All about Leica
Last week I had another fantastic wedding in Amsterdam. When the couple left the venue, the guests had arranged a fantastic goodbye on a small boat. While someone was singing a lovely song, everybody waved the couple goodbye and the groom kissed his bride. Just magical.
Leica M240 with 35 cron
Sometimes you don’t need to travel that far to see new things.
Leica M240 with CV 40/1.4
OK, you may not like this, but sooner or later you will find out anyway. I’ve been cheating lately. Yes, I admit it.
On a more serious note. We needed a camera for video work and I wanted it to work flawlessly with my Leica lenses. Since the video mode on the M240 is not really usable for professional work, I decided to get the Sony A7s. And now that I have this camera, I have started to use it for my weddings as well. Not as my first camera, but as my ‘really, really low light camera’. We’re talking ISO 12800 1/125th f0.95 work. And man, it shines in that job! These are circumstances where focussing is no longer limited by the narrow depth of field, but by the fact you can’t see anything through the viewfinder. And that’s where an EVF comes in very, very handy.
I’ll talk about this more later, but for now I’ll summarize my first experiences with the A7s as follows:
Lose the high heels, tie your comfy All Stars and move to the dance floor…
Leica M240 with CV 35/1.2 (the lens that’s always pretty when the light is sh*tty)
This is Pedro from Puerto Natales in Chile. He has a tiny shop where he sells two gas canisters (no, not two types, just two canisters) a few second hand bike parts and three post cards. We had a nice conversation and talked about tourism in his village. Then he pointed at the wall behind the counter and showed some pictures of him, that were taken by tourists. I took this shot and told him I’d send his picture. He laughed, we shook hands and said goodbye. Life can be simple. If you want it to be.
Leica M9 with 50 cron
A lens is more than sharpness and bokeh. The way it renders a scene and how it renders out of focus elements in the foreground is just as important. By the way: using elements in the foreground is tricky with a rangefinder, because of the parallax. More about that later…
Leica M240 with 50 summicron
The Netherlands is a small and crowded country, but if you’re looking for some quiet time in the outdoors, the canoe is the way to go. We’ve been paddling for four days and only met a few other boaters. FYI: you’ll be hearing more about canoeing on this website pretty soon…
Leica M8 with CV21/4 (this is my ‘cheapest’ set that I felt comfortable enough to use on the water)
Sometimes it takes four or five persons to get the bride to look like how she wants. And usually it’s chaos and there little room to move around. I love this part of the wedding. It’s just hilarious, but also very serious.
Leica M240 with 35 summicron
I’m not sure where I took this shot exactly – that’s why a GPS module can be convenient – but it was somewhere in a mall in Sydney. I like the perspective and the colors.
Leica M9 with 35 summicron
Last year Hector signed up for a Leica Masterclass and we had a great day shooting and practicing focus skills. A few months later he asked me if I’d be interested to shoot his wedding on Santorini. Fortunately, I had a few days left in July, so I said yes.
It took me three planes to get there, but it was all worth it. Hector and Deborah had a lovely and very intimate wedding, which I was glad to cover. Because of all the transfers, I only brought carry-on luggage and I shot the entire wedding with the CV21/4, Zeiss 35/2.8. CV 35/1.2 and 50/2 Cron.
