Welcoming Myself

[Peter Walker]

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Just a little post to welcome myself to the Leica forum as I am about to become a brand new Leica owner - well, as soon as Leica deliver my M9, that is.

 

I've been a photographer since the late 1970's. My photography is a combination of travel photography, portrait photography and underwater photography. Most of the last 20 years, I have been shooting medium format, most recently a Hasselblad 205FCC with the digital CFV-16 back.

 

Some proud moments in my photography life include:

 

- Center spread in Hasselblad's Focus magazine

- Published 20 images on Singapore and Malaysian heritage sites in ASEAN photo book

- Published in several travel and underwater magazines

- Set up one of the very earliest web-based photo galleries in 1997, and still going...

 

For travel photography, my technique involves getting up with the sun and wandering the streets of whichever city I happened to be in, mainly around Asia, looking for interesting, unusual or attractive things / people to photograph. I would often walk 5 to 10 kms between 6am and 10am. But I was getting weary of lugging around a big camera, heavy lenses and a big tripod, every time I wanted to photograph something. I figured that, one day, someone would make a smaller camera that could produce images of an acceptable quality to my Hasselblad.

 

It appears to me that the M9 is that camera. Over the next few months, I am going to enjoy trying to prove that hypothesis.

 

I'll keep the Hasselblad for "planned" portrait photography.

 

As for underwater photography, do you think I will ever be brave enough to seal the M9 and a wide-angle lens in a housing and take it under the sea? Watch this space...

 

Regards

Peter

 

You can see some of my work at http://www.peterwalker.com

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[andybarton]

Welcome to the forum Peter

[wilfredo]

Welcome, and please don't forget to post pictures on the photo forums.

[thrice]

Great pictures on your website Peter, welcome to the forums and to Leica (digital) Rangefinders

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[rob_w]

Hi Peter, and welcome aboard. Can't wait to see how the M9 influences your future photography.

 

Cheers

 

Robert

[eritho]

Just looked through your website. Marvelous pictures. Welcome!!

[jonoslack]

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HI Peter

No need to Welcome yourself - we'll do it for you!

I hope your M9 comes soon and that you'll be very happy with it!

all the best

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[diogenis]

Welcome welcome Peter! Hope you prove your hypothesis and enjoy your new camera!

[SJP]

As for underwater photography, do you think I will ever be brave enough to seal the M9 and a wide-angle lens in a housing and take it under the sea? Watch this space...

Not as brave as the S2 owners that think they can do without a housing under such circumstances:D

And.... welcome!

[jaapv]

I wanted to do that with an M8 but could not work up the nerve.

[HSL]

Hi Peter,

 

Terrific photos on your website. Having also recently committed to making a similar switch from the V system to M9 for travel and street, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on shooting square with the M9. For me, there's finally adequate resolution for cropping (M8 didn't work as well for that, in my opinion). And while I would really like an M9 feature for capturing square jpgs in camera (leaving the DNG alone), I've been thinking that modifying an external viewfinder with lines might help me "think Hasselblad" when it suits the subject. I really enjoy 24x36, but sometimes nothing beats 6x6. Any thoughts?

 

Regards,

 

HSL

[Peter Walker]

Hi Peter,

 

Terrific photos on your website. Having also recently committed to making a similar switch from the V system to M9 for travel and street, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on shooting square with the M9. For me, there's finally adequate resolution for cropping (M8 didn't work as well for that, in my opinion). And while I would really like an M9 feature for capturing square jpgs in camera (leaving the DNG alone), I've been thinking that modifying an external viewfinder with lines might help me "think Hasselblad" when it suits the subject. I really enjoy 24x36, but sometimes nothing beats 6x6. Any thoughts?

 

Regards,

 

HSL

 

That's an interesting thought that hadn't occurred to me. After decades of shooting square, how will my visualization be impacted by the rectangular frame. Will I just adapt? Will I mentally crop the sides? Will I forget to look for vertical perspectives?

 

An external viewfinder with square crop lines might be an interesting add-on. Or a square cardboard mask to pop over the front of the inbuilt viewfinder?

 

My going-in intention is to embrace the rectangular Leica format as will quickly become my primary travel and outdoor portrait camera. But, it'll be interesting to see if years of ingrained Hasselblad usage will have an influence or not.

 

We can discuss again in a few weeks after I've done some M9 shooting...

 

Regards

Peter