I am sorely tempted to pick up another Leica SL2 since prices on used ones have plummeted in the last few weeks. I like the SL2. I like the SL2-S better and I like the SLs best of all. So, whenever the urge strikes me to overinflate my collection of SLx bodies I have an exercise I undertake. Something to bring back needed perspective. I grab my favorite SL (yes, I have two but favor the one with the most nicks and abrasions) and a lens like the Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.4 ZF, set the camera the way I like it and go out to take some photographs. With that camera and lens combination I find almost every photograph I take; especially those shot at wide apertures, rewards me with color and tonal palettes that are different than the newer cameras and more in line with my personal tastes as to what an image file should look like.
And that helps tremendously to tamp down the siren song of desire for newer, later cameras.
There's a momentary feeling of mastery... until I remind myself that I am just a beginner, really. At the very start of my learning curve.
Being a photographer is, I think, a lot like being a barrista, a maker of coffee. Sometimes we get the formula just right and the water is perfect and the cup is pre-warmed and we end up with a very satisfying cup of coffee. Or a very nice photograph. Some days things go awry. Maybe the grind is slightly off, or the water has some mineral that flavors the mix and renders it just a bit off. Maybe the cup we pour into is too cold and we're left with the Hobson's Choice of drinking lukewarm coffee or putting the cup into the microwave oven to warm everything up. Timing is almost everything.
We can measure and measure but some things are just out of our control. Even down the to reality that every bean harvest is different and every click of the shutter is a combination of so many fragmented parts of our frail human process.
But when you get it just right there's buzz that makes it all worthwhile.
The incongruity of reading this ode to a perfect cup of coffee accompanied by a photo of a take-out cup is a bit like using a Leica body with a non-Leica lens. :)
ReplyDeleteAll coffee is take out coffee. No Limoges china cups on offer at Jo's. Not even if you are willing to pay for them.... The real disconnection is writing about nice pools while sitting in a hotel courtyard next to a "pool" barely big enough for two people..... Sheepishly admitting I use non-Leica lenses on my M cameras. The shame is near overwhelming.
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