Posts Tagged: Summicron 28mm
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Leica Factory Visit, Wetzlar, Germany: September 2014
Back in October 2013, I visited the Leica factory in Solms together with some members from the Leica User Forum. At the time the visit was significant as Leica was about to close the facility in preparation for a move to their new factory in Wetzlar, and we were one of the last groups to visit.
Although Leica was originally based in Wetzlar, they had left the city in 1986 for larger premises in an old furniture factory in neighbouring Solms. Whilst the factory was functional, and completely customised to Leica’s needs, its appearance didn’t befit the image of the Leica marque, and it was becoming too small to deal with the rapid growth that Leica has experienced.
So, to coincide with the 100 year anniversary of the first Leica camera in 1914, Leica opened a new facility in May 2014 to provide a new manufacturing and administrative base for Leica Camera AG. The facility has been built to provide visitors with a complete ‘Leica Experience’. Alongside the factory itself, which can be viewed through windows, there is also a gallery area with rotating photographic exhibitions, a number of show cases showing the key cameras from Leica’s history, and a display cabinet containing one of everything Leica has ever created. There is also a Leica shop, and Leica Customer Services in the same premises.
I had the chance in September 2014, during a visit to Cologne, to make a day trip to Wetzlar to check out the new building. The 60 million euros that the project cost has certainly been well spent, and the campus is impressively architected. All of the interior walls and floors are white, and this gives the entrance area a very spacious feeling. After walking around the gallery area, and viewing an exhibition entitled ’36 aus 100′ showing some of the images that have made Leica famous over the last 100 years, I wandered through the tunnel at the back of the gallery area to look into the factory.
There are four or five windows that you can look through, each looking onto a different part of the manufacturing process. Each window has been created interactively and buttons can be pressed to provide information on each particular step of the manufacturing process.
Once you have passed the factory windows, you are presented with the display cases containing all of the Leica products from over the years, both the camera optics, and the sport optics (spotting scopes and binoculars). It was interesting to note that although the new Leica M60 and Summarit lenses had been announced some weeks previously at Photokina, these were not yet on display, although the Leica M100 editions were.
Upon exiting the tunnel you are presented with the Leica shop, a large area selling all of the current products, including the Leica cinema lenses, which was the first time I had seen them, and a large studio which was presumably used for testing the Leica S range.
There are also two restaurants on the campus – Cafe Leitz (mainly a coffee shop) and a restaurant. We finished our trip with a visit to the restaurant – it is accessible for visitors as well as the Leica staff, and prices and food quality are very good.
All in all, a very enjoyable day out, and worth a visit if you are in the neighbourhood.
Photos in this post taken with the Leica M-E Rangefinder, together with the 21mm Super-Elmar, 28mm Summicron and 50mm Summilux lenses
Related Images:
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Ngaben Cremation Ceremony, Ubud: July 2014
In Bali, as with other communities that practice the Hindu religion, it is normal to cremate the dead. Ngaben, the name for the cremation ceremony in Balinese, is the funeral ritual that is performed by the people of Bali to send deceased relatives to the next life. The ceremony itself is often very expensive, and, whilst it is normal for members of the upper castes to perform the funeral ritual within three days of the passing of a relative, lower social classes will typically wait until the next mass cremation ceremony, opting to bury the bodies for a number of months until the next mass ceremony takes place.
In Ubud, mass ceremonies take place a couple of times per year, and we were fortunate to be invited to such a ceremony during our travels. The cremation ceremony is not considered a sad event, as the Balinese believe in reincarnation so the body will only be temporarily absent as it passes on to the next life. The ceremony we attended was for around 80 deceased from three villages who had passed on over the previous couple of months.
Cremation is considered a family event, and young to old all take part in the celebration of the deceased’s life.
The exact date of a cremation ceremony is decided upon after consultation with a specialist in Balinese holy days. The ceremony itself consists of a number of parts. First the body is exhumed (in the case of cremations that are taking place some time after the time of death), and placed inside a coffin. The coffin is then put inside a decorative paper mache sarcophagus, or inside a wooden temple structure.
After this, the coffin is transported by relatives from the house to the location of the cremation. This can often be a couple of kilometres of walking, and, on a hot Balinese summer day, is hard work.
