free Leicas!

[zeos 386sx]

Photographer Sebastião Salgado has a novel approach for getting his hands on a new and expensive Leica M7. Take great pictures and Leica will just give you one.

To quote Leica:
"Leica Camera AG, Solms, has presented a LEICA M7 rangefinder camera made of solid titanium and bearing the special serial no. 3,000,000 to photographer Sebastião Salgado. In doing so, the company management honors the extensive humanistic work of the photographer. Particularly with his large-scale cycles 'Workers' and 'Migration', Salgado has made important contributions to the discussion of topics that influence all of mankind. As a documentary photographer of human fates in times of poverty, suppression and war, the Brazilian has captured not only fear and sorrow, but also moments full of hope, pride, incredible energy and a boundless will to survive. Sebastião Salgado has already won the prestigious Leica Oskar-Barnack Award twice for his photographic work."

Then Salgado has the nerve to say he is going to donate the camera to charity. Don't you just hate people with that much talent who are also nice?

Well, there it is. Stop moaning about the high prices of new Leicas and start taking great pictures.

Congrats to Leica, Salgado, and great photographers everywhere - you inspire us...

 

[Stephan]

Well he uses R6's doesnt he ? He was probably quite disapointed not to get an R6.2 😀

 

[JoeFriday]

I'm going to officially change my name to Charity now

 

[Peter]

Maybe Zeiss and Voigtlander should give free cameras to photographers who use their equipment? 😛

 

[peter_n]

He uses (or should I say used) both M and R cameras. I believe he is using a Pentax MF in his current work (the Genesis Project).

The link below is essentially a "bump" to the Guardian's archive on Salgado's Genesis project, which they are supporting. The page includes links to his pictures. If you want to read some detail about the trip on the Tara referred to in the article there is an excellent piece in the April 18, 2005 New Yorker pp. 143-159 that describes the trip and Salgado's philosophy and photographic methodology.

The Guardian: High summer

 

[Harvey Platter]

I was in a car showroom once and I overheard a conversation that, I admit it, made me grin:

Salesman: but why are you cancelling your new car?

Customer: Because I saw in the paper that you gave one to [local sporting celebrity] and I figured that if you're giving them away you could give it to me. Will you?

Salesman: Of course not!

Customer: Thought so. You give your cars to who you want to and I'll give my money to whom I want to.

Customer leaves. No, I didn't buy a car from them either.

 

[mac_wt]

Salgado is not going to give it away for charity, he is putting it in an auction for charity. So if you have the money, you can buy his camera AND support a good cause!. The best excuse to buy a new Leica.

Link to the auction site.

Wim

 

[RML]

If you want to read some detail about the trip on the Tara referred to in the article there is an excellent piece in the April 18, 2005 New Yorker pp. 143-159 that describes the trip and Salgado's philosophy and photographic methodology.

Is there a link to that article in the New Yorker? Or some other way I could obtain a copy of it? No idea what the New Yorker is but I'd like to read about Salgado's philosophy and methods.

 

[peter_n]

Is there a link to that article in the New Yorker? Or some other way I could obtain a copy of it? No idea what the New Yorker is but I'd like to read about Salgado's philosophy and methods.

The New Yorker is a weekly magazine of commentary and reporting on current issues, ideas and events with an ideological lean to the left. It covers both domestic and international news but it is much more than a news magazine; it has top literary talent, the cartoons are legendary, and the mag includes fiction and poetry, and book, movie, theater, music, and art reviews.

Unfortunately the Salgado article is not online (yet) but there is a slideshow that shows Salgado's pictures with a commentary by article author Ian Parker. The link to the slide show is below and you will need Flash Player to view it.

The New Yorker: Extreme Vision

 

[wlewisiii]

Eh, I don't mind people making hay out of this stuff. There are certainly worse examples of PR driven dreck out there. By the same token, however, what is sad is that, while admittedly some good cause will get a pile of money, this camera will simply sit on a shelf somewhere, gathering dust, simply because it has a "special" serial number. Foo on that. A camera should be used. Were I idiotically wealthy, I'd buy it just to put as many rolls through it as I possibly could before Azreal comes calling. Instead I'll keep saving for the pennies to do the same to a Nikon S3-2000 🙂

William