My first travel magazine assignment (w/ M10)

[Dennis]

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It has been precisely four years since I bought my M10, and I'm very proud to say that it has been an exquisite and delightful journey. Some LUF people here know how passionate I'm about photography, and an avid shooter. There is definitely in my life a before and after I entered the Leica world, and I'm sure many people think the same. The learning curve has been intense, and with experience (testing and shooting a lot), thanks to all your advice and posts, I found my path with Leica, and I refined my approach to storytelling. This includes the RF camera's limitations (and strengths), which focal length best fits my needs and thirst for shooting, what I adore, and what I absolutely don't like. And all that this entails.

In January, I was pleased to be invited (with my wife) to be part of a travel magazine trip around the breathtaking places of Baja California Sur in Mexico. With complete freedom, I shot the BTS of the team, landscapes, and documented life in some small towns and remote islands around the area we covered.

Initially, the gear choice was between DSLR (with vast lenses and accessories) or RF. I decided, of course, to bring my M10: one body and card slot only, four lenses and 4xSD cards, three batteries, two filters, and one table tripod. It was the right choice. I often use two bodies and two cards slots when it applies, just in case, you know! And TBH, despite my multiple daily backups, I was a little scared to only bring one body. But It all worked perfectly, so far, so good. I'm not anxious anymore, lol.

I brought the following lenses (I didn't check the stats, but this was approximate thier % of use):

CV 21/4 (5%)
35 Summicron Asph I (60%)
CV 35/1.2III (15%)
50 Summicron v5 (20%)

Let me share with you just a few of my fave shots. If you want to see the complete collection, I prepared a slideshow here (full screen, maximum brightness, and volume up recommended). And this is the digital issue of the spring edition of the local magazine released this week if you want to know more about the places (it's bilingual). The printed one will be out at the end of May. 

Hope you enjoy it; feel free to post comments, feedback, or critiques, like you usually do, and I am always grateful for it.

Good vibes,
D.

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[Roba]

Liked the slide show Dennis, gave a good feel to the place.

[Dennis]

14 minutes ago, Roba said:

Liked the slide show Dennis, gave a good feel to the place.

Roba, thank you 🙏 Glad you felt this way.

[pedaes]

A fine set I enjoyed viewing.

As a constructive comment, I am sure there is much more shadow detail if you want to it.

[Dennis]

2 hours ago, pedaes said:

A fine set I enjoyed viewing.

Thank you Pedaes 🙏

2 hours ago, pedaes said:

As a constructive comment, I am sure there is much more shadow detail if you want to it.

Thank you for that too. I know there are more details to show. And people (usually photographers) tell me sometimes. But I enjoy darker shadows.
I know I can pull the shadows slider (or curves) a bit more without the image looking like HDR. So far, I like it like this. But I know I'm a minority 🤷‍♂️ In this case, I'm still happy with the output I wanted to achieve. Every comment like yours always makes me think every time if I did wrong or not. Thank you for that.

[stray cat]

What a beautiful part of the world - and you've done it a great service! Congratulations.

[Lpnumb]

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Nice one Dennis! I love the slideshow. 

[Dennis]

7 minutes ago, stray cat said:

What a beautiful part of the world - and you've done it a great service! Congratulations.

Thank you so much 🙏

Yes it is! It's about 8hr by car from where I live, can you imagine that? Sometimes I have mixed feelings about my actual location. I'm missing a lot of cultures, museums, infrastructure, etc. But on the other side, there are still unexplored places to know, fantastic fauna, uncontaminated landscapes, no traffic, etc. I guess it's about finding our own balance. And now, I prefer to live in a small town rather than a big city where I can find 'everything.' I like the peace of mind, open spaces, and stress-free life, and travel as often as I can to discover places I've never been before.

[John Miranda]

7 hours ago, Dennis said:

It has been precisely four years since I bought my M10, and I'm very proud to say that it has been an exquisite and delightful journey. Some LUF people here know how passionate I'm about photography, and an avid shooter. There is definitely in my life a before and after I entered the Leica world, and I'm sure many people think the same. The learning curve has been intense, and with experience (testing and shooting a lot), thanks to all your advice and posts, I found my path with Leica, and I refined my approach to storytelling. This includes the RF camera's limitations (and strengths), which focal length best fits my needs and thirst for shooting, what I adore, and what I absolutely don't like. And all that this entails.

In January, I was pleased to be invited (with my wife) to be part of a travel magazine trip around the breathtaking places of Baja California Sur in Mexico. With complete freedom, I shot the BTS of the team, landscapes, and documented life in some small towns and remote islands around the area we covered.

Initially, the gear choice was between DSLR (with vast lenses and accessories) or RF. I decided, of course, to bring my M10: one body and card slot only, four lenses and 4xSD cards, three batteries, two filters, and one table tripod. It was the right choice. I often use two bodies and two cards slots when it applies, just in case, you know! And TBH, despite my multiple daily backups, I was a little scared to only bring one body. But It all worked perfectly, so far, so good. I'm not anxious anymore, lol.

