Jump to content

55 year old travel slides from M2


vikasmg

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I am sure many of you will enjoy the pictures posted by 'prentisd' with a link from dpreview's Leica Forum

55 year old travel slides from M2: Leica Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

 

You can also go directly to his album at

Around the world in 66 days in 1956 - prentis' Photos

 

- Vikas

Link to post
Share on other sites

Vikas

 

Thank you for posting this link. They are an amazing collection, and so satisfying to linger over. The quality of the scanned images is a revelation even if, as he says, he had to to a fair bit of work on them in Elements.

 

And all with one lens! Just goes to show. We wring our hands too much over what to take on a trip. He says it was an F2 - looks like a 50 to me - what do you think?

 

Maybe the serendipity lies in the method behind the taking of the photos :). As he says:

"my father composed the photographs. I, light meter in hand, called out the exposures and my mother told my father what to shoot" !!

Link to post
Share on other sites

wow. a fews things i like from that time. other than actual photos that is.

 

- that klm jet is SSSSOOOO cool.

- 4th slide. the dresses the women are wearing look so classy. love fashion from that era

- istanbul looks the same, but with a lot less people.

 

around the world in 66 days sounds extremely difficult. you'd have to be on the go all the time.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Vikas

And all with one lens! Just goes to show. We wring our hands too much over what to take on a trip. He says it was an F2 - looks like a 50 to me - what do you think?

 

Maybe the serendipity lies in the method behind the taking of the photos :). As he says:

"my father composed the photographs. I, light meter in hand, called out the exposures and my mother told my father what to shoot" !

!

 

I think you're right about the 50mm. The Roman Colosseum picture (4) made me thing 35, but thinking back to when I visited the Colosseum some years ago, I think it probably is a 50.

 

I remember using my own father's camera as a boy (a Leica IIIg and using the incident light adaptor on a Weston meter - it was fun and people didn't get exasperated when you took you time to take a reading, come pack to the spot you wanted to shoot from and then took a picture. Of course much of the time I'd just estimate the exposure and it often came out right ...

Link to post
Share on other sites

around the world in 66 days sounds extremely difficult. you'd have to be on the go all the time.

 

Well he does say they were airborne for a cumulative 5 24 hour days. My father once told me of a flight to New York from New Delhi back in 1960. He had to make three or stops before he got to London - and then the lang haul to NY! The whole family was heading the the US at the time and mother, with two kids in tow, went by ship. Took us a month!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you, Vikas.

 

My family did a similar trip in 1963 when I was 7 and visited some of the same places but unfortunately no one took any photos so it's great to see yours!

 

One thing that is really pleasant is that there are virtually no other tourists around (or your father was particularly skilled in keeping them out of the pictures). Sadly all those places are now swamped with jostling tourists, which completely changes the experience.:(

 

Pete.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Pete, the pictures are not mine! I just posted a link from the Leica Talk forum over in dpreview.com. The original post is from Prentis in that fourm.

 

They date back to 1956 and air travel was still rare in those days - Unless you pic dates and the time-of-day very carefully I don't think you can avoid crowds any more. You're right, it's not the same any more, though for people who couldn't travel earlier that may sound somewhat elitist.

 

- Vikas

Link to post
Share on other sites

Man thanks so much. I love that era, and in fact one of the reasons I love my M5 so much is that with the right film and lens you get a very retro look which interestingly enough is coming back into vogue with movies and advertising clips.

 

A fascinating look back to a an era when parts of the globe were a curious mystery. I deplore modernism and technology for destroying that fascinating aspect of our world and dulled our lives, thank goodness it was captured for us to see though.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I just finished the second half of the slides and was struck by the images of Hong Kong. Love image 76 of Repulse Bay with the plane at the top, and what chances of going back to the place wherer no. 77 was taken at and seeing those hills at the back still uncluttered by buildings, none I would think. It's hard to believe it's the same place we know now.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...