Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4

Sgt. Russell’s funeral procession.

Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, LFI Master Shot, Portrait, Uniform

Taken earlier this year.

Sgt. Ryan Russell was a Toronto police officer who died in the line of duty on January 12, 2011.   He left behind his wife and two year old child.

The following week, a funeral procession was held in his honour in downtown Toronto.

Attendees were from all over North America.

Toronto is a large city, that is usually quite busy and noisy.  On this day, during the procession, the downtown core was eerily quiet.

The first photo was chosen as a Leica Fotografie International (LFI) Master Shot.


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All images taken with the Leica M9 and Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH @ f1/.4.

Simplicity.

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

Achieving simplicity in photography is a very difficult, but worthwhile goal.

Simple compositions are generally more pleasing to the eye, and more directly communicate visual impressions than cluttered ones.

In the first image below, the triad of leaves, lit up by an errant shaft of sunlight, first caught my attention as I was walking by so I appropriately exposed for them.  Exposing for their brilliant glow meant losing details in the shadows, but this is what I wanted, as the end-effect is a seemingly floating cluster of foliage with only the mere suggestion of the supporting framework of trees.

Simplicity.

(please click on the image below)

↑Leica M9 and Leica 50mm Summicron @ f/2.

Most novice photographers make the error of being over-inclusive in their images and forget to ask themselves, what is it about this scene that first caught my attention?

Often we can easily achieve simplicity by shooting with a telephoto lens or by moving closer and isolating the subject of interest.  But this is not the only way.

More tricky – and more satisfying – is to capture a wider scene that has been stripped down to just a few elements.  Sometimes that’s impossible, especially in a world all too cluttered with distractions.  But it’s worth trying for.

In the second image below, the original scene was full of foreground objects, but I moved myself to higher ground and angled my field of view so that only two things (besides the sky) are visible in the final image.

(please click on the image below)

↑Leica M8 and Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH @ f/1.4.

In photography then, truly, less is more.

Eunice’s Swim School, revisited.

Konica Hexanon 60mm f/1.2, Leica 135mm Tele-Elmar f/4 (1966), Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Photo Shoot

I previously shot some images for Eunice (see here) at her swim school and was asked yesterday to create a cover image for her about-to-be revamped brochure.  The front cover is to feature Eunice engaged in her greatest passion – teaching.

(please click on both of the images below)

↑Leica M9 and Konica Hexanon 60mm f/1.2 @ f4.

Here is another image that, although not intended for the cover, may be used as part of other promotional material:

(please click on the image below)

↑Leica M9 and Leica Tele-Elmar 135mm f/4 @ f/5.6.

As an aside, I’ve taken other images while at the school:

The above images were taken with the Leica M9, the Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4 @ f/1.4 (first two) and the Konica Hexanon 60mm f/1.2 @ f/1.2 (third).