Posts Tagged: LUF

Chapter Forty One: Life in Istanbul, October 2014

It’s been a while since my previous post looking at people sitting down in Istanbul. Here are some more photos from the same trip, looking at some of the stuff the locals get up to on a daily basis.

Selling pomegranate juice. Costs around a Euro, but freshly squeezed and tastes good, as long as you’re not too worried about the hygiene…..

Washing feet. Essential if you plan on praying in the mosque……

….. and it’s not just because they like to keep the carpet clean

Fishing on the Galata bridge. Literally hundreds of people lined across the bridge trying to catch fish. The Golden Horn is pretty well stocked, so success is almost guaranteed, and you’ll either end up with a tasty meal for later, or you can sell the fish to the restaurants trading below the bridge. The restaurants then serve the fish in a roll (balik-ekmek), which tastes pretty good. Just don’t try the turnip juice, which doesn’t. The Galata bridge is also a good spot to see dolphins, and there were 3 or 4 playing around whilst I was there.

Roasting chestnuts. The Turkish seem to have a fascination for roasting chestnuts, and they’re available all over Istanbul, whether it’s the middle of the day……

… or the middle of the night, together with a tasty cob of corn.

Selling flags. The Turkish flag seems pretty popular and well loved, and this guy was doing a brisk trade each time I walked past him.

Ever wondered where to buy a plastic mannequin? Well look no further…..

In my eyes, pigeon are vermin. Nothing more than rats with wings, noisy and filthy. But they seem pretty popular in Istanbul. Outside the New Mosque it’s even possible to buy a small bag of pigeon feed to make sure they don’t go hungry. The guy selling the feed at the back of the picture had an old analogue SLR hanging in the back of his cabin…..

If you can fit it on the back of a handcart, you’ll be able to find someone somewhere willing to pull it around for you.

This guy was trying his hardest to sell the prayer carpet over his shoulder. Or maybe it was a magic carpet? In any case, it wasn’t very popular with the punters, and he didn’t have any success in selling it when I was there.

All images taken in Istanbul with the Leica M-E and the Summilux 50mm ASPH lens.

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Chapter Forty: Sitting down in Istanbul: October 2014

Whilst reviewing my post trip images from a recent trip to Istanbul, I noticed that, at least in terms of the photos I was happy with, Turkish men and women alike seem to have a lot of time to spend sitting down. Whether it’s reading a newspaper, drinking coffee, visiting a mosque, earning money, or just pondering life, they certainly like to rest their feet. Rather than do a ‘normal’ post trip report, I thought for now I would just share some shots of a nation of perchers…..

The story starts in the Grand Bazaar. In the afternoons and at the weekend a bustling market full of bargains to be made, but at 10am on a Friday morning, it’s time to relax…

…and have a cup of turkish coffee (no doubt paying less than the 12 Turkish Lira that I was charged when I attempted to do the same…..)

Of course, if it’s nice weather and you want to top up your tan, where better to sit than outside with a newspaper?

There’s always money to be made selling bird seed to tourists outside the mosque. But not on a Friday. Then it’s hard enough work trying to stay awake whilst the pigeons fend for themselves.

Once inside the mosque walls, it’s worth sitting down again to contemplate the day’s prayer

If you’re not the praying type, there’s bound to be someone who wants to buy some chain. But probably not when everyone else is praying, so until they come out, why not just sit down again and have a rest before the post mosque rush begins?

You can be sure your wife is doing the same somewhere….

…because it’s hard work shopping

For the guy who is busy selling his stuff for ‘free’, a generous friend with a cup of coffee never gets ignored

And finally, security is important. And how better to guard stuff than by sitting down. Whether they’re pigeons….

…or big bags of ‘stuff’.

