Broadcasting will resume shortly.

—Peter. 

It is with regret that I announce the Leica 35 Summilux FLE has decided to leave PhotographsbyPeter.com to pursue other projects.   This change will be effective August 2, 2015.

Please join me in recognizing the 35/1.4 FLE for its valuable contributions to PhotographsbyPeter.com.

In its time on this site, the Leica 35 Summilux FLE made a positive difference with its image rendering (though it sometimes struck viewers as a little too bold and busy).  It is therefore with warmest personal regards that I wish this lens every success in its endeavours with another photographer.

Subsequent to this change and as I assemble replacement gear, the Leica 50 Summilux ASPH will take on an expanded role.  However — as always — its use will be restricted to within approximately 200 feet of my house.

Please therefore join me in wishing the 50 Summilux ASPH much success in its new and expanded role.

Sincerely,

—Peter.

During my recent hiatus, I received a number of thoughtful messages.

One reader wrote (in part):

“Peter, to me you are an artist, not a guy that talks about lenses and sensors. Someone who posts, publishes books/images/works of art whenever he has something significant to say, not whenever a blog demands it.”

Another stated (again, in part):

“Don’t wear yourself out trying to give everyone what they want. You will use up everything you’ve got… and that would be a misuse of talent, time, spirit, and life…”

–

Not all of the comments were supportive.  One person wrote:

Isn’t this why you run the site? For the sycophants who drool over poor photographs taken with Leica cameras?

And another had this to say:

I think you have done the right thing to shut the site down. You work is not good enough… They are just family snaps that in the pre-internet age would have stayed in a family photo album, albeit taken with very expensive cameras!!

–

Well thanks for the input everybody.

The upshot of all of this?

I gave considerable thought to what I really wanted to do.

And now I’m going to do it.

One thing I’ve already done is sell my Leica Monochrom.  I enjoyed using it much more this time vs. my first go-around, but something – for me – in the experience and output was lacking.

Another thing I did was buy a Leica M3, some Kodak Tri-X, and a Plustek 8200i scanner.

Yes indeed, I’m going back to shooting, developing, and scanning film myself.  In fact, I tried developing a test roll today, but mangled up the film as I loaded it onto the reel.

What can I say?  I’m out of practice.  I lost 1/3 of the strip and most of the remaining frames are damaged.

(My friend Mark gave me a tip about how to possibly avoid that next time.  Thanks Mark.)

Right now, I’m scanning some of the frames from my mangled test strip.

I’ll post a few images if any of them are worth posting.

(Warning:  They are just family “snaps”!)

And in case you’re wondering:

I’m happy.

—Peter.

(By the way, I’ll have more to say about my Leica M3 in a future post.  And I still have the M9P.)