Was just buying film, and I found our conversation funny..

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kennylovrin

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So I just picked up some film and developer so that I don't run out during the holidays. It's a great little shop that is more or less purely analog still and the owner likes to talk, and so do I.

We were discussing shooting film, and I said that I haven't been doing it for that long but I am really enjoying it and so on. We talked about a bit cameras, and the conversation kind of went like this (I own an M2 and an M9 for reference):

me: "I purchased an M2, I really like it!"
him: "Oh, yeah that is nice!"
me: "Sometimes I think I might end up shooting only film soon and no digital"
him: "Well you can always get a digital leica for the odd digital shot, when you're set up really well financially, hehe! (smirky, referencing the cost)".
me: "Uhm.. yeah, hehe".

Then I was about to leave the store with my stuff..

him: "So what do you shoot with now then, the M2 and..?"
me: "Well, I have a digital Leica as well.."
he: "Oh, ok!"
me: "I have a too good day job.."

I don't know, perhaps it doesn't come through in text, but it was very funny. And it is also interesting that it's not the first time that it happens to me that it is joked about, and that sometimes it's like people almost tries to make fun of you for owning a very expensive camera. 😉 (In this case it didn't feel like that though).

I stumbled upon a guy on the street once that stopped me and said "Is that a Leica? Makes me all warm inside when I see it, I have been a photographer for 30 years". Then he asked me what it cost, I told him, and he says "Well, at least it looks better than your tshirt if you want to look cool". wtf? Just because I don't dress in a suit, or what? haha

Anyway, just felt like sharing, I have nothing better to do.. 🙂

Kenny
 
I was shooting a music festival over the summer and I had my M8 and M9 and as I was exiting the photo pit I heard a young kid say "Holy ****, that dude has two Leicas!" Not being snarky, but genuinely impressed. I ain't gonna lie, I felt a little proud. I worked my butt off to afford them.

I hate when people make me feel like I have to defend myself for buying an expensive camera.
 
Yeah well I find I defend my purchase all the time, but that is part of my personality I think, I just want to explain why I do/get something so that others won't think I'm nuts. It's not a good thing and I'm trying to stop, but I do it..

I did tell my girlfriend last fall "One day I will own a Leica because I want to". When I did have the money I needed I just couldn't justify the purchase, because I didn't really need the camera, I just wanted it, but I had the money and I wasn't going to use them for anything else really. And my girlfriend and one of my best friends said to me "it's y our money, do what the hell you want with them" when I started saying things like "but people are going to think I'm a moron if I pay that much for a camera".

The fact is, that since I got the M9 which I really wanted, nothing else has really interested me, so in that sense it hasn't been more expensive than the handfull of other digital cameras that was passing through my home before I got the Leica.

Then again, I have also worked hard to afford it, just not in the photography business..

But yeah, I do feel I need to justify it all the time for people, and it is annoying.

EDIT:
I forgot to add the thing I was actually going to write: Great photos in that article, the one with the boxers is really great!
 
Most of the time people will compliment my cameras and be genuine. Most haters are too afraid to say something. However, I once had a run-in with a guy in his 70s. I was out with the M9 and a Voigtlander 50mm 3.5 lens and I saw this firehouse that I wanted to photograph. The 70 year old guy was talking on his phone and started talking about me and my camera to the guy on the phone... something to the effect of "yeah, he's got a Leica and some antique lens." So, he gets off the phone and asks about the lens. I tell him it is new and not old, blah, blah, blah, etc. He says "Get a real camera like a Canon" and walks away very quickly. I felt like I was back in high school dealing with a 14 year old.
 
jsrockit said:
Most of the time people will compliment my cameras and be genuine. Most haters are too afraid to say something. However, I once had a run-in with a guy in his 70s. I was out with the M9 and a Voigtlander 50mm 3.5 lens and I saw this firehouse that I wanted to photograph. The 70 year old guy was talking on his phone and started talking about me and my camera to the guy on the phone... something to the effect of "yeah, he's got a Leica and some antique lens." So, he gets off the phone and asks about the lens. I tell him it is new and not old, blah, blah, blah, etc. He says "Get a real camera like a Canon" and walks away very quickly. I felt like I was back in high school dealing with a 14 year old.
Click to expand...

haha, that is too good. 😉
 
kennylovrin: your girlfriend and your other friend are right.

rivercityrocker: I enjoyed your article--especially the photos! But was amused by the icons/buttons at the bottom of the page. Well, by the one for "image processing", anyway!
Rob
 
i just remembered another time actually, when I was at a flickr meetup.. i wasn't the only one with a leica there, but a guy comes up to me and one of the other guys with a leica, asking to check out our cameras. he was asking questions like "what, does it not autofocus" and other classics like that, then finally after hearing what they cost (all price ranges, from the cheaper M2 to the M9) he drops "capitalist swine!". he was obviously joking, and I don't easily get offended, but it is still typical somehow. 🙂

and it's funny especially in that context, where every other person has a 5dmkiii and a bag full of lenses. but it's the leica shooters that bring an m2 and one lens that gets to take the heat from others. 😉
 
People are always questioning me about not owning a car when I have all of this expensive camera gear. Cars don't make me happy. My motorcycle does though, and it gets me around. My Leica makes me happy when I'm using it. It also makes me happy when I'm not using it because I like the way it looks.

