica M, the M11 (not an affiliate link, just one to B&H) and that, despite how expensive it is at $9k, if you can afford it, it might be a wise move for your career. Or mine. See, Leica needs to support their photographers and they...

Projects, Self-Assignments and Games – The Need to Create

We all get motivation from various places. For some it's self-generated. (That would be me.) I have an insatiable need to create work, which I've written about many times. It makes it easy to be prolific. My way is to create goals--projects, self-assignments, games even. Whatever it takes. I have been working on the Roy...

For Good Photography: Access > Gear

It's a simple equation, but good access beats top camera equipment every time. Because we need to be somewhere to make the photo, and where that is matters first, much more so than what camera and lens is in our hands. An example will make this clearer. I was at a friends' house on Christmas...

New to Photography? A Film Leica is All You Need

Henri Cartier-Bresson carried a Leica M3 and a 50mm f2.0 Summicron. That was all he needed. And it's all you need. You could splurge and add a 90mm Elmarit if you want to have a second focal length, a portrait lens, but that single Leica lens is really all you need. I have a 90mm...

A Leica M3 in My Pocket, A Couple Rolls of Film, Some Gas in My Car, I’m Good to Go!

I am having a new love affair with my Leica M3. I've always liked it but being a bespectacled photographer, I've fought to see the whole viewfinder frame without pressing my glasses to the viewfinder and scratching them up. I like using a rangefinder, I'm good and fast at it, but if I'm moving my...

Collecting Family, Friends & People I Meet

Sometimes people see me carrying a film camera wherever I go, sometimes a Leica or Nikon rangefinder, sometimes a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex, and ask me what do I photograph. I explain it's not what, it's who. Who do I photograph? Well, the answer to their question is everyone. My family, sure. Friends, yep. People...

Story Content vs. Bokeh + Corner Sharpness

Since the first photograph in 1839, photographers have been asking the question, "What should I photograph?" The best answer is, "What can you photograph?" Meaning, what do you have access to? The first photograph--a street scene at the Boulevard du Temple in Paris in 1838 by Louis Daguerre. Can you photograph the Hollywood premiere from...

You Don’t Want a Mint Condition Leica

Or a Leica 35mm Summilux lens in like-new condition. Or a Nikon F6 NOS (new old stock) brand new just out of the box. Or any number of amazing cameras--Contaxes, Hasselblads, Mamiyas--that are in their most pristine condition. I can't think of a worse way to make photographs than to get a camera that's so...

The Camera In Hand Makes the Photograph

Which camera inspires you to make what type of photograph? There are times when I carry a small Leica IIIg with a tiny 50mm f3.5 or Leica II with its 35mm f3.5 collapsible lens in my front jeans pocket because they make me feel good having a small candid camera always at the ready, and...

I Don’t Plan to Make Photographs

You really never know when your friend is going to resemble an umbrella pole/post, and the camera has to be with you, on and ready to shoot. This is why I take a camera with me everywhere. I don't intend to shoot anything when I take my camera. I just notice life's little moments and...