"Welcome to the United States of America" - Ellis Island

I attended the recent LHSA (International Leica Society) meeting in NYC. One of the activities was a boat ride out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, entry point for 12 million immigrants to the US.

 

Quick - can you tell which two shots are film (Leica M4-2) and which one is digital (Leica M9)? Don't cheat and look at the file names.

 

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Belle of Belle Haven Plantation - Leica M9

During the recent Spring Shoot meeting of the LHSA (International Leica Society), we visited Belle Haven Plantation.

 

I've posted some images of the live oak trees at the plantation. (Click Here) to see those.

 

For our visit, one of our members arranged to have Gail come out to the plantation and model for us in period dress. Here are the shots of Gail that I feel are worthy of sharing;

 

 

All were shot with my Leica M9 and 35mm f2 Summicron (v.3) lens.

 

(Click Here) to learn more about LHSA (International Leica Society).

 

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New Orleans' Royal Street - Leica IIIC and Summar 5cm f2 Lens

 

Royal Intersection, by Reed A. George

Leica IIIC Sharkskin, Summar 5cm f2 Collapsible Lens

 

I was scanning a roll of film that I shot in New Orleans while attending the LHSA Spring Shoot 2015 when I came across this shot.

 

This corner on Royal Street, at Rouse's Grocery, is one of my favorite spots in the city of New Orleans. Always hosting live musicians, rain or shine, it's a real crossroads for everyone who frequents the French Quarter - musicians, tourists, locals, and yes, police officers. This image says a lot about this particular place that I love so much.

 

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French Quarter in the Rain - Leica IIIC and Summar 5cm f2

I recently attended the LHSA (International Leica Society) Spring Shoot in New Orleans, Louisiana. One of my favorite places to photograph, I was hoping we'd get some inclement weather to build some mood into my pictures. I was not let down - it rained on and off, sometimes quite heavily, during my whole trip. I loved it.

 

Here are some shots of street musicians playing in front of Rouse's Grocery on Royal Street as a rain storm rolled in and subsequently left.

 

All were shot with the Leica IIIC and Summar 5cm f2 lens. One of Leica's earliest fast lenses, the Summar is infamous for being being soft. I happen to have a clean copy, without a scratched front element, which is rare. I find it to be a wonderful lens.

 

 

Shooting iso 400 film (Kodak TMax 400), I couldn't quite get a fast enough shutter speed to capture the rain as I wanted. I hope that you can see it in images 2 and 3.

 

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Live Oak Trees - Belle Haven Plantation - Nature Shot with Leica M9

During my trip to New Orleans for the LHSA (International Leica Society)'s Spring Shoot, we got to visit Belle Haven, a plantation that has been closed to the public for many years.

 

Our visit was wonderful, and I got to spend a lot of time out wading in the wet grass photographing the amazing old live oak trees on the property. Shooting with my M9, I manipulated the images in NIK Software to get the look I wanted. Here they are.

 

Live Oaks, by Reed A. George

 

All of these were shot with the M9 and either the 35mm v.3 Summicron or 50mm f1.4 Summilux (titanium).

 

One thing I don't like (or haven't figured out) in the NIK software is that if I want the same frame effect on a series of pictures, the frames come out looking exactly the same, including the dark and light smudges around the edges, which are supposed to represent the individual results of chemical darkroom techniques. Each one should be slightly different.

 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the result. Not everyone agrees with manipulation, but I got the feel from the images that I was looking for.

 

(Click Here) to learn more about LHSA (International Leica Society). The national meetings like the Spring Shoot are great, but there are also many other reasons to join, including a great publication (Viewfinder), newsletter, and local groups and activities.

 

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Live Oak Tree - Lousiana Plantation - From Raw Image to Interpretation

I just returned yesterday from the LHSA (International Leica Society) Spring Shoot in New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

One of our (brilliant) activities was a visit to Belle Haven Plantation, which has been closed to the public for many years. We were extremely lucky to get access. The enormous live oak trees on the property were so beautiful. Here's a raw image that I took of one of them.

 

Live Oak, Starting Image, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summicron 35mm f2 Lens

iso 400, f5.6, 1/60 sec.

 

I walked out into a huge puddle of standing water to get this shot. I exposed to keep the highlights from blowing out, knowing that I could recover detail from the shadows with the M9 file. Right out of the camera, it looks underexposed.

 

I decided to do a quick edit on the image in Snapseed, on my iPad. Here's the result.

 

Live Oak, Interpretation, by Reed A. George

 

I'm sure that I can make a nice straight image from this file, but I kind of like this manipulated version. I purposefully added the vignetting around the edges, simply because I like the look.

 

Maybe I'll post the same image processed in Lightroom with much less manipulation. It will be interesting to see which version I like best.

 

If you're interested in the LHSA, check us out by (Clicking Here).

 

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Another Panning Example With the Leica M9

 

Bike Taxi, New Orleans, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4

iso 800, 1/15 sec.

 

As in yesterday's post, I used the panning technique to show a moving subject at night.

 

In this case, I didn't match the camera motion to the subject's speed as well as I did in the shot posted yesterday. However, this picture says more about being in New Orleans. Motorcycles can be seen virtually anywhere; bike taxis are less common. But, there are plenty of them in New Orleans.

 

So, as a travel photo in which I wantedd to say something about the place, this one works better.

 

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Rain Makes Night Photography More Dramatic - Leica M9

Armstrong, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4 Lens

iso 640, 1/16 sec.

