Most extreme place for your Leica?

Where is the most extreme or dangerous place you have ever taken your

Leica? Mine have been pretty safe - around the world a few times, in

mosques and up mountains and on ski-lifts - from which my Minilux

plummeted but remained unscathed. How about volcanos, submarines,

balloons?

But seriously, where wouldn't you take your Leica? On an inner-city

street full of alcohol-crazy teenagers late at night may not be a safe

bet. But I reckon the guy toting a bag of lenses and laden down with a

big SLR or the latest digital rig looks more of an easy target. Any

thoughts?

I'll take 'em anywhere. They're insured under a business policy

for all risks. I live outside of Detroit. When shooting in the city I

don't worry about the cameras, I worry about me! The gear can

be replaced but I can't be. I'd rather take pictures in Afghanistan

than in Detroit on a Saturday night. I'll wager a guess there's

more "artillery" there than in Kabul. The only more dangerous city

assignment where I've shot was in Kingston Jamaica.

 

IMO, another dangerous place for camera gear is the airport

inspection table. Other photographers I know have had cameras

dropped, etc. So have I. Pack loose boys and girls or you'll be

sorry.

 

Next is in the studio. A VERY dangerous place. I've dropped

more gear, scratched more bodies, killed more IBM CF cards

here than hanging out a car window, hiking through the

mountains, or in the vast wilderness in the dead of winter.<div></div>

"Well it's a scary place, but it's not as scary as Detroit." --Daisy Chainsaw (used to hear it on the Windsor station when I lived in Ann Arbor) And, yeah, Detroit's probably the most dangerous place I've ever been . . .<P>

As far as dangerous places for my Leicas, how about around my neck as I hang off an electrical junction box, clinging by my fingertips to a conduit that's too close to the wall to grip firmly?<P>

<center><img src="http://mikedixonphotography.com/onwall.jpg"></center><P>

I've also been around tons of drunks and in plenty of full-bore honky tonks (Nashville may have the highest number of dive bars per capita in the country), but when you've got a maniacal glaze in your eyes, straight Jack Daniels' in one hand, and metal brick in the other, the rednecks don't give you much shit . . . ; )

Some places in Sicily are not safe. I kept my Leica locked up in

save in cruise ship cabin and brought on shore only a Minox ML

and a Minox C, two small cameras caused not much attention.

<p> I used my Leica only on excursions with a group.

Europe isn't that dangerous at all. (With the possible exception of Germany.) While we have a few unsafe spots, generally the place is much safer than the United States.<p>Most dangerous <u>recent</u> experience: trying to photograph a <i>Cygnus olor</i> who turned out to be ill-tempered. He bit me and tried to get hold of the camera strap. Still, I'd rather document crocodiles and white sharks than the current political climate in Germany.

I think the most extreme places I've taken my cameras, in terms of wear and tear, are desert areas, and I've been going to such places quite a bit recently. But the most horrible was inside a slaughterhouse. My cameras stank of animal fat and blood. Every time I took a picture for days after I had to smell the meat. Not nice.

 

On the whole, though, my life is tame in the extreme. No flying bullets or even fists, thank God.

To make a picture of a skydiver, I mounted a motorized M camera on the wing of an airplane. I ran a trip wire inside the plane so I could fire the camera. The diver jumped at about 6,000 feet.

I dont dare take my leicas to extreme places, I have a beaten up Ricoh GR1 and a Contax RTSII for those kinda situations! ;]

Leicas were meant to be brought anywhere. The only question is a serious flood or rainy downpour. I would be worried. Of course, the Contax G2 wouldn't go into the rain at all. That's why the M7 wins there. I think that the body shell on the Leica is the best.

 

About dangerous places in Europe, that's why I have the M3 on hand. People think that it's a retro camera and it doesn't gather any attention because it's antique. And it's not an antique!

