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The Bridal Vail
Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron
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An
amazing number of the world’s greatest photographers have been Leica rangefinder
shooters. The question is, were they Leica shooters because they were great, or
were they great because they were Leica shooters? (And with Leicas, I include similar interchangeable lens rangefinder cameras.)
Neither
proposition is entirely correct, yet I suspect it may be closer to the truth to
say they were great because they were Leica shooters.
The
average well-equipped photographer who sallies forth laden with a pair of DSLRs
and a battery of zoom lenses covering a range of 12 to 300mm or more is ready
for anything. The problem is that the photographer who is ready for anything is actually ready for nothing. In contemplating any subject, he must decide
whether he should use a wide angle to encompass the entire scene or move in
close for dramatic impact. Should he back off with a telephoto for flattened
perspective and/or shallow depth of field, or should he zoom in to concentrate
on a specific detail? The options are overwhelming and invite a terminal case
of paralysis by analysis.
I
once read an article about the travel photographer Gerald Brimacombe, who at
that time was working with a pair of digital cameras that most professionals
and advanced amateurs would consider too limited for serious work. Yet, he
chose to work within the limitations of those cameras and concentrate on what
they could do, rather than what they couldn’t do.And produced pictures that sold over and over.
Although he happened not to be using Leicas, that concentration
is nonetheless the essence of the Leica approach to photography. As Picasso
said“Forcing yourself to use restricted means is
the sort of restraint that liberates invention. It obliges you to make a kind
of progress that you can’t even imagine in advance.”
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Poverty in Rural Tennessee
Leica M3, 35mm f2.8
Summaron
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I
think it is something like this that made so many Leica shooters great: since
using a Leica and one or two or three lenses doesn’t make for a lot of options,
they learned to photograph the things that could be photographed with their
limited equipment and let the rest of the world go by.
Obviously,
you don't have to shoot with Leicas (I don't) to practice the principal of
limited means. The standard advice for budding photographers used to be to
shoot with only one camera, one lens, and one film for a solid year before
adding anything else to the kit.
Of
course, all this makes me a voice crying in the wilderness of this gearhead
world where some people actually list their photographic arsenals as part of
their signatures on internet forums. To them, I would say, "Your cameras
are great. Now could I please see your pictures?"
(Reposted from January, 2020)
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Photography and text copyright 2026 David B.Jenkins.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.