During the pandemic, I decided to stop going to the gym, and a daily vigorous walk has emerged as a new habit. If I stop to take a picture, my wife generally keeps walking, so I can't faff about as they say on the British TV shows we've been streaming lately. I've lost a little weight over the past eight months, so I think our system is working reasonably well.
On a recent outing, I brought along a Leica IG from the mid-1950s. These cameras were never intended for regular shooting; instead, they were made for a variety of technical applications, such as mounting on microscopes. Consequently, they have neither a range finder nor a view finder, and are basically a light tight box with a shutter. On the plus side, they have often been well cared for and not used to within an inch of their lives. Mine has a small, but very noticeable dent on the top that the seller told me rendered it 'uncollectible'. So I got it for half price. Yay! Other than the dent, my copy looks and functions like a brand new camera. For the walk, I added the 50 mm f/3.5 Elmar, also from the mid-1950s, and an external viewfinder. I was shooting a bulk loaded short roll of Ultrafine Extreme 400. For this set-up to work, you have to be comfortable zone focusing or shooting at the hyperfocal distance. Oh, and you should be okay with estimating exposure using Sunny 16. Very doable with some practice and it helps develop your craft. All part of getting your 10,000 hours in, if you believe in that sort of thing.
We live not too far from our local synagogue and we pass it pretty much every day on our walks. In the Fall, the children always build a tabernacle for Succos. This year, I thought their efforts turned out really well, and I especially liked the use of bamboo in the construction.
These days pretty much any camera can make sharp and contrasty images, and it is easy to take awesome results for granted. But, 65 years ago, when most folks were snapping away with box cameras, this kind of quality must have been truly jaw dropping.
A little further along, these two cheap plastic chairs chained to a tree caught my attention. I was able to estimate focus pretty accurately and I stopped down a bit to be on the safe side.
But the image just makes me smile whenever I look at it.