I brought the following lenses (I didn't check the stats, but this was approximate thier % of use):

CV 21/4 (5%)
35 Summicron Asph I (60%)
CV 35/1.2III (15%)
50 Summicron v5 (20%)

Let me share with you just a few of my fave shots. If you want to see the complete collection, I prepared a slideshow here (full screen, maximum brightness, and volume up recommended). And this is the digital issue of the spring edition of the local magazine released this week if you want to know more about the places (it's bilingual). The printed one will be out at the end of May. 

Hope you enjoy it; feel free to post comments, feedback, or critiques, like you usually do, and I am always grateful for it.

Good vibes,
D.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I appreciated the wonderful framing in your images.    

 

[Dennis]

1 hour ago, John Miranda said:

I appreciated the wonderful framing in your images.    

 

Thank you John, I appreciate it! I enjoy very much to compose and framing people and things  It's of the biggest pleasure in photography. Glad you like it!

[Dennis]

13 hours ago, Lpnumb said:

Nice one Dennis! I love the slideshow. 

Thank you! And most important, welcome to the forum.

[Jon Warwick]

Well done on both a pleasant narrative and interesting set of images.

With regards to your post #5, I rather liked the shadows that you’ve processed to be pretty dark, it reminds me more of how slide film can come out (as an aside I’ve been recently studying some of my film B&W prints that were done in pro darkrooms many years ago, and noted more deep black shadows than I’d previously ever considered (pre digital), and given I really like the look of those film prints I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been averaging out the tones too much in my digital work!)

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by Jon Warwick

[junix]

18 hours ago, Dennis said:

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

These are the top 3 for me in no particular order. Nice work!

[Dennis]

1 hour ago, Jon Warwick said:

Well done on both a pleasant narrative and interesting set of images.

With regards to your post #5, I rather liked the shadows that you’ve processed to be pretty dark, it reminds me more of how slide film can come out (as an aside I’ve been recently studying some of my film B&W prints that were done in pro darkrooms many years ago, and noted more deep black shadows than I’d previously ever considered (pre digital), and given I really like the look of those film prints I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been averaging out the tones too much in my digital work!)

 

Thank you for your words Jon 🙏

Yes! There is definitely a 'kind of' Kodachrome slide film and CCD sensor style inspiration. Maybe I should get an M9. I like a deep blue sky, also if this entails darker tones. I'm more toward Alex Webb's style of work. I usually expose for the highlights to have a high contrast scene, and the shadow slider in LR rarely passes +15.

It looks like I love to see the world w/ a pair of polarized sunglasses  And the output reflect this.

56 minutes ago, junix said:

These are the top 3 for me in no particular order. Nice work!

Thank you 🙏 I like them very much as well. Did you watch the slideshow above? It includes more than 100 pictures. Maybe you can find better scenes there are not in post #1.

[erniethemilk]

Wonderful work Dennis 😍

[junix]

13 hours ago, Dennis said:

Thank you 🙏 I like them very much as well. Did you watch the slideshow above? It includes more than 100 pictures. Maybe you can find better scenes there are not in post #1.

I did today, very nice and consistent storytelling.

I would have probably chosen other photos for the digital issue of the magazin but I suppose you didn’t have completely free hands. Choosing only a handful of photos is always the most difficult part.. especially when you were there and every photo has a deeper meaning.

[Dennis]

17 hours ago, erniethemilk said:

Wonderful work Dennis 😍

Thank you Thank you. I'm glad you liked it 🙏

11 hours ago, junix said:

I did today, very nice and consistent storytelling.

I would have probably chosen other photos for the digital issue of the magazin but I suppose you didn’t have completely free hands.

Thank you, Junix. I agree with you about the chosen photos. I had total freedom for shooting, but I was not contemplated at all for the selection, lol. I just gave them the images and then received the final issue link.
I just returned from the second trip this week (for the summer edition). Maybe (who knows) they will ask my opinion this time after giving them my feedback about the final result. I have no expectations; time will tell.

 

[grahamc]

Great work Dennis really evocative images .  
 

And congratulations on the assignment - must’ve been a lovely trip and extremely rewarding 👏

[Dennis]

2 hours ago, grahamc said:

Great work Dennis really evocative images .  
 

And congratulations on the assignment - must’ve been a lovely trip and extremely rewarding 👏

Thank you very much, Graham 🙏🙏🙏 It has been a fantastic discovery trip. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about traveling photography and how better to use my M10. This was in January. And it was so good (and rewarding, as you rightly said) that I did it again two weeks ago for another magazine edition.

 

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[grahamc]

On 4/14/2022 at 11:54 PM, Dennis said:

Thank you very much, Graham 🙏🙏🙏 It has been a fantastic discovery trip. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about traveling photography and how better to use my M10. This was in January. And it was so good (and rewarding, as you rightly said) that I did it again two weeks ago for another magazine edition.

 

Amazing ! Great to hear it