Sunday, June 6, 2010

One Wedding and a Leica

Last month I received good news from a good friend that he would be getting married.  Over the years, many friends have tied the knots and I never thought (nor wanted) to seriously take any pictures of their weddings.  To me, suits and big DSLR just don't mix.  I'd rather enjoy the wedding and do away without the camera bulk.

This wedding, however, was a little different.  I have now been using my M9 for four months and I have more confident in shooting with it than ever.  Plus, the M9 is small enough to carry even while wearing a suit.  To make things more challenging, I decided to mount the 50mm f1 'Noctilux' to the wedding as its only lens.  To most DSLR user, the size  of the Noctilux is consider 'average' for SLR lens even though it weighs a tad more than average.  The challenge of the Noctilux, for me, isn't its weight or size.  It's the long focus throw that needs to be mastered to capture the images in right moments.

In the space of around three hours, I shot some 75 pictures of the wedding (as a guest, not a wedding photographer).  Later, I decided to process them into black & white to set a different tone from many 'traditional' colorful (Thai) wedding photos.  Surprisingly, there are  more than 20 pictures of the bride & groom, plus the friends, that I really like.  It reminded me of the time when I used to shoot black & white films, that there would be a good number of photos from every few roles of film shot.  After this shoot, I became fully convinced that there's life after DSLR!



A true test of the camera and lens set up.
It holds up shadow details real well given such challenging lighting.




This is one of my favorites.
The contrast and my friend's expression really made this photo special.  


True to its reputation, the Noctilux produces that swirly bokeh.
I'd like to call this photo "Smoky Dreams."





With a rangefinder, there's no mirror interruption like DSLR.  So the action can be viewed through the finder continuously.
If you're quick enough, it's not so hard to snap moments like these.









Have a good week,


Wisrute

2 comments:

  1. Hi Wis,
    Oh, my friend, the photos are simply beautiful. True Art. I loved them. Congratulations.

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  2. Thanks, man. I'm also very happy. It's like shooting film again, minus the darkroom! LOL.

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