Do I know anything? Can I explain anything? If, then not with words. I am usually good at grammar (at least in my mother tongue German) and know more words than some people but I cannot express myself in conversations so well. Ever since I have been an eye-person. Eye see, eye draw, eye paint, eye take photographs. At the age of 15 I got my own b/w-darkroom and spent a lot of my childhood in darkness.
It was inevitable that I would end up owning a Leica at some point, I’ve grown to love 35mm as a format and love nothing more than trying ‘all the cameras’. I’ve come close before, but my indecision always ended up with me walking away. I regretted not buying a lovely old iiif for a good price and numerous M2’s have been deleted from my basket over the last year or so.
Recently I photographed an assignment which represents a personal milestone in my film photography story. It was the first time I had ever left London with nothing besides film cameras; with no digital fallback or access to any alternatives – only the cameras and film I decided I would need ahead of time. The event was Green Man Festival; Wales’ largest music festival.
It’s not been an easy process for anyone involved in the process of judging all 373 images. There were a lot of good photos, many of which deserved to win. In the end, a combination of most judges having this image in their top 5, and it being the most compliant with the original guidelines is what won it. But it was close.
The Leica M4 in many people’s eyes is the last of the classic Leica rangefinder cameras. In fact, if you spend any time reading around forums and websites looking for opinion on this camera, you’ll find it holds the prize with many as being the ultimate Leica M camera. I’m not so sure myself – all of the models have their hardened fans – but looking back at the features and the history of the Leica M, it’s easy to see how people come to some of the justifications and positive views held about the Leica M4.
