Shooting Leicas in Santa Fe
Photography can be a solitary pursuit.
You know how you want the scene to look to tell your story. But it requires your single-minded attention to stay on track, while being alert for interesting side trips. Manual tools also need focused concentration to get the technically-excellent, well-composed pictures telling that story, far more than you need with auto-pilot AF DSLRs and zoom lenses.
And you may admire other people’s work online. But even if they’re in your city, busy lives may keep you from meeting them to trade ideas face-to-face. You need to schedule time for a photo workshop to make it happen.
Getting (Re-) Acquainted
I’d never been to an International Leica Society event before, so when I saw LHSA’s 2018 Spring Shoot was scheduled in Santa Fe just an hour north of me, I jumped on it. Santa Fe is someplace I’m usually passing through on my way to the mountains and hot springs at Ojo Caliente, Ancestral Puebloan ruins at Chaco Canyon, winter wine tasting in Taos, or Great Sand Dunes in southeastern Colorado. Aside from meeting other Leica photographers, the Spring Shoot offered a chance to reexamine Santa Fe scenes in an unhurried way, all those possibilities I’d come to ignore.
I registered at 6 pm that first evening and said hi to Leica shooters from different parts of the country, demographics, and experience. I saw everything from Leica I model D film cameras with no rangefinder or viewfinder to digital M10s and SLs. LHSA Executive Director Richard Rejino welcomed everyone and laid out the schedule, raising my appetite for the coming days.
Spielman Inspires Plaza Shooting
David Spielman inspired the next morning with stories of unposed people walking into neighborhood devastation after Katrina, well-known writers respectfully captured in their homes, and musicians – famous and unknown – playing around New Orleans. And he talked about his shooting methods, including mapping and notes in a pocket notebook wherever he goes. He revalidated film with his excellent black and white work – he uses an M6 and Tri-X.
We got our assignments by group color and subject, with a reminder to shoot anything else interesting (those side-trips again). Then it was time to head out.
My Yellow group was assigned Santa Fe’s Plaza on this first cloudy morning. I had wanted a chance to try Leica’s autofocus lenses, so I borrowed a Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 for my SL, courtesy of Leica Akademie’s Tom Smith. Hazy, diffused light made it almost too easy to shoot after 10 am when our little group set out.
I captured a modern-day traveler on the old Santa Fe Trail, and the signs hanging above the covered walkway circling the plaza. I also shot fellow attendee Eric Baumgartner speaking with a local who’d been carrying a battered guitar case (we later discovered he had a Gibson Les Paul inside that he played very well). And Bob Brutsch ran interference while I photographed local Puebloans selling art and jewelry in front of the Palace of the Governors. But I wanted something less cliched, so I began walking around.
I discovered more appealing subjects in the sculpture outside the New Mexico Museum of Art and unexpected reading in the trash outside the Santa Fe Public Library. But there was also a funeral at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, whose construction was directed by Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy between 1869 and 1886. I kept back as purple-shirted mourners filed out and the casket made its last journey to the waiting hearse.
After another circuit past cow skulls, an on-demand poetry writer complete with mechanical typewriter, and bright colors of local weavers, I took time for lunch at La Plazuela inside the La Fonda Hotel. Food, bars, and restaurants are favorite subjects of mine. For food, the 35mm f/1.2 Nokton’s minimum 19-inch focusing distance comes in handy with the M10’s EVF, or adapted to the SL.
Shooting People
In the afternoon, we listened to Don Usner. He began his journey shooting pictures without people. Then he ended up looking for people to put in his pictures. This resonated with me – as a twenty-something adult I had an Ansel Adams-ish aversion to people in my shots, which I also eventually got over.
Don reminded us we’re invading the personal space of people we photograph, so it’s important to give value in exchange.
Be open and honestly direct, show an interest, and you may find a connection. Then return with pictures to share. Don used this approach for his pictures of lowrider culture in New Mexico, a fascinating pictorial journey of classic cars, hopping contests, and muscular tattooed men and women who’d scare off most people. He discovered lowrider family connections and made us realize these are people with their own likes, hopes, and culture.
My afternoon group assignment was people. But I have a hard time walking up to and engaging strangers in conversation.
Fortunately for me, Native American musicians on the Plaza made it easy, drawing a ready-made crowd of interesting faces. Their intent concentration and playing were another good story. There were also canine spectators and the attractions of local shops – the ones allowing photography inside.