Additionally the procession never travels in a straight line in an effort to confuse the evil spirits and make sure they don’t travel with the deceased on to the after life. Watching, the procession almost seems choreographed.
Once the coffin arrives at the cremation, it is placed in line with the other sarcophaguses, and the family sit down to wait until the cremation starts. Whilst they wait the families feast, and wander around the food stalls and market stalls that are assembled.
It seems that in Bali the chicken has a very big role, and again chickens were being used as part of Ngaben. Poultry was tied to the sarcophagus, and released once the coffin had arrived. I was told that it was good luck if you were able to catch one of the released birds.
As soon as all of the coffins have arrived, and with the fire service in attendance, it is time to start burning the bodies. The ‘honour’ of lighting the first coffin is down to the relative of the most recently deceased – at this event this was a lady whose husband had passed away just the day before. Rather than using matches, the fire is fuelled by a complicated, and not particularly safe looking, gas installation.
It was certainly a very interesting experience, and, since it is seen as a celebration, we were welcomed by the locals. People didn’t seem to have a problem with me taking photos, and many were happy to pose. Out of respect I wore a traditional sarong and Balinese head dress.
Photos in this post were taken using the Leica M-E (digital) and Leica M6 (film with Portra 160). Lenses used were Summicron 28mm, Summilux 50mm, and Elmarit 90mm.
Related Images:
Chapter Thirty Six: Tajen – Cockfighting in Bali: July 2014
Continuing with our travels in Bali, I was given the opportunity to visit a Balinese cock fight, or Tajen. Please be aware, this is a fairly barbaric event, and therefore some of the photos may upset you. It was pretty sickening to see the birds fighting and dying, but it was an event that I was glad I was able to experience.
Bobby, the taxi driver we were using in Ubud, is a friendly guy, and he was happy to spend his time showing us all the normal tourist attractions on the island. I had been discussing my photography with him, and expressed an interest in getting some photos that were a little bit different to the ‘normal’ Bali vacation images. One evening he mentioned that there would be a village cock fight the following morning, and asked if I would like to go. Thinking it would be an ideal opportunity to get some good reportage shots, I said yes.
Cockfighting in Bali is big business. The village cockfights happen a couple of times per year, and are visited by thousands of people. It’s an opportunity for local bird fighters to take their prize cocks to fight to the death against other cocks. A practise that is fairly barbaric and illegal in the rest of the world, but tolerated in Bali (tolerated in as much as pay a bribe to the local police chief, and he’ll turn a blind eye). There is also a religious aspect to the cockfighting – they are also practiced inside temple grounds as an ancient ritual of religious purification to expel evil spirits. Unfortunately this was not such an occassion.
The trainers condition their birds, feeding them the best food and grooming them daily until they are about two years old and ready to fight. Cocks have national aggression for other males, so once the time has come, the trainers stick steroids down their throats, tie blades to their legs, and put them into the ring to fight.
Like a boxing match, the umpire decides how far the fight will go – either until the bird is killed, or, more usually, until the bird is injured and can’t fight on. At which point the losing bird will be killed, his right leg cut off and presented to the winner, and the rest of the bird goes to the soup pot. During the fights the spectators are going wild, shouting to encourage the bird that they have bet upon.
Also like a boxing match, significant money is exchanged in the form of bets – the trainers receive appearance money, with more going to the winner, and the spectators can bet at predetermined odds on their favourite bird.
It’s a social event, and outside the ring there are vendors selling food, drink, and clothing, giving the gamblers an opportunity to spend their winnings if they were lucky, or drink away their sorrows if they were not.
Related Images:
Chapter Thirty Two: Jatiluwih Rice Fields, Bali: July 2014
One of the features that Bali is best known for are the rice terraces. On Bali there are a total of five rice terraces covering a surface area of 19500 hectares. The rice fields are irrigated by a cooperative water management system known as subak, dating back to the 9th century. It is this system of irrigation that has positioned the Balinese as the most prolific rice growers in the region, and the terraces are certainly worth a visit. The Subak System makes up the cultural landscape of Bali, and has earned the island a place on the Unesco World Heritage List.
I chose to go along to the Jatiluwih rice fields on the west part of the island (Tabanan regency)as part of my tour with Yande. The rice fields are fully operational, and you are pretty much guaranteed to see some activity in the fields when you visit. Even though the fields are used by agriculture, the tourism industry hasn’t missed the chance to earn some money from visitors, and there are ticket stations along all of the main roads entering the rice terrace area, and you are obliged to pay if you want to drive any further.
