Andrea Pistolesi Photographer: DO I REALLY NEED A LEICA TO THINK DIFFERENT?

Feb 17, 2010

DO I REALLY NEED A LEICA TO THINK DIFFERENT?

I've been shooting only with the latest Nikon cameras for the past five years: D3X and now a D3S that has just replaced my gloriously performing D3. And mostly with zoom lenses. The 24-70 is what stays on my bodies most of the time. In my "small" bag are also a 14-24, a 70-200, a 28 f1,4, and a 85 f1,4. That's it. Nothing compared to the years of 3 bodies-12 lenses in a back-breaking Temba bag. And I have no nostalgia for film: D3X is producing images that are better then Velvia while D3S is shooting in a darkness where even 3200ASA would make it impossible to see. Plus, and is not little problem for the travel photographer, I go through airports with no fear of X-ray machines and load problems.
Yet I keep having nostalgia of my Leicas sitting at home for years. Bodies and lenses that were with me in the most memorable trips, in the most difficult situations. Film bodies (M6 and M7), not digital. Too complicated to use them in such mixed works as a several month "trip" requires.
But what is that make the "Leica difference"? No, not quality: Nikon fixed lenses have nothing to envy to the German counterparts. It's the way of approaching photography that is completely different: the need to think twice to overcome the optical "rigidity"; the need to interact with your subject rather then the technical ability to "steal" an image; the lightness of a small body that makes you look inconspicuous..
So, last week in Phnom Penh I decided to give Nikon a Leica try.. I put my (very old) 28 on the D3S and decided that that would be the only lens for the whole reportage. It was a good experience: the need to think twice is a good exercise for the eye.. And I think I'll repeat it..
You can see the Phnom Penh story on my website, and make an opinion for yourself.. Keeping in mind that what really matters is your eye and vision, your idea, last and least your camera!

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Bertrand Russell

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."

"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge."

"A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it."

"Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery."

"I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its Churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world."

"Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy."

"A life without adventure is likely to be unsatisfying, but a life in which adventure is allowed to take whatever form it will is sure to be short."

"What i wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite."

"The secret of happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible."

"Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country."

"It is preoccupation with possessions that prevents us from living freely and nobly."

"The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather the hostile."

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education."

"The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to the moralist. That is why they invented Hell."

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."

"Right discipline consists, not in external compulsion, but in the habits of mind which lead spontaneously to desirable rather the undesirable activities."

"If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more then it has to give."

"Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change."

"Anything you're good at contributes to happiness."

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd."

"It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion."

"Sin is geographical."

Albert Einstein on CRISIS!

"Let's not pretend that things will change if we keep doing the same things. A crisis can be a real blessing to any person, to any nation. For all crises bring progress.
Creativity is born from anguish, just like the day is born from the dark night. It's in crisis that inventive is born, as well as discoveries, and big strategies. Who overcomes crisis, overcomes himself, without getting overcome. Who blames his failure to a crisis neglects his own talent, and is more respectful to problems than to solutions. Incompetence is the true crisis.
The greatest inconvenience of people and nations is the laziness with which they attempt to find the solutions to their problems. There's no challenge without a crisis. Without challenges, life becomes a routine, a slow agony. There’s no merit without crisis. It's in the crisis where we can show the very best in us. Without a crisis, any wind becomes a tender touch. To speak about a crisis is to promote it. Not to speak about it is to exalt conformism. Let us work hard instead.
Let us stop, once and for all, the menacing crisis that represents the tragedy of not being willing to overcome it."

Ithaca by Kavafis

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.