Photography

Just sold my M9-P so this post is quite timely.

Man, i wish i could retype everything. I was in the zone! 

Well the relationship is both physical and philosophical... Multidimensional as Casey pointed out.

You can view it in stages and observe your feelings change over time about a particular gear. 

My Stages

1- first leica. Giddy with excitement. The relationship is immediately visual and physical as it is one that is initially based on sight and touch. The weight and balance of it in your hand. The feel of the vulcanite leather on your fingertips. That well calibrated click as the lens locks into position when mounted. The shutter press. Very mechanical, very visceral. It is a thing of beauty. People who see it first remark on that aspect. With something like a DSLR, beautiful is not something that one associates. We say, wow, what a long lens. Or, boy, this is heavy. We look at attributes. With a rangefinder, particularly a Leica, we see it in totality and proclaim that it is beautiful.

2- not a collector. So camera gets a fair amount of use. But as with anything beautiful, we baby it on the field and try to protect it from harm. I swing it to my back like how i would automatically turn my wrist to protect a watch bezel from hitting a door knob.

3- with fair use, we get intimate with it. Lines. Curves. How world is seen through its viewfinder. Like a kid looking through a telescope. The ordinary being separated by the surreal, the beautiful, with just a few sheets of glass in between. The physical slowly gives way to the philosophical. We admire the design. We admire how the photograph and the creative process is bridged via this camera. Camera becomes an embodiment of many things that we might hold important or dear. It becomes a part of us. 

4- then new camera comes along. All this hogwash about what i just said gets sentenced to solitary inside the cramped confines of a drybox. 

5- sentimentality is put to the test over a one year period. I hesitatingly put it on sale only to retract at some point. No, i dont really need the money. No, its not going to go to a good home... As if my drybox was the four seasons. 

6- novelty wears off after a time and i start to look at it as cash unconverted. It is again put on sale.

7- a meet is made. I do a background check on the buyer before the sale. I confirm impressions when i see buyer in person. Sale is made. Sentimentality zero. Bank account up by several dollars. A new friend is made and makes the selling experience a part of the whole. I see the look on the face of the gentleman buyer. He is happy. Which makes me happy. Like a foster child, i bid it goodbye. Oh, wait, i say to him as he looks for something to wrap his new baby with as he is confused with euphoria as to how to carry it home with him. I give him a bag for it like how you'd give your baby a raincoat prior to going out in the rain. The caring for the camera is both appreciated and reinforced once again between buye and seller. All is well with the world.

Perspective

1- the bond is initially physical

2- then it goes beyond the light box and we try and understand the brand. What it stands for. If it has integrity.

3- channging the camera becomes easy at this point. Partly because it is digital. With mechanical ones, we tend to keep it, eh. Not so with digital.

4- what stays with us is the essence of the brand. We know the next one will be similar. The feeling, while not the same, will be similar. Great brands with heritage know how to preserve this feeling. Leica, Rolex, Porsche. The change only becomes cataclysmic when the change is significant. Film to digital. 38mm to 42mm. With some, it is managed well... Leica, Porsche... In some within a brand, it can be controversial... The old rolex explorer moving to bigger sizes... But overall, the feeling is preserved. With Leica, i think that feeling is more well guarded versus higher volume counterparts in the luxury goods industry.

5- so at this point, the relationship, with a bit of hesitation is elevated at brand level and on a particular series and not anymore into a particular type... And i think this is more felt with digital where lifespans are shorter. Again, the great brands aim to preserve this feeling even if its products go through iterations.

The selfies prove it, eh?

Great post, Oliver. Great series of pics!

best,

Echi

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