It was interesting to see how the rice fields are managed, and it is still very manual labour which basically involves standing knee deep in a field of mud for long periods of time. However the workers I photographed seemed very happy to be there, and were equally happy to have their photos taken.
The colours were very lush, and I was able to take some nice photos.
It was interesting to see the extent of the manual labour – on different pitches I saw men working with manual tools, with oxen, and with motor driven machines.
Simple shelter for the workers to rest in.
Not sure how road worthy this bike was, but I’m sure it’s a great feeling driving to work every morning…..
With the exception of the two wider landscape shots which were taken with the Summicron 28mm, all the images in this post were made using the Leica M-E and Elmarit-M 90mm lens.
Related Images:
Chapter Thirty: Git Git Waterfalls, Bali: July 2014
After the sun was well and truly in the sky, we left the Ulun Danu Temple and headed over to the Git Git waterfalls near Singaraja. Git Git Falls is a 40 meter waterfall passing through lush green vegetation as the water splashes and twirls around rocks that have been slowly formed into shape over thousands of years.
Since it was still fairly early in the morning when we arrived, we had the falls to ourselves, and were able to take our time setting up tripods and taking some shots. I like to include the sensation of motion into water shots, so chose to use a three stop ND filter and a small aperture so that I could shoot with shutter speeds between 1 and 8 seconds.
Shots taken with Leica M-E, 28mm Summicron, and 0.9ND B+W Neutral Density filter
Related Images:
Chapter Twenty Nine: Ulun Danu Bratan Temple, Bali: July 2014
After four nights in Singapore we arrived in Bali. First we stayed at a resort hotel in Nusa Dua for five nights, before moving on to Ubud for the final six nights.
Through researching Bali online, I had come across a local photographer Yande Ardana who offered photographic excursions. Well worth hiring his services for the day if you are on the island. Although it was a rather early start (he picked me up at my hotel around 330am as we had a two hour drive ahead of us to make it to the first location of the day for the sunrise), Yande packed a number of locations into the day, and since he knew the locations well I was able to take advantage of his local knowledge and get some nice shots.
First we headed off to the Ulun Danu Bratan Temple in Bedugul for the sunrise. Ulun Danu is one of the main water temples on Bali, and is located on the shores of Lake Bratan amongst the mountains in Bedugul. The temple was built in 1663 and is used for offerings to the lake and river goddess Dewi Danu. Lake Bratan was chosen as the location due to the impotence of this lake in the irrigation of Bali – the lake is located at 1200m above sea level.
The temple is a fairly well known landmark in Bali, and is also depicted on the 50000 rupiah bank note. Although Yande and myself were the first photographers to arrive, by the time the sun had risen there were a number of other people present, including a rather large group of elderly Japanese photographers.
The light was certainly very nice in morning, and there was also a very slight layer of mist across the lake. I was shooting both digital and film, and found that the light lent itself very well to HDR images – all of the shots in this post, with the exception of the analog images, were 5 shot HDR processed images, using a tripod and a range of shutter speeds to maintain sharpness and image depth.
I’ve already had a number of these shots printed out in 30x45cm size, and am looking forwards to receiving one back from the frame shop fairly shortly.
Images in this post shot using the Leica M-E together with Summicron 28mm and Super-Elmar 21mm, and the Leica M6 with Elmarit 90mm, on Porta 160.
Related Images:
Chapter Twenty: Easter in Bath
My trip to the UK over Easter happened to coincide with a Leica User Forum meet up in Bath on Easter Saturday. Since I was fairly local for once, I decided to make the journey down to bath to join a group of like-minded photographers. Although rain had been forecast, the weather was beautiful, and it was very enjoyable wandering around Bath.
It’s twenty years since I was last in Bath, and although I can’t remember much about that trip, I do remember it as being a lively student town (after all, my previous trip was to see whether the university would be a suitable place for me to study). It seems that it is still very lively today, and the good weather had brought out the crowds, and also the street performers, who were all there in force, hoping to earn enough money to buy a couple of Easter eggs…..
I spent most of the day chatting with fellow photographers, and ended up not taking as many shots as I had wished, but was happy with some of the results.
