Would I buy one even if I could afford it, the answer would probably be YES.
$6,195.00
47.3MP full-frame black-and-white CMOS sensor Captures amazing stills and 4K video 3-inch TFT LCD monitor with touch control 3.68MP OLED electronic viewfinder with eye sensor Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE connectivity ISO range of 100-100,000 Fast and accurate AF Compact, fully weather-sealed body Compatible with Leica FOTOS app Leica Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens. It certainly has an impressive specification, but would I need it. I have never handled the camera but have used Leica cameras in my film days and know just how well constructed they are, but is this just overkill, a rich mans toy. Watch the review below.
It doesn’t matter whether someone has done it or not in the past. What is important is that you enjoy doing it.
”For example, would you not drink coffee because everyone else does it, and everyone else has done it before? Or would you not have a coffee this morning because you’ve “done it before”? Eric Kim
Everything is simply a remix or iteration of things in the past
Everything has been done before by somebody
The big mistake photographers make is that they make photos based on what others haven’t done before, rather than thinking whether they like it or not.
Do we make pictures for ourselves or to please others, do we copy what others have done before or try to be our own person and make something new. Is there anything new ??
Do we try to say things with our pictures, give them meaning or tell a story, or do we just like to make attractive images that appeal to people and that people would enjoy looking at. This of course presupposes that we make images for others to enjoy. Many of the images I make are not pretty, but hopefully they tell the story I would want them to tell.
If we make an image for others, and are paid to do a job, then yes we have to work within the brief given but that, fortunately, does not apply to the images I choose to make as I am the person that I have to please. I can choose the story or the subject that pleases me. It may have been done before, not original, but as I have already proposed, nothing is original.
Making a photograph is about freezing a moment, and fraction of a moment, in time that will never happen again. That moment should mean something if it, IMO, is to be a successful picture.
An image that tells a story or shows and emotion or time in history that can never be repeated with a beauty of its own is success. A slice of time.
On 15 October 2012, former Cambodian King and Prime Minister Norodom Sihanouk died at the age of 89, in Beijing, China, after suffering health issues. His death was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nhek Bun Chhay. His body was brought back on 17 October 2012 by King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen. State flags flew at half mast, and the government announced a 7-day mourning period for the former king.
Sihanouk had been receiving medical treatment in Beijing since January 2012 for a number of health problems, including colon cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. He died after a heart attack in Beijing on 15 October 2012, 1:20 a.m. Cambodian time, aged 89.
A state funeral was held on 17 October 2012 and the National Television of Kampuchea repeatedly screened a 30-minute documentary about his life. Sihanouk’s body then reposed in the Royal Palace until 1 February 2013 where it lay in state until 4 February 2013, when it was finally cremated. Sihanouk’s royal coffin was adorned with gold and draped with the Royal Standard of the King of Cambodia.
I spend a lot of time processing images, mainly in Light Room, so anything that saves me time is going to be a good thing. I really enjoy creating black and white images from my colour snaps and recently purchased a number of presets from called Silver 4 for LR/RAW-Adobe. Best 50 bucks I have spent in a long time.
There are over 100, customizable presets that are loaded directly in LR in my case (but can be used in the most recent versions of PS). The presets can be used on RAW or JPEG images, and each one can be tweaked to my your in seconds, rather than having to do every image from scratch.
Some may see this as cheating, not doing all the work yourself, personally I see it as just using another set of tools to get the job done, to my satisfaction without all the stress of having to build presets to my liking. As a usable tool, that I can control and adjust to what I like, then it certainly comes recommended. https://seimeffects.com/silver/
The word Photography literally means ‘drawing with light’, which derives from the Greek photo, meaning light and graph, meaning to draw. Photography is the process of recording an image – a photograph – on light sensitive film or, in the case of digital photography, via a digital electronic or magnetic memory.
This ability to record, special events in my life drew me to photography. Photos of my children and family become very important to me. This early interest, with a specific goal, led me into photography as a hobby, making images of things that interested me, other than just family. My first venture into photography was of course in the film era, and my first camera, as I remember, was a Polaroid. The instant film was great for family pictures, but I soon found this to be very limiting. I bought my first ”REAL” camera after about six months of using the Polaroid. A little cheap and cheerful Chinon CS that cost me almost a week’s wages at the time. It was a great little fully manual camera with a 50mm lens, it got me into using 35mm film, both colour and black and white. This again led me to go further, developing and printing first my own black and white pictures and then advancing to colour. The mechanics of the process interested me, and I was hooked.
The interest I had developed quickly into an ALMOST obsession, I was out every opportunity making pictures and developing interests in things and places that were interesting to take pictures of.
Film and its development became a constant challenge to both afford and complete, it was certainly not a cheap hobby. The more I did it, the more I found I needed to invest to improve my ability to get the images I wanted. Newer cameras, better lenses or suddenly became a priority. Then a darkroom to get me out of the bathroom. A better enlarger and other kit.
I went through various incarnations, landscape, motor racing, bands, but never really found the things I most liked to shoot until I started to travel.
I recall the first time I travelled to Cambodia, still shooting film, carrying 100 roles of Fuji and Kodak slide film and 50 rolls of Kodak Tri X or Ilford HP5, shooting in this exotic location I found what I most enjoy making pictures of. PEOPLE in their everyday lives or STREET PHOTOGRAPHY.
Travel and people quickly became the thing most of interest to me, but it was expensive, and I was still working full time.
I had decided after my trip to Cambodia that as soon as I was able that I wanted to move and live in Asia, and use Phnom Penh as a base to travel from and start to develop my interest in picture stories. I had several years to work and wait, and prepare for.
My first major trip after moving to Cambodia in 2009 was a venture in Laos, taking a boat trip down the NAM OU river to Luang Prabang (now impossible due to damns on that river)
I actually bought a new camera just for that trip, a Canon 1D Mk IV and also a Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lens both of which got very well-used and to a degree paid for themselves and the trip. By this time I had stopped using film and most of my Nikon and Canon film cameras were sold on.
I have continued since then to document the street and work with agencies that try to make positive changes for those people who have a difficult life. Photography is my way of telling a story, in one image or many.
a world without pictures is like coffee without cream and sugar, bitter 