Famous Photographers’ Leicas
A short, pithy excerpt from an endless ongoing saga
Leicas always were, and still are, produced in much smaller quantities than, say, Canons and Nikons. That makes the number and percentage of renowned photographers who’ve shot with Leica cameras even more astonishing. Indeed it would be relatively easy to compile a 700-page book on the subject of who used which Leicas to capture some of the world’s most memorable images. But in keeping with the time and space constraints of this estimable forum I will concentrate on a handful of may favorite famous Leica photographers.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Cartier-Bresson's first leica, a model (A)
Perhaps the greatest tribute to the Leica is the oft-quoted pronouncement by Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the greatest photojournalists of the 20th century: “The camera is an extension of the eye.” The extension of his eye was a 35mm Leica, which he famously used to capture virtually all his iconic images. He was also a great proponent of sticking with one focal length, in his case the classic 50mm, which was the non-interchangeable lens on his first Leica, a scale-focusing model I (aka the model A) with a collapsible, non-interchangeable 50mm f/3.5 Elmar. However, like most great photographers he evolved with the times graduating to the coupled rangefinder Leica II rangefinder when it arrived in 1932. Before World War II he often used a Leica III or IIIa fitted with an uncoated 50mm f/2 Leitz Summar lens, and in the ‘50’s he shot with a Leica IIIf with a 50mm f/1.5 Summarit, one of the best high-speed normal lenses of its day. Eventually he moved on to the Leica M3 and is known to have used a super-speed 50mm f/1.2 Leitz Noctilux on that camera to cover the Paris riots of 1968.
David Douglas Duncan
David Douglas Duncan’s Leica MP, 1955: sold for 2.19M at auction in 2012-2
David Douglas Duncan with his Leica 2
Leica M3D customized for David Douglas Duncan 1
Leica M3D top view 1
David Douglas Duncan (1916 -2018) was a great American photojournalist best known for his grim, gut-wrenching combat photographs of World War II and the Korean War. Duncan’s WWII photographs were so impressive that after the war he was invited to join the staff of Life magazine. During his time with Life, Duncan covered countless conflicts worldwide, including stints in Turkey, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. His most iconic photographs were those taken during the Korean War and many were included in his compelling book, This Is War! (1951). A lifelong Leica shooter, Duncan also praised the performance of the 50mm f/1.4 and 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor lenses he used on his Leica IIIc in Korea and occasionally even shot with a Nikon S rangefinder camera, thus helping to establish Nikon’s reputation. His personal favorite: the black finished version of what came to be known as the professional, limited edition Leica MP of the ‘50s and was dubbed the David Douglas Duncan (DDD) model in his honor.
The original pre-MP version was engraved Leica M3D and the 4 Black Paint examples produced at DDD’s specific request, were labeled M3D 1 through 4. The cameras featured Leicavit trigger winders, M2-style manually set frame counters, no self-timer, and a 50mm f/2 Summilux-M lens fitted with a special focusing lever. All these features except for the focusing lever found their way into the coveted limited production Leica MP of the mid to late ‘50s. As for Duncan’s Leica M3D-2, manufactured at the Leitz Wetzlar (Germany) factory in 1955, it sold at a Westlicht Auction in Austria in May 2012 for the staggering sum of $2.18M!
For the record, some experts have conjectured that the special fast-focusing lever on Duncan’s M3D’s (which also enabled quicker manual focus settings in the heat of battle) was effective but too inelegant to have been made by the Wizards of Wetzlar. If it was indeed made by a third party they certainly did a nice job. Also, it has long been rumored that actual the series production MPs of the ‘50s had upgraded internals (such as hardened gears) to withstand the rigors extreme use. Maybe, but I beat the hell out of my standard issue M2 for over 10 years and it survived without a whimper and only one CLA.
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995) was born in West Prussia, Germany, moved to Berlin in 1906, began taking pictures at age 14, and in 1928 signed on as photographer for Pacific and Atlantic Photos’ Berlin office, which was taken over by the Associated Press in 1931. Eisenstaedt’s family was Jewish, the main reason they emigrated from Germany, arriving in New York in 1935. In short order “Eisie” became a naturalized U.S. citizen and joined the Associated Press. In 1936 he was asked to join the new Life magazine as one of its original staff of four photographers that included such legends as Margaret Bourke-White and Robert Capa. He worked there until 1972, becoming internationally acclaimed for his brilliantly incisive coverage of news events and celebrities. By 1972 he’d photographed nearly 2,500 stories and had more than 90 cover photos to his credit. In subsequent years, he also worked for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Town & Country and other top-tier publications.