All photos taken in Istanbul with the Leica M-E Rangefinder, using a combination of the 50mm Summilux ASPH, and the 90mm Elmarit-M during the Leica User Forum One Challenge weekend. Despite what the light hearted fun of this blog post might suggest, there’s a lot that can be achieved by sitting down, even if it is just for a few minutes 🙂

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Chapter Eleven: Wetzlar, Germany, Leica One Challenge, October 2013

The first Leica prototypes were built by Oskar Barnack at Ernst Leitz Optische Werke, in Wetzlar, in 1913 (wikipedia). At the time, Barnack’s intention was to build a small, compact camera that could be carried by landscape photographer to enable them to take photos without having to carry the heavy cameras of the day. The camera was designed to use standard 35mm film, but, instead of transporting the film vertically as was normal with cinema cameras, giving an 18x24mm frame size, the film was transported horizontally past the shutter, giving the now common format of 24x36mm. (As a side note, the reason that a standard roll of 35mm film had 36 exposures is said to be due to the fact that, at the time, since all film had to be rolled into the canister by hand, Oskar would pull a length of film to his arm span, and cut it off to roll. That gave 36 exposures. Whether that is completely true, I am not sure!)

Leica Camera AG, Solms
Leica Camera AG, Solms

Since 2013 was the 100 year anniversary of the build date of those prototypes, the Leica Camera Forum decided to hold their annual Leica One challenge in Wetzlar. The One Challenge is a weekend event which has been held for the past ten years, and each year takes in a different location.

Comparing the old Leica IIIF with the new Leica M
Comparing the old Leica IIIF with the new Leica M

Leica Camera AG, Solms
Leica Camera AG, Solms

We started the weekend off by meeting for dinner on the Thursday evening, and then on Friday all got up early to head off to Solms for a Leica factory tour. We were one of the last groups to get a factory tour in Solms, since Leica has built a new custom facility back in Wetzlar, and in February 2014 relocated all manufacturing operations to the new factory. Unfortunately we were strictly instructed that no cameras could be used inside, but nevertheless it was a fascinating opportunity to hear the story of the brand, and see first hand how the cameras and lenses are manufactured. Everything is manually performed by specially trained engineers, and it does, at least in part, give some explanation as to why the Leica products are so expensive. Everyone has a special task – for example we saw one employee whose role was to hold and focus each lens back and forwards for 8 minutes, to ensure the focusing movement is sitting well in the barrel. Due to the very precise manual operations that are involved in constructing such a piece of optical engineering, it will be interesting to see if the new state of the art factory will automate any of these processes, but my guess is not, with the exception of some of the simpler tasks, for example transporting parts from one workstation to another.

A prototype of the one off Leica-R 1600mm f/5.6 lens. This lens was a special order for a Sheikh from Qatar, who reportedly paid $2 million to Leica to build such a lens.....
A prototype of the one off Leica-R 1600mm f/5.6 lens. This lens was a special order for a Sheikh from Qatar, who reportedly paid $2 million to Leica to build such a lens…..

It was nice to see in the lobby in Solms a showcase with one example of each Leica camera that has been made to date. Although our tour guide did explain to us that the Leica 0, one of the first prototypes, that was on display was just a replica – after the recent auction where a Leica   0 Series was sold for over 2 million Euros, Leica decided to move their copy to a more secure location!

Open the window!
Open the window!

After the factory trip, we took a short drive to Schloss Assenheim, and found the old castle and the village around it to be a good location for some photography, although it was fairly rainy at the time…….

Schloss Assenheim
Schloss Assenheim
Assenheim
Assenheim

One of the highlights of the weekend is the Challenge itself, which takes place over a two hour period during the Saturday afternoon. The idea is that each participating photographer is given two hours to go out and get the best shot he can – the only limitations he has is that he must use a one focal length, one film speed, and no more than one roll of film (or, for digital cameras, 36 exposures). After the weekend is over, each entrant has an amount of time to choose and submit his or her favourite image to the forum, and other members are invited to vote for their favourite images. I chose to use my Summicron 28mm lens, with an ISO of 200.