The late afternoon session had David Spielman relating his personal journey of discovery from picking up a camera at age 15, to exiting college and choosing a city to shoot in, to what drives him to photograph and publish. He walked away from catalog photography, where he’d discovered that even managers have to spend tons of time away from the camera. After quitting that job, he thought the phone would stop ringing. Then he discovered people liked his work and wanted him to shoot for them.
But his key lesson for us was that you’re only as successful as how hard you’re willing to work. That can be especially true today when everyone’s brother-in-law is a digital photographer. Spielman learned that you have to let the brother-in-law fail before clients call you back.
There was a gallery session scheduled for the evening, but I skipped it to have dinner with my wife. The next morning, more than a few people thought I’d been right to prioritize that way. And the Bourbon Grill gave me another chance at local food photography.
Funeral and hearse, Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
How to Survive Shooting Freelance
Santa fe-based photographer Wilbur Norman started off the final morning. His early training as an anthropologist led him to use the power of images and words to illustrate and describe indigenous cultures disrupted by contact with modern society. He provided practical hints for running a freelance photography business and funding personal projects, among many other things. He also talked about the increase in freelancers in this time of corporate cost reductions and shrinking staff. Most importantly, he admonished everyone to avoid working at less than your cost, to value your work.
Norman inspired us with his black and white portraits of the Buena Vista Social Club’s Omara Portuondo, whose picture on his phone kept him out of trouble in Cuba, songwriter / folk guitarist Richie Havens in concert, and photographer Prentice H. Polk, whose own portrait of botanist George Washington Carver is in the Smithsonian Museum. We went out to shoot individually this time, reminded to possibly go back and shoot something from the previous day to get it right.
Maybe I was more relaxed or it could have been the example of fellow attendee Larry Kerschberg who seemed to have an easygoing way with people, but I ended up approaching folks running the booths at the Santa Fe Artists Market to photograph. A high-speed Railrunner locomotive was nearby in the railyard, so there were many interesting subjects.
Wartime Dreams
After another great lunch at La Plazuela, Tony O’Brien talked about shooting in wartime. On his way to shoot the first Gulf war, he stopped in Berlin. It was there that an associate looked at his Canon gear and told him, “You must have Leicas. I’m going to find the Leica rep!” Tony left with Leica gear and without his Canons.
On one of his trips to Afghanistan, he gave the kids he met three wishes. Many told him the first thing they dreamed of having was an education. Those thoughts and pictures were at the core of his book Afghan Dreams.
He appreciates people giving him the gift of allowing him to walk into their lives. Shooting over the years, he’s discovered that the good folks with positive hopes and dreams outnumber the bad people. And everyone is a worthy person – junkies helped him when the police beat him up.
Edit for Review
After Tony’s presentation, I punted afternoon shooting to edit and choose my five best pictures for the afternoon review. That’s when the purple shirts in my funeral picture became black and white, focusing more attention on body language and facial expression, and when contrast became enhanced and colors more saturated – or not. It was great to see everyone’s best, from first-time Leica users to seasoned shooters. There will also be a book of everyone’s three best shots later in May. Talk about incentive!
Sean Reid’s online review of the 24-90mm f/2.8-4 Vario- Elmarit-SL summarizes, “It’s heavy but it’s good.” I found this to be accurate with my loaner lens. I liked the images it gave, especially image-stabilized at long shutter speeds for blur, but its weight and middling aperture didn’t give me enough reason to consider buying one. I’ll stick with lighter fast M-primes instead. Guess I’m still addicted to depth of field isolation, and I’m definitely sick of being a photo gear packhorse.
After many goodbyes and final conversations with new friends, it was time to go. I’ll look forward to that book of Spring Shoot photographs, and future events.
About Mark Bohrer
Mark Bohrer has been shooting with Leicas since he found his grandfather’s M3 in the basement in 1969. Today he leads photo tours to hidden cultural and natural sites in New
Mexico. His website is www.activelightphotograplhy.com.
More information
Norman, W. (n.d.) Wilbur Norman – Photography. Retrieved from: https://www.wilburnorman.com/ Santa Fe Artists Market (n.d.) Welcome to the Santa Fe Artists Market. Retrieved from: santafeartistsmarket.com/Spielman, D. (n.d.) David Spielman Photographer. Retrieved from: https://www.davidspielman.com/index Usner, D. (n.d.) Don Usner Writing & Photography. Retrieved from: http://donusner.com/Tony O’Brien (n.d.) Luminous-Lint. Retrieved from: http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/photographer/Tony__OBrien/A/