L is for Life, Light and, of course, a Leica for Christmas

Blessed are the ones who get a new Leica for Christmas and join the world of Leica owners. It definitely beats a pair of Santa socks or a half-double crochet muffler. Unfortunately, such is our passion that we usually can’t wait and end up buying the M, the Q or the SL ourselves. It’s a hard life being a Leicaphile.

Photographers, it seems to me, belong to one of two categories. The first category, comprising the majority of those with a camera, are the ‘Technical Photographers’. The second group is reserved, solely, for those enlightened souls who use a Leica.

Being seen with a camera from one of the mainstream manufacturers immediately identifies you as being, first and foremost, a technical photographer. At one glance you reveal yourself as someone who cares about megapixels, autofocus speed, high ISO performance and the like.

You are likely to be extremely knowledgeable as to the comparative technical capabilities of your chosen equipment. And, you are probably, fiercely tribal when challenged as to your selection.

If you have strayed into this sector of the community, in which success is measured by factors such as whether your backside is illuminated (which, I think, refers to the sensor) then, in truth, you may call yourself a photographer. But you can only aspire to becoming an artist.

Leica for Christmas

Do you seek the ability to command light, to bend the world to your visual will? Are you prepared to abandon the very idea that for a picture to be special, it must be technically perfect? Do you embrace the entire history of the decisive moment? All are laudable attributes which point in only one direction. There is no alternative than to becoming a disciple of the one and only Leica brand. You need a Leica for Christmas.

Allow me to explain…

Start SL-owly

To start upon the path of acceptance to become a true photographic great, you must wear only cameras from a particular brand. Specifically, the famous Leica from Wetzlar.

You may, just, squeeze into the fold by sporting a vintage Rolleiflex. But, frankly, it will be rather cumbersome and will inevitably jostle uncomfortably whilst posing with a glass of wine and a mince pie

The age of your Leica camera is not material to the prestige which it will create. However, it is important to be, or pretend to be, imperiously ignorant as to the technical capabilities of the device. Although, you are allowed to venture an opinion on whether your camera is film or digital.

Real Leica owners will, in the right company (of other Leica owners), wax in lyrical prose as to the serene beauty of the old CCD sensors, the rendering of the original Leica lenses and their next holiday in Wetzlar. In more public gatherings, which may include ‘non-Leica’ owners, it is enough to hang the camera casually from your shoulder and profess almost supreme indifference to its presence.

Younger Leica owners

These are typically inducted into the family of imaging giants via one of the gateway-drug cameras. I am referring to the Q- or SL-series. In extreme circumstances, an old D-Lux 7 might do, although everyone knows it isn’t a “real Leica”.

The SL3 is an excellent first choice. It has the name LEICA emblazoned in the largest font that could possibly fit onto the front of the camera body. This displays your allegiance for all the world to see. It may be a digital camera, and it may have a rather unwelcome heft to its body. The autofocus may operate at a slightly leisurely speed, and the battery life may be a little short on stamina. But it is certifiably a true and, of course, expensive Leica.

Get Q-uicker

The Q series is just the ticket to hang cross-body, from a weathered leather strap of course, at family gatherings, weddings and whilst travelling the world in a nonchalant style.

It signals that, for this photographer, the camera is a tool of almost magical intuition, poised to pounce at, what might, unoriginally, be called the decisive moment. It is instantly ready to capture moments of unrepeatable joy or gravitas.

Creating special memories with a Leica Q series camera must therefore be done with casual understatement. It must involve almost no effort whatsoever; simply point and shoot.

Make M-agic

Venturing into the domain of the gods, by using an SL or Q camera, is just the opening act. To become an aficionado, the mainline addict’s choice will forever be the M series. Merely owning an M series camera marks you out as one of the chosen few. Not for you, the pampering convenience of autofocus. A real artist insists on using an M because, like self-flagellation in pursuit of religious purity, all M cameras ensure that we suffer for our art.

To become a master of the M, the photographer must develop a judgement of distance that would make an eagle beg for such exactitude in hunting prey. To be able to whip the focus ring into a position so precise as to instinctively nail focus on the eye and not the eyelash, is the mark of the seasoned practitioner.

As a Leica owner, your work will immediately enter the hallowed grounds of ‘important’ images. It matters less what is captured — more that it was captured on a Leica. Random images of people on the street can be anointed with significance and importance because they were shot with a Leica. Monochrome images inherit the aura of the old masters of Leica magic. But you can even bless colour images with authenticity and story-telling importance, so long as they conform to the strict style of a previous archetype of the genre.

Blessed are the ones…

Leica owners are therefore the blessed among us. They are champions of our art, flying high above the electronic wizardry that hypnotises those lesser mortals so besotted with the minutiae of technical photography. For we Leica owners, the world unfolds before us, unprotected from our searching gaze, unable to conceal its secrets, revealing its essential beauty to our Leica lens. We don’t take pictures, we create art.

I am a Leica owner…  So, I am happy… I think… And, next year, I might begin to take myself less seriously…

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