Street Performers in Bath
The Royal Crescent, Bath (wikipedia). This semi circle of 30 terraced houses was built in the eighteenth century by the architect John Wood the Younger. It is thought of as one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in the United Kingdom, and is a Grade I listed building.
Although the houses along the Royal Crescent all appear identical from the outside, the first residents purchased a section of the exterior facade, and then employed their own architects to design the interior of the buildings, leading to some very different designs internally. Nowadays, the houses are either split up into flats, used as single residences, or in some cases turned into guest houses.
All of the doors in the Royal Crescent are painted white, with the exception of this yellow one. It was painted yellow by one of the previous residents in the 1970s, and, although Bath Council objected, the Secretary of State for the Environment overruled the court case and allowed the door to remain yellow. However since the building is Grade I listed, it is hard to make any significant changes to the exterior of the buildings without prior approval and planning permission, so the door has remained yellow ever since.
All of the access doors along the Royal Crescent are on the first floor. The ground floor appears to be a separate flat or basement area for the upper floors.
Holburne Museum of Art, Bath.
All the shots in this post were shot with the Summicron 28mm on the Leica M-E
Related Images:
Chapter Eighteen: Where it all began, Palo Alto, February 2014
The HP Garage. The birthplace of Silicon Valley.
During a recent visit to Hewlett Packard Corporate HQ in Palo Alto, I took the opportunity to drive by the HP Garage. The Garage is where Bill Hewlett and David Packard first started on their journey to create the world’s largest IT corporation. The company has progressed leaps and bounds since then, but the philosophy of Bill and David is very much at the centre of everything we do – one of the key ideologies that is followed internally at HP is a quote by David Packard: “To remain static is to lose ground”
From Wikipedia: The HP Garage is a private museum where the company Hewlett-Packard (HP) was founded. It is located at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California. It is considered to be the Birthplace of Silicon Valley
In 1937, David Packard (then 25 years old) visited William Hewlett in Palo Alto and the pair had their first business meeting.
In 1938, newly married Dave and Lucile Packard moved into 367 Addison Ave, the first floor three-room apartment, with Bill Hewlett sleeping in the shed. Hewlett and Packard began to use the one-car garage, with $538 in capital.
In 1939 Hewlett and Packard formed their partnership, with a coin toss creating the name Hewlett-Packard.
Hewlett-Packard’s first product, built in the garage, was an audio oscillator, the HP200A. One of Hewlett-Packard’s first customers was Walt Disney Studios, which purchased eight oscillators to test and certify the sound systems in theaters that were going to run the first major film released in stereophonic sound, Fantasia.
Image shot with the Leica M-E, 28mm Summicron
Related Images:
Chapter Seventeen: San Francisco, February 2014
In February I was able to travel to Palo Alto to attend a new hire training, and took the opportunity to burn a few hotel points and spend the weekend before wandering around San Francisco. I managed to reserve the Marriott Hotel just off Union Square, which made a change from the hotels I have stayed at in the past in the Financial District, and it was a good base location for all the things I wanted to see.
Related Images:
Chapter Sixteen: UrbEx Breukelen, February 2014
There is something about derelict industry that has always intrigued me. It’s a combination of the thoughts about what happened when the installation was originally in use, the actions that led to the decision to close down or relocate the factory, and the progression of the facility since the last tenants departed, slowly getting taken over by nature, and local graffiti artists.
Rust zacht, Opa (Rest in Peace, Grandpa)
The same can be said for the location that these photos were taken in. A disused factory, on the outskirts of Breukelen, North Holland. This factory, an old aluminium factory, has been shut down for some years. At the end of 2010 the remaining machinery was removed, the internal walls were pulled down, the resulting rubbish left to decay, and fences were put up around the building to keep the graffiti artists out.
The European Bank
Of course, that didn’t work, and by squeezing through some small holes in the fence and clambering over some rubbish it is still possible to get inside.
The Infirmary
Looks like we weren’t the first people to find those holes……
UrbEx in Breukelen
The photos in this post were shot using the 28mm Summicron lens, mounted on the Leica M-E. I also took some shots with my 50mm Summilux on the M6 body, but of course it always takes a bit longer to get films developed and scanned in, so it will be some time before those make it to my hard drive……
Related Images: