Portrait

Running.

Inspiration, Leica 75mm Summilux (Canada 🇨🇦) f/1.4, LFI Master Shot, Portrait, Teaching point

The exhilaration of being, on a sunny autumn day.

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

(please click on the image to view)

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

As you can see, the 75mm Summilux produces an extremely shallow depth of field at f/1.4.  Nailing focus here – while he is running towards me – is tricky.

Further complicating things is the long focus throw of the 75/1.4, which is designed for precision and not for speed.

I rarely get this kind of shot with this lens, at this aperture… and to have caught him in mid-stride was the icing on the cake.

Generations, Part I of III.

Inspiration, Leica 50mm Noctilux f/1, Portrait

Continuing my exploration of the Leica Noctilux f/1.0 (E60)…

Something  tremendous about the light here – can’t quite elucidate what, specifically.  The image definitely wasn’t taken during the “Golden Hour”, so I’m left wondering whether there is a “Noctilux effect” at play.

(please click on the image to view)

↑Leica M9 and Leica 50mm Noctilux @ f/1.

J – A portrait.

Inspiration, Leica 50mm Noctilux f/1, Portrait

Two distinct moments captured seconds apart, but requiring two different treatments.

(please click on each image to view)

Both images taken with the Leica M9 and Leica 50mm Noctilux @ f/1.

[I just acquired this Noctilux and will be working it into the rotation of daily photos, though not every day, of course.  At some point, I’ll summarize my thoughts on it.]

C – first day of wearing glasses.

Inspiration, Leica 75mm Summilux (Canada 🇨🇦) f/1.4, Portrait

She was self-conscious about her new glasses.  She hates getting attention – any attention, whether good or bad.  So, the glasses are bad.

She was even upset that we took her for an eye check-up, to verify what we suspected – that she wasn’t seeing properly.

But, she looked beautiful and I wanted to get a shot of her on her first day with them.  However, life being life, offered just this moment.

It’s morning.  We’re all headed for school.

All three are about to run.  In a matter of seconds, C will trip, fall, and skin her knee.  So this is the shot that survives for posterity.

Her injury, however, distracted her from her glasses.

Life, being life.

(please click on the image to view)

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

The look.

Inspiration, Konica Hexanon 60mm f/1.2, Portrait, Teaching point

I know it too well.  She’s wondering if she’s ever going to get her coffee.

The lighting was tricky here… mixed natural and incandescent.   On the other hand, the blinds shielded against the harshest of the outside light and things balanced nicely.

(please click on the image to view)

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

I love how the girl furthest back, by adjusting her hair the moment the shutter was released, has filled out the composition:  her posture creates an inverted triangle that fits like a puzzle piece between the triangles formed by the postures of the two figures closest to us.  It is difficult to explain so here is a visual of what I mean:

She did get her coffee, eventually.

Me, in grade 6.

Inspiration, Portrait

I found this photo button this morning after taking the kids to school.  It was a gift from my grade 6 school teacher, one fine spring day, a long time ago.

I remember the occasion vividly, for no good reason.  Surprisingly, it has survived in the bottom of drawers, in bags, during moves, in times of illness and in times of death.

I can’t tell you what camera or lens was used.  It really doesn’t matter.

(please click on the image to view)