Eisenstaedt with his Leica M3
Leica M3 1000001 presented to Alfred Eisenstaedt
Leica MPs used by A. Eisenstaedt (photo by Lars Netopil)
From his early years as professional photographer was a confirmed Leica enthusiast, preferring the classic Leica’s smaller hand-held form factor that gave him greater speed and flexibility when shooting news events or capturing images of people in action compared to the clunky 4×5 press cameras of the day. His photos were also notable for their reliance on natural light instead of flash, creating a more relaxed atmosphere that enabled him to capture more natural poses and expressions. He famously said, “I don’t come as a photographer. I come as a friend.” That style, developed during his years in Europe, of shooting informal portraits and extended picture stories was the one adopted by Life magazine and most other news publications, and it redefined the very concept of photojournalism.
“Eisie” employed many different Leicas over the years, notably the Leica IIIa he used to photograph “V-J Day in Times Square” showing American sailor George Mendonsa kissing nurse Greta Zimmer Friedman in a “dancelike dip” that distilled the euphoria many Americans felt as the long and brutal war came to a close. Personally I will always think of Eisenstaedt as the intense little man (he was short but wiry) moving briskly down the street holding his Leica M3 at the ready as I last saw him on 6th Ave. in midtown Manhattan in the early ‘70s. A true Leica legend, he was renowned for his uncanny ability to capture memorable images of unfolding events and people in candid photographs that are at once disarmingly straightforward and timeless.
Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado Júnior (1944-present) is a world-renowned Brazilian social documentary photographer whose brilliantly executed, deeply moving film and digital images have placed him in the top tier of photojournalists. He has traveled in over 120 countries for his photographic projects, shooting a prodigious number of pictures, most of which have appeared in press publications and best-selling books. Touring exhibitions of his work have been presented throughout the world.
Sebastiao Salgado with Leica M6
Sebastiao Salgado's digital Leica M
Leica M7 set owned by Sebastiao-Salgado
Salgado, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, was awarded the W. Eugene Smith Smith Memorial Fund Grant in 1982 to honor his achievements and facilitate his work. He earned a Foreign Honorary Membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1992 and was awarded the Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal and an honorary Fellowship (Hon FRPS) in 1993. Since April 2016 he has been a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts at the Institut de France.
Salgado, born in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, initially pursued a career as an economist, earning a Master’s Degree in economics from the University of São Paulo in Brazil. Working as an economist he often traveling to Africa on missions for the World Bank. It was there that he started taking photography seriously, eventually becoming a fulltime photographer around 1973. Initially he mostly covered news assignments but he steadily moved toward creating the incisive documentary images that define his signature style. Salgado initially worked with the photo agency Sygma and the Paris-based Gamma, but in 1979 he joined Magnum Photos, the celebrated international cooperative of photographers. He left Magnum in 1994 and with his wife formed his own agency, Amazonas Images, in Paris, to represent his work. Acclaimed for his social documentary photography of workers in less developed nations. Salgado works on long term, self-assigned book projects including The Other Americas, Sahel, Workers, Migrations, and Genesis. Perhaps his most famous pictures are of Serra Pelada, a gold mine in Brazil.
As you’ve probably guessed by now Sebastião Salgado is a Leica guy, an inveterate Leica M shooter. He’s relied on the Leica M6 and Leica M7 (and probably other Leica models) when shooting film and now often uses digital Leica M’s. It’s hardly surprising that this great contemporary photographer entrusts his vision to some of the greatest cameras of all time. He’s certainly in good company, and to prove it here’s a short list of 20 more renowned Leica shooters:
Robert Capa, Bruce Davidson, , William Eggleston, Elliott Erwitt, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Ralph Gibson, Ernst Haas, Andre Kertesz, Wiliam Klein, Josef Koudelka , Inge Morath, James Nachtwey, James Ravilious, Marc Riboud, Alexander Rodchenko, W. Eugene Smith, David Vestal, Roman Vishniac, Garry Winogrand.
William Eggleston with his Leica M3