Notable Leica M Photographers

dave lackey

dave lackey

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Ah, where to put this topic?

As my M3 has become more transparent and my attention turns to those famous and not-so-famous photographers of a time well before my rangefinder epiphany, I would like to learn more about the successful work of other photographers besides HCB.

Interesting how the two Leica M topics, gear and artists, are merging into one.:)

One of my favorite for the last few years is: George Zimbel.


http://georgezimbel.com/


Who are some of your favorites?
 
A German newsphotographer, Herbert Piel. He shot many of the photos that I remember from German newsmagazines and newspapers in the 80s and 90s.
 
There are really famous M users, like Robert Frank, but I'm going to recommend a particular personal favourite of mine, Thurston Hopkins, an English photo-journalist. Lovely work.
 
Although he used the M3 being a mature photographer, I wouldn't call HCB a Leica M photographer. He made himself a photographer with non Leica cameras... After that, he used Barnacks... He published his first photojournalism images 22 years before the M3 was born, and also was a Magnum co-founder years before the M mount was invented.

Cheers,

Juan
 
Nan Goldin, Matt Stuart, Lee Friedlander, Sebastiao Salgado, Garry Winogrand, Joel Meyerowitz,
Tod Papageorge, Araki, Bruce Gilden, etc. Of course they all used other cameras as well.
 
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James Ravilious is always worth looking at. I think he used an M series. There's a TV prog about him on U Tube that features a look at his 'hacked' kit.
 
Buzzkill Juan.

You know HCB is to Leica what Michael Jordan is to Nike. No need to tear that down with your "technical" truths.

As for others, Alex Webb and David Alan Harvey are primarily M shooters (and two of my favorite photographers)--mainly 35mm focal length as well (and a dash of 28mm occasionally--you know, for fun).

William Albert Allard uses them from time to time as well (from an interview somewhere), although he uses lots of stuff as well.
 
wilonstott said:
Buzzkill Juan.

You know HCB is to Leica what Michael Jordan is to Nike. No need to tear that down with your "technical" truths.
Click to expand...

Hi,

HCB wasn't a Leica M shooter for the first 20 years or more of his shooting because those cameras didn't exist... I was referring to how relevant was using a Leica M for him to become the photographer he was: irrelevant.

"Technical" truths? History. Maybe for some people it's important to imagine HCB glued to an M3 that helped his photography...

Nike used and uses Jordan's image as Leica uses and used HCB's image for sales. Or do you think Jordan played better when he had on a pair of Nike shoes? Tales for teenagers and amateurs. Great photographers use different cameras for different situations. It's not about the camera, and even less about the bayonet or brand...

Indeed IMO HCB's eye was trained -and very well- BECAUSE he used previous cameras with less comfortable viewfinders, and he learned to do his job with his eye on reality instead of through the finder, as you can hear him say in his interviews... Of course he was able to do it with any camera including an M3.

Cheers,

Juan
 
It is most likely that most people understand HCB not only started his career years before the M-body came along but also throughout his life he most likely used other cameras. My own interests in HCB will be satiated with the HCB exhibit we in Atlanta will be attending during the 2011 RFF Atlanta Meet!;)

My original post was to ferret out all the other famous and not-so-famous photographers who have used M-bodies, whether exclusively or not. A nice listing so far!:):):)

BTW, Juan, I like that bit about HCB's use of older cameras and his amazing eye ability!
 
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Most great and famous photographers have used Leicas along others because they're reliable and have good lenses, so the list is huge... But that huge list isn't even a grain of sand compared to the list of bad M shooters around the world... I don't belong to any of the two lists... :) Believe it or not, for many many people, the M3 was an important factor on HCB's work...

Cheers,

Juan
 
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