 

Another possibility is to buy a Bessa R2. It's a cheaper form of Leica :)

Never ever hand a Leica to my daughter! She has dropped,

kicked, crashed mine more times than I care to remember. War

zones do not have anything on her. I believe that Leica has

changed the terms of its passport warranty to exclude any use by

my daughter.

The most danger place I have taken my Leica is Naples, Italy. But that is a place that you know is full of thieves so you take extra care. It's invariably the places you think are safe that are dangerous. Japanese commuter trains are full of psychos. Various parts of Osaka are as dangerous as Detroit at night. Osaka probably has as many thieves on motorbikes as Naples. I don't photograph yakuza, not even at waist level.

Well, I was born in Detroit and lived near there until about 10 years ago, and I have to agree it was a scary place and I followed the late mayor Coleman Young's admonition to "stay north of 8 mile road". I hear things have turned around downtown but I don't have any curiosity to go back and see for myself. There wasn't anything I'd have wanted to photograph anyway.

 

The only bad experience I've had so far while carrying a Leica was in Kensington (London) a couple years back. Got accosted on the street by a couple of foul-mouthed inebriated skinheads, early evening, plenty of cars and people walking the streets...no one looked or stopped. I was sure these guys were going to beat on me and steal my M6, but all they did was cuss me out about the cigar I was smoking and finally ran out of four-letter words and walked off. I just stood there quietly looking as unafraid as I could pretend to, mentally choreographing how I could swing the Leica so it'd do the most damage to their shiny skulls and the least damage to the Leica ;>)

In term of operation, right where I live. The winter here can reach as low as 70 degrees F below Zero (wind chill factor). Air temp. can reach as low as -30 degree F. My Contax G1 didn't fare well in this temperature. Granted you can change batteries, but it is not fun when the temperature gets that low. My M6 and R6.2 function fine here. It's the film that gets more abuse for me.

Mexico City a few years ago. I just turned 21 and brought my brand new Minilux. My buddy and I didn't do any research before going and didn't know about the "express" kidnappings. So we were just walking around, taking snapshots, hailing random cabs. All without incident. We had a great time, and I have some excellent slides from the trip.

 

I've since been back to Mexico City on three occasions. I'm now a little wiser and certainly a lot more cautious these days.

 

All danger aside, it is still one of my favorite cities in the world.

 

I highly recommend the film "Amores Perros" a violent but beautifully photographed film about life in Mexico City.

Alex, how do you spot the yakuza?

Years ago I used to walk around the projects on Potrero Hill or the Fillmore in SF with my Leica. More often I carried a Nikon F with 28/50/85. Theory was it was easily replaceable and I could either hand it to somebody or hit them with it depending on personal safety issues. These days I'm more concerned with personal safety than equipment. But I seem to be spending some time in alleys south of Market street, usually carrying M2 35/50 or R4 28/50/90 which is my today's version of Nikon F (relatively easily replaceable). Good luck.

Oh you sure can spot a yakuza! The same goes for members of the Hong Kong Triad.

Extreme? Winter in Minnesota -- my Mamiya 6 froze completely but my R7 kept right taking pictures, motor drive and all. About 30 below that day. I'd also have to second handing the camera to kids as being the most dangerous. My young son dropped a Leica P&S I'd given him to use in Capri last year -- trashed it pretty good -- thank goodness it wasn't the R7. Of course, I'd never dropped a camera before. I'd also agree that Naples can be very unnerving if not actually scary, though certainly a beautiful place with wonderful people (and great pizza). I don't think there is anywhere I wouldn't take a Leica.

A few years ago I did a QTVR shoot in a beer bottling plant here

in Sydney. Thousands of bottles were flashing past on a

conveyor belt and occassionally one would accidentally fly off,

usually in my (camera's) direction. As each of these things held

750ml of beer, they made one hell of a projectile (and lots of

shrapnel when they hit the wall or other part of the

machinery).<P>

 

In the same plant (the Lion Nathan Rech's brewery in Lidcome

BTW), they had an ice-filter room where I had to wear a Carbon

Monoxide monitor while photographing. Had to keep an eye on

the monitor at all times, if not then I would have passed out (and

asphixiated) without knowing what hit me

My Leica did get taken out of the glass case at Calumet so I could hold it for a few minutes. I think someone had been messing with it while I was away.

