2012

H – A portrait.

2012, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica 75mm Summilux (Canada 🇨🇦) f/1.4, Portrait, Teaching point

Look carefully at the rendering of the Leica 75mm Summilux (Canadian version)… it’s wonderful.

I sometimes struggle with this lens, as it doesn’t have the coatings of modern lenses and it is susceptible to flare.  Physically it’s large too.  And correct focus is notoriously difficult to achieve at f/1.4, because of the extremely thin depth of field (witness the focus here is on the near eye; by the time we get to the second eye, we are already out of focus).

But for portraits, I can’t think of a more appropriate lens in this focal range.

I should really do a Lens Report on this lens, as I’m often asked about it.  But I haven’t been motivated to because the qualities of the 75 Summilux that I most value are not easily appreciated via test charts.  Ideally, it’s best to just view images taken with it (however, when I wrote my report on the Leica 75mm Summarit f/2.5, I did include some comparison crops between the two lenses).

If you want to see more examples of portraiture with the Leica 75mm Summilux, please see here, here, and here.

(please click on the image to view)

↑Leica M9 and Leica 75mm Summilux @ f/1.4.

Field of dreams.

2012, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!), Portrait, Teaching point, The Beautiful Game

I resisted the temptation to crop away the top and bottom portions and present this as a pseudo-panoramic horizontal strip… something about the original image (as presented here) appears very surreal, very much like a “dream”.  Or perhaps a diorama.

(please click on the image to view)

↑Leica M9 and Leica 50mm Summilux ASPPH @ f/1.4 + 3 stop ND filter.

Guest Post [1]: Life’s Little Moments.

2012, Guest Post, Inspiration, Life's Little Moments, Portrait

For the first time on this site, I’ve decided to post another photographer’s work.

Luiz Paulo emailed me yesterday (see message below) and, after clicking on his links, two of his images caught my eye and made me think, “I wish I had taken that” — which is the highest form of praise I can convey to a fellow photographer.

In fact, these two images are so in keeping with my personal philosophy of capturing the beauty of Life’s Little Moments, that I was inspired to create this, the inaugural:

_

Guest Post of Life’s Little Moments,

by Luiz Paulo:

_

Hi Peter.

May I introduce myself: my name is Luiz Paulo, and I’m from Brazil.

I’d like to humbly say your work is so great and inspiring that it has encouraged me to use a range finder system to capture “Life’s Little Moments“, like you say. Being a father of a young child, I know it wouldn’t be an easy task (by technical issues which you certainly know better than I do).  On the other hand, it’s not so difficult as I’d supposed — and the results are better than I could expect.

I think you have a special site where great ideas can emerge.  Congratulations on your nice work.

If it doesn’t bother you, please check out my last photos at LFI Kids Category and LFI M9 Master Shots (I’m registered as “furia”).

All the best,

Luiz Paulo

Dear Luiz,

What a wonderful message to receive!  Thank you so much.

I think you truly understand what it means to capture “Life’s Little Moments” and it’s obvious your beautiful daughter has served as a wonderful inspiration for you.

I enjoyed viewing all of your images, but I would have to say the two images I’ve posted here are my favourites.  There is something very “poetic” about them and I congratulate you for having captured them with such visual eloquence:

↑Happy Birthday, (c) Luiz Paulo [Leica M9 and Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH].

↑Untitled, (c) Luiz Paulo [Leica M9 and Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH].

Once again, thank you Luiz!

—Peter.

The beginning of himself.

2012, Film, Inspiration, Leica M3, Portrait, Voigtländer 40mm f/1.4 Nokton

“He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone… His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.”

— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.

(please click on the image to view)

↑Leica M3, Kodak Tri-X 400, and Voigtländer Nokton 40mm @ f/1.4.

Worker, 1937.

2012, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Portrait, Teaching point

Actually, this was captured this week… but something about him made me think of a bygone era.

I also could have called this Worker 11, as it follows my previous 10 Worker images.

In the past, I’ve sort of criticized the 50mm Summilux ASPH as being “too perfect” of a lens, but I love how it has rendered him, and this moment.

(please click on the image to view)

↑Leica M9 and Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH @ f/1.4.