Leica stories ?

Some of the forum members may recall an incident memorable or otherwise which

happened with their Leica. In 1996 while doing street photography I suddenly

took a picture of a London Bobby with my M6. I cannot find that photo now but

he was shocked and it showed. He did not haul me up but warned me gently. I

guess times were different then and it would be dangerous to do such a thing

now.

In 1975 they were even better<div></div>

Well, the question is does he have the right to arrest you. I don't think so.

You cannot be arrested on public land just for taking photos, even of (UK) policemen. Only if you were committing an offence (such as obstructing the law or causing a public disturbance etc etc) would they have a reason, and even then they do not have the power to confiscate film or equipment unless there is reasonable suspicion of terrorist activity. You just need to be reasonable, polite, and don't aggravate them!

 

Note: a lot of land is private, not public - even though the public have access (eg shopping centres etc).

 

As I understand it in the UK, anyway.

I was at PhotoLA in Santa Monica and I had an M3 with me when I was talking to one of the

gallery owners selling "found images". Basically random old photos found at garage sales etc.

Some were fantastic. Anyway, an elderly gentleman came up to me and asked me about the

camera. He said how much he loved the M3 and was happy to see someone young still

shooting with one (I was about 26 or so). He was very nice and we talked for a bit about the

camera and the greats who used it. When he left, the gallery owner asked me if I knew who

he was. I did not. The gallery owner said he was Weston Naef, the curator of photography at

the Getty Museum, which is one of the best collections in the world. In any case, it was a fun

experience and he was such a nice guy.

Inside a small grocery store in Buenos Aires the middle aged male clerk was aloof due to my very rusty Spanish. Then he noticed my M6 and immediately warmed up. He said he had an M3 with a 50mm Summicron. Our Leicas provided a communication bridge for those few minutes.

Stuart,

 

nice story.

I liked David's, because it shows how these cameras form a weird, instant bond among

people of different types.

 

As for stories... nothing as heartwarming, but I did meet with Ken Tanaka (fellow Leica user,

resident of Chicago and frequent poster at the Leica forum) while shooting this photos...<div></div>

Ooops! It was not a 'lux, but a Konica Hexar 35/f2 above.

A couple years ago while using my M4 at a local car show I heard a voice comment on my use of an antique camera. Turning around I found it to be someone I had worked with over twenty years earlier, and he was photographing with a Leica as well. What a surprise! Over coffee we caught up on news and found that we were both members of Photonet. Small world indeed. This was shot in a local coffee shop with M4 and 35mm Summilux (pre-asph) on Fujipro 400H. Now to see if Colin posts a shot of me?

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/6589765-md.jpg"></center>

When I was taking this picture in Kangding, (a remote Tibetan town in western China) with my Leica IIIa a local man stood to one side watching me for quite some time. I thought he might be a hotel tout or a beggar. Eventually he approached me shyly and pointed to the camera and said "LAI-KAA ... ting hao!" (very good). He asked to hold the camera for a minute and as he turned it over in his hands he nodded his head and gave me the thumbs up.

To borrow a phrase from Chairman Mao: "[Leica] has friends all over the world!"

<br>

 

 

 

<a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/9/16221727_e59d7c9ac3_m.jpg" width="173" height="240" alt="Kangding south" /></a>

I was wandering around the Marais in Paris during December a couple of years back. I had an M7 peeping out from my overcoat. These guys were cleaning chewing gum off the road. The man on the left spotted the M7, pulled his friend over and gave him a lecture about Leicas!<div></div>

what a nice portrait, Glenn. i really liket it.

During a visit to Ankara, Turkey, in 2000, my wife and I wandered into a little eatery, drawn by the amazing aromas drifting out onto the street. The interior was very dark, but the young man behind the counter quickly saw I was carrying a Leica (an M3) and began asking me about it. He said he was interested in photography and knew that Leicas were "the best." He asked if I could take his picture so he could tell his friends he'd been photographed by a Leica. I did, and I sent him a print later.

 

The shop was so dark I had to guess at focus and exposure. This is on T400 CN with a wide-open 35mm Summilux (pre-ASPH).<div></div>