Wetzlar Subway Street Art
Wetzlar Subway Street Art

Photographically speaking, Wetzlar is a nice little German town, with cobbled streets and fairly old architecture. However the weather on the day of the challenge was fairly grey and overcast. Although I had spent much of the morning before the challenge looking for a unique location to take a shot, when all the participants were let loose at 1pm, I didn’t have much idea of where I was going to go to take my images. I wandered around for a while, taking a few shots in the old town, before venturing out a little bit further. I found one location that I found interesting in a subway. Wetzlar city council have turned the subways into works of art by inviting local artists to create murals to decorate the walls. One subway I was walking through had an interesting mural with a picture of a girl and a speech bubble saying ‘I can’t believe he’s doing this to me’. I thought it might be a successful image if I could catch a shot of a couple walking buy, hand in hand, but although I waited around for 15-20 minutes, no one suitable arrived.

Cyclist, my entry into the contest
Cyclist, my entry into the contest

Just as I was planning to leave, I noticed a young child approaching on a bike. I’d already seen that one of the other murals was of a sports cyclist, so I quickly got into position and grabbed a shot as she passed by the picture of the cyclist. I didn’t really have time to adjust my settings, but as luck would have it I was still on a fairly low shutter speed from my previous shots, so I got a nice blurred image of the child cyclist.

At the end of the two hours, I hadn’t taken more than 12 or 14 images, but I was happy with what I had got. Once I had processed my images I decided to enter the cyclist into the competition, and, a few weeks later after some heavy voting on the forum, I heard that I had received more votes than the other 40 entrants, and had won the competition!

Wetzlar Bridge, my Night Challenge Entry
Wetzlar Bridge, my Night Challenge Entry

Also, after the dinner on Saturday evening, there is an optional One Night Challenge. Same rules apply, although a little less stringently applied, and I decided to enter that as well. During the daytime shooting I had already noticed Wetzlar bridge, and thought this might make for some nice nighttime shots. I was again lucky here, as the image I entered ended the Night Challenge in third position.

All in all, we had a great weekend, discovering Wetzlar, visiting the factory in Solms, and meeting old and new friends. Looking forwards to the 2014 challenge, which is due to take place this year in Istanbul…..

John, Dan, and Ritsuko
John, Dan, and Ritsuko
Lars
Lars
Steve
Steve
Ferd
Ferd
Dan
Dan
John explaining why he loves his Noctilux :)
John explaining why he loves his Noctilux 🙂

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Chapter Eight: Leica User Forum Photo Walk in Antwerp, July 2013

The Leica community has a popular online forum which boasts 5600 active users and 133000 members in total. The forum contains a wealth of information around the Leica product family, and members also organise informal get-togethers, or photo walks, around the world. In July 2013 I joined a group of 10 photographers in Antwerp. We spent the day wandering the streets and chatting cameras, with inevitable breaks for (liquid) refreshments.

 

Central Station, Antwerp

Central Station, Antwerp

Door at the Puppet Theatre

Door at the Puppet Theatre

 

Antwerp is a friendly city, and on a summer Saturday is alive with a mixture of tourists discovering what the city has to offer, and locals going about their business. We started off at Central Station, and then meandered through the back streets, finally ending up in the dock area at the MAS, or Museum aan de Stroom.

 

Camera salesman, Grote markt, Antwerp

Camera salesman, Grote markt, Antwerp

Looking at the city of Antwerp from the MAS, Museum aan de Stroom

Looking at the city of Antwerp from the MAS, Museum aan de Stroom

 

I spent most of the walk around using the 35mm Summarit lens, but during a cafe stop I switched to the 50mm Summicron to focus on some candids of the rest of the group. I find the Leica very unobtrusive for taking candids, as people don’t seem to notice the camera in the same way as they would do with a larger SLR, and even when they do see the camera, they tend to react in a different way

 

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