 

Wish Konica would steal that .85 finder for it's own...

Personally if i am going somewhere risky, I leave my Leica at home and use something I can afford to lose / break. Something not only cheaper but with less emotional attachment.

One observation on harsh and dangerous places: I used to scuba dive a lot and had a nikonos 5 for that purpose, and found that for certain (limited) land based applications it was unbeatable. The "o" rings on every entry point allows it to be used in jungle rainstorms, desert dust storms and similar harsh envronments without any fear of damage. Same on yachts (who would want 200 gallons of sea water in a wave breaking over their M4P - not me) I even took it caving with me once (The huge Nikonos SB 103 Speedlight was a bit off putting to carry around though.) And of course the Nik. is built like the proverbial brick outhouse. And when it comes time to clean it - just dunk the entire thing in a bucket of tepid water.The main disadvantage is the lack of rangefinder, which pretty much limits you to using the 35mm lens for depth of field. (Not that the lens choice is that big anyway.)I also remember the 35mm lens as being sharp and contrasty with great colour rendition, and took exemplary photos. Is this strange - nope. I recently noticed a picture in a book on the M series Leica. The photo showed a photographer in the front line in Vietnam in the late 60's. There hanging next to his trusty M3 was a Nikonos 1.

The greatest danger to my cameras has been when they are handled by other people. Why is it that people unused to handling cameras invariably stick their thumbs on the lens? If they are astonished at my reaction, I ask them: "Hey, if you picked up a baby would you stick your thumb in its eye?"

Some of you guys have indeed been to some hairy, scary, mindbendingiy

extreme places. A summary of some of the worst:

 

Most dangerous place, though I�ve never visited, and by the sound of

it no tourist in their right mind would ever want to: Detroit.

 

Closely followed by: Naples and Osaka (how many fingers do those

Yakuza have anyway?) and Marc William's Jamaica (Glad you say "where

you have shot, not where you were shot.")

 

Coldest climate: Phillip P�s neighbourhood. -30F. Where do you live?

 

 

Most innovative assignment: Sal di Marco�s skydiving rig, Mike Dixon

hanging loose, Andrew Nemeth�s beer factory (I knew Aussie beer packed

a punch but I never knew it was that dangerous.)

 

 

Other dangers: airports, studios, strangers using your camera, and

John Collier�s daughter.

 

I agree the Nikonos looks like an ultra-rugged beastie! It does sound

like a good idea not to take something you value to a dangeorus place

unless you have good insurance.

Sorry I got into this a little late: Pat and I were in New Zealand for a month-long visit in the Spring of 1994. When we got to Queenstown, they were offering "bungee jumps," for free, for anyone over the age of 65. The jumps were from a bridge, high over the river in a remote canyon. (The drive to the bridge was more scary than the jump! <g>).

 

I wanted to take at least two quickies with Pat's M6, between the time I jumped (really, I think that they pushed me) and the time my free fall was slowed and snatched back by that massive collection of rubber bands tied to my ankles.

 

Well, let's just say that either I was too excited, or that the snap-back induced by the bungee cords resulted in one helluva couple of blurred images. Pat said that IF I ever tried it again, she'll divorce me - - and name those bungee cords as the respondent.

 

It scared the !@#$%^&* out of me, but it was worth the experience.

Biggest risk I ever subjected my Leicas to (so far) was taking THIS picture:

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=380526&size=md

 

I was in the center of the random water jets, and one of them firehosed the M4-P as I was trying to make my way out of the fountain.

 

I connect with Gil - in my youth I always thought the pointy prism of an unmetered Nikon F would make a nice dent in any would-be mugger's skull, especially swung at the end of a neck strap. Probably untrue.