 

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My Entry for the LHSA Spring Shoot Photo Contest

I'm at the LHSA (International Leica Society) Spring Shoot in New Orleans. We have a couple of contests going on. I'm entering this shot for the "Spirit of Nola" contest.

 

Spirit of Nola, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4 Lens

iso 640, 1/250 sec.

 

This city has more than one defining spirit. Bourbon Street bars are one, this is another. The local people are generally very nice, and this lady gave me permission to photograph her saying hi to the neighborhood puppy.

 

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Hello From The French Quarter!

I am currently at the LHSA (International Leica Society) Spring Shoot in New Orleans. Today started with a 6:00 am walk through the French Quarter from my friend's house to the Four Points hotel, where I met up with the LHSA group for a private tour of a gorgeous old Southern plantation, more on that later.

 

Here's the first thing I decided to shoot this morning.

 

Scooter, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4 Lens

iso 800, f1.4, 1/8 sec.

 

It is 6:00 pm, and I just caught a short nap. Now, I'll grab a quick bite, and head back to the LHSA event for a photo walk. Then, my friend Ben is picking me up to go shoot a recording session of his band, Deltaphonic. I'm definitely making the most of this trip!

 

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Heading to New Orleans for the LHSA (International Leica Society) Spring Shoot 2015!

New Orleans, by Reed A. George

 

 

My two plans for traveling this spring happened to fall right next to each other this year. Both are controlled by schedules other than mine - the trip to Japan has to be on my daughter's spring break, and the LHSA Spring Shoot has it's own time constraints. So, while I'm still adjusting to jet lag from the Japan trip, I'm gearing up for my trip to New Orleans this week, to go to the Spring Shoot.

 

What better place for a Spring Shoot than New Orleans? I can't think of any.

 

(Click Here) to read about the program. Everyone's welcome, member or not, so please join us! Hope to see ya'll there (a little Southern touch).

 

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French Quarter Photo Tour

 

French Quarter, by Reed A. George

 

I'm honored to have been asked to lead a morning photo tour of the French Quarter in New Orleans as part of the LHSA's Spring Shoot, April 15-19. I will be leading the Saturday morning group.

 

The Quarter's not exactly an early morning kind of place, but that's okay.

 

Now I have to put my mind to planning a route that will give my fellow photographers the best chances of capturing a Leica moment!

 

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April's Whole Lotta Leica Lens - the Summicron 5cm f2 Collapsible LTM "Radioactive" Lens

 

Leica Summicron 5cm f2 Collapsible Lens

 

This month, I am choosing the Summicron 5cm f2 collapsible lens as my Whole Lotta Leica selection. I will pair it up with my Leica M9 for the month and share the results with you here.

 

The Summicron 50mm has been a benchmark lens for Leica (and for comparisons from other manufacturers) since it was first introduced around 1955. The first version (shown here) was a collapsible lens. Originally made in Leica Thread Mount (LTM), the collapsible was also made in Leica M mount. Mine is an LTM lens.

 

The collapsible Summicron was an evolutionary step up from the previous Summitar 5cm f2 collapsible, which remains a favorite of vintage Leica shooters.

 

Mine happens to be an early unit (serial no. 994,XXX), which is classifed as having radioactive glass. There is some disagreement about the meaning of this, but here's a quote from Brian Sweeney, a lens expert with a lot of credibilty:

 

 

"Brian Sweeney

04-27-2010, 03:48

The original Summicrons use Thorium Glass and they are radioactive. I own two of them. Summicrons with SN after 105xxxx do not use radioactive glass.

 

The original prototype Summicrons were marked as Summitars, and had the asterisk (or star) next to the name. I have only seen photographs.

 

http://www.imx.nl/photo/leica/lenses/lenses/page92.html

 

The Summar is a double-gauss, 6 elements in four groups, 1-2-2-1 configuration. The Summitar and earlier Summicrons are evolutions of it, 7 elements in 5 groups. The type 2 Rigid Summicron (black, the 70s version) was 6 elements in 5 groups. The modern Summicron went back to the 1-2-2-1 configuration."

 

 

If you're interested, you can (click here) to read more about thorium glass, contaminated lanthanum glass, and whether or not the radioactive glass will fog film (it won't at normal distances).

 

The glass in these lenses is normally yellowed. Some people think it makes these lenses better for black and white shooting. I know it's common to use a yellow filter to increase contrast in blue skies. Or maybe the yellow is worse for color photography?

 

In any case, mine is in gorgeous condition. It is rare to find one without cleaning marks. I got lucky.

 

(Click Here) to read a nice summary of the different versions of the Leica Summicron 50mm lenses on antiquecameras.net

 

The International Leica Society (aka LHSA) is having their Spring Shoot in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on April 17-20. I'll be taking the Summicron collapsible along for the trip.

 

By the way, if you aren't a member of LHSA, I highly recommend it. It's a great group. Even though it formerly had "historical" in its name, the LHSA comprises a wide variety of members with experience ranging from the earliest vintage models through the latest digital Leicas. This is not a group stuck in time. In fact, at my first LHSA event, I took a great workshop on high dynamic range (HDR) imaging. That's not an old technology.

 

In addition to their Spring Shoot and annual meeting, the LHSA holds an annual raffle where they give away extremely expensive and wonderful cameras, and they publish a great journal, known as the Viewfinder. They also offer an electronic membership, where the Viewfinder is delivered as a pdf. Wonderful. No clogging up the mailbox with a paper magazine.

 

So, check out the LHSA:

 

(Click Here) and join!

 

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