Recently I had to upgrade my DSLR and I bought the Dƒ. I used to be really excited when I got a new DSLR, and I should have been for the Dƒ since it's so different. But I'm only using it for work. And even then I still take a Leica with me. I was telling my friend who works at the camera shop the other day that I hate using my DSLR's because it's boring. It's almost too easy.

Thanks for the compliment. I'll tell you what, shooting a championship heavyweight boxing match with an M8 and an old 50 Lux was not easy. And that was a paid gig. I had to bring in good shots. I put myself out on a limb shooting that gig with a MF camera that is "terrible in low light". The challenge was worth it. I felt like I actually achieved something.
 
ray*j*gun said:
Perhaps oddly I am finding fewer people know what a Leica is let alone an M reference. I live in a nice suburb of Philadelphia.
Click to expand...

yes, it's not that common that "everyone" knows what a leica is actually, but most people think it looks nice/beautiful/simple or whatever, and with that usually comes the question "is it expensive?", and that always seem to lead to some kind of semi-joke comment on either how it was a ****ty purchase (referencing tech specs) or that you basically have too much money. 😉
 
rbiemer said:
kennylovrin: your girlfriend and your other friend are right.

rivercityrocker: I enjoyed your article--especially the photos! But was amused by the icons/buttons at the bottom of the page. Well, by the one for "image processing", anyway!
Rob
Click to expand...

Ha! I never looked at those before. That's a good icon. 😀
 
rivercityrocker said:
Thanks for the compliment. I'll tell you what, shooting a championship heavyweight boxing match with an M8 and an old 50 Lux was not easy. And that was a paid gig. I had to bring in good shots. I put myself out on a limb shooting that gig with a MF camera that is "terrible in low light". The challenge was worth it. I felt like I actually achieved something.
Click to expand...

As a hobbyist, I am in no way comparing myself to you here just so you know. But that shot of the boxes made me think about myself when I was trying to shoot some thai boxing with my M9 earlier this year. I was a spectator so I didn't get very close to the ring itself and so on, but it certainly wasn't easy. But it was one of the most fun things I've ever shot I think!
 
kennylovrin said:
As a hobbyist, I am in no way comparing myself to you here just so you know. But that shot of the boxes made me think about myself when I was trying to shoot some thai boxing with my M9 earlier this year. I was a spectator so I didn't get very close to the ring itself and so on, but it certainly wasn't easy. But it was one of the most fun things I've ever shot I think!
Click to expand...

I don't mind comparisons. There are plenty of hobbyists that are easily as good as I am or better. But yeah, I find that the fun factor is increased by the difficulty. If you're not challenging yourself then what's the point?
 
I look pretty cruddy most of the time so nobody ever accuses me of being a "rich Leica snob" (at least not in person, on the interwebs all the time). But the thing that burns me up is when I get called a "hipster". One of my first cameras was a Ricoh 35s rangefinder. And that was over two decades ago. If anything, I'm like the godfather of hipster. Too old to be a hipster, but the hipsters have stolen my style!
 
If a stranger says anything about my equipment - whether it's my Monochrom or my Nikon equipment etc - they often say 'you must be a good photographer!'. I usually reply that all it demonstrates is that I know how to spend money - and I'm very good at that!
 
I hate when I get asked about my M2 .. "hey, is that one of those fake vintage cameras?" .. WTF?
 
k__43 said:
I hate when I get asked about my M2 .. "hey, is that one of those fake vintage cameras?" .. WTF?
Click to expand...

I uploaded some tri-x shots to flickr once. I had shot them with my M6 that I owned then, and it was from a party with work. The place we had rented was somewhat "hipsterish" in it's styling, and a guy on Flickr commented something that seemed he was trying to say that he was so tired of hipsters faking retro and so on. he kind of changed his mind though when i noted that i had actually shot it on film and so on. but it's funny how he assumed it was digitally filtered, even when i had tagged it both with the film and the camera.
 
rivercityrocker said:
I don't mind comparisons. There are plenty of hobbyists that are easily as good as I am or better. But yeah, I find that the fun factor is increased by the difficulty. If you're not challenging yourself then what's the point?
Click to expand...

I might make it even weirder by doing this, but you just made me realize I hadn't uploaded any of the shots I talked about since I started moving over from Flickr to Tumblr, and because I enjoyed it so much I just wanted to share them with you now that I have uploaded them. 🙂 Too bad I couldn't avoid the fence (do you call it that in english?), but like I said, really enjoyed shooting them: http://kennylovrin.se/post/70485681829/muay-thai-hua-hin-thailand-february-2013
 
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