Homeless with an M9

[witzansky]

Last week my girlfriend decided she want to live alone and kicked me out without any warning. She still wish to be my girlfriend, but when she treats me like that, its just not possible. ..

I need to find a new place to live, and that is going to cost me my new, lovely Leica M9. I am so sad, I have to say goodbye to this camera. And my girlfriend.

So this week I slept at some of my friends places.
It turned into a small photoseries, of the many new views I had this week from their apartments.

I am so thankful to have such great friends, willing to let me live on their couch.

This may be the last photos I will take with the amazing Leica M9.
- For now... One day I will buy this camera again! But for now I hope I can find the money to buy a Fuji X-Pro1.

If you wish to view the pictures in a bigger size, you can find them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/97343637@N06/

 

[TKH]

Its just a camera...
There are lots outside.
And so girlfriends...
🙂
Best,
Rainer

 

[bonatto]

possibly an appropriate time to start shooting film 🙂 gear (and partners) come and go
good luck with the life transition and keep your head up!

 

[awbphotog]

I believe in you!

 

[zauhar]

I like your photos.

Do your best to keep your treasured camera, it is clearly more important than your girlfriend.

 

[nongfuspring]

It's too bad you can't keep your M9 and sell your girlfriend!

The photo series sounds like a great idea, good luck with finding a new home. In a few months time it'll look like no big deal.

 

[NY_Dan]

Keep the girl, keep the good friends, keep the Leica.

Borrow money from the girl, borrow money from the friends, shoot with the Leica.

Sleep with the girl, pay back the friends, shoot with the Leica.

Get a new girl with a better apartment, stay friends with the girl, shoot with the Leica.

You're young and have an M-9. Girlfriend wants to live alone -- no big woop. The girl treated you fine, if she was evil she would've married you. You dodged a bullet young Huckleberry. No worries.

 

[__--]

possibly an appropriate time to start shooting film 🙂 gear (and partners) come and go
good luck with the life transition and keep your head up!

Shoot film? Have you taken leave of your senses? Then he'd have to find a girlfriend that has a flat with a darkroom. Now, how realistic is that?

—Mitch/Chiang Mai
Looking for Baudeliaire [WIP]

 

[raid]

Good luck with your choices in life. Everything can be replaced.

 

[jsrockit]

Sorry to hear that... the M9 is really nice, but you'll be fine with a "lower" camera... 🙂

So, what did you do to get kicked out and still get her if you wanted? That's a strange one.

 

[gilpen123]

Fondling the M9 more than the GF?

 

[Rob-F]

That's a vulnerable position to be in, depending on someone else for a place to live. Sorry life is handing you lemons right now. Make lemonade. And try to be like NASA: have a backup plan.

 

[Thardy]

Time to get your own place. Many people date and don't live with each other.

 

[leicapixie]

It seems to me, i don't hear about a job..
Women are very logical and realistic.
Are you able to contribute, to the relationship?
The Leica M9 is a great box.
A simple basic camera should suffice.
Make a plan. The girl may see it as relationship that can't work.

 

[Pioneer]

I sense some unspoken issues here.

It would be nice to keep the M9 but it may be time to step up and handle your own life. Sell it and get a place to call your own. Buy it again when you are standing on your own feet and can afford it.

 

[literiter]

"a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke."
Rudyard Kipling

 

[2WK]

Keep the girl, keep the good friends, keep the Leica.

Borrow money from the girl, borrow money from the friends, shoot with the Leica.

Sleep with the girl, pay back the friends, shoot with the Leica.

Get a new girl with a better apartment, stay friends with the girl, shoot with the Leica.

You're young and have an M-9. Girlfriend wants to live alone -- no big woop. The girl treated you fine, if she was evil she would've married you. You dodged a bullet young Huckleberry. No worries.

Ahaha! Yes. Nice photos. The Xpro is cool too.

 

[bonatto]

Shoot film? Have you taken leave of your senses? Then he'd have to find a girlfriend that has a flat with a darkroom. Now, how realistic is that?

—Mitch/Chiang Mai
Looking for Baudeliaire [WIP]

A bathroom (or changing bag), developing tank, and a desk scanner? Works here...but then again, I've never been a real senseful guy 🙂

 

[Phil_F_NM]

I wound up homeless with an M9 a slough of Leica lenses and an X100 a few years ago. I got billed for an ER visit the VA was supposed to take care of. And it was at a VA medical center!
Sold it all off, switched back to film, traveled across the country, bought an old Mercedes diesel and a Nikon D2x, got a job, got some inspiration. It's been an uphill battle for the most part since then with some severe setbacks but I'm still alive and now I own two of my dream cameras (Leica M4 and a Mamiya 6) as well as a fantastic Nikon D3 that I use for work.

All the gear comes and goes. Significant others come and go. Keep your good friends close and make sure to thank them as often as possible and contribute as often as you can. Learn to rely on yourself for 100% of your living and you'll find that you're really a very rich person in life.

Sell that M9 and pick a favorite focal length lens to find when you get a cheaper film camera, whatever it may be. Stick with one camera and one lens and you'll come out of this with a very impressive and inspired body of work. Some of the best work people can do is when they are pushed to hustle for a living, day to day. Get yourself back on your feet but keep a camera with you always if you want to be a photographer. Shoot when you can. When you can't afford to develop or find good clean dark space to load film into a tank, you can always just stick the film in the fridge and wait for a better day. No batteries to worry about (depending upon the camera,) no buffers to wait on, no electricity to worry about finding to charge or operate the computer. You can do it.

If you're in the US, I have a few cameras I can send to you for free. They work just fine.

Phil Forrest

 

[VertovSvilova]

An expensive Leica is not a prerequisite to making extraordinary photographs. Think photographs first and camera gear last. And read some photo history for comfort: many of history's great images were produced by individuals who had few resources and much lesser cameras.