Leica M9-P (& Alex Majoli Tries It In Venice)

This is (to use cable news terminology) Breaking News out of Paris for Leica.

The Leica M9 now shares the limelight with its twin (well almost twin) the new Leica M9-P. Both share the exact same technical features, but differ is some details.

In terms of cosmetics, the new M9-P doesn't have the red Leica red dot on its front, but has an engraved logo on its top plate. This is something photographers who prefer the Leicas to remain unobtrusive will like. Not a big deal for me since I cover the red dot and Leica name with black tape on my M9.

The Leica M9-P also features an extremely scratch-resistant, almost unbreakable, sapphire crystal cover for its LCD monitor display. Leica claims it has antireflective coating on both sides which improves image reviewing.

The new model is available in the classical Leica silver chrome camera finish or in black paint, and vulcanite leathering cover.

Photo © ALex Majoli- Courtesy Leica

Leica has chosen Alex Majoli to shoot a feature in Venice with the new M9-P, of which the above picture is from.

Just Because...Les Autres Blogs

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I had non photography stuff on my mind yesterday....so my posting today will be to simply brag about my new other blogs.

I consider myself to be a sort of a purist with my documentary travel photography; no cropping, and minimal post-processing, so I thought I'd use The Travel Photographer on Tumbler blog as a space to let my post processing "creativity" shine. Naturally, the post-processing so far for the images on that blog is essentially done via an app called Flare App which, I explained in previous posts, is an easy way to achieve interesting results at the push of a button or two. It's even simpler than using LR Presets.

The above image of porters at the spice market in Old Delhi is an example of what I post on the Tumblr blog....so take a look and follow it if you like.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I also maintain The Leica File for my street photography in New York City. I am experimenting with the well-established techniques of street photography, which include shooting from the hip, amongst others. New Yorkers are the savviest people in many things, and they notice a photographer when they see one...some of them are so good that they recognize a Leica even if its logo is covered with black tape....so it's not that easy to shoot candid photographs in the big city. Don't be fooled by the "I'm engrossed in my own world" attitude or "I'm busy fiddling with my cell phone" posture...they possess antennas, receptors of some kind...that go active when a photographer is on the horizon.

The fellow in the above photograph was intently reading a Chinese menu stuck to the window, but somehow noticed me aiming my camera at him, and started to move away as I captured his startled expression.

In both these blogs, the size of the images is at least 1000 pixels wide.

Sara Galbiati: Lucha Libre In Mexico

Photo © Sara Galbiati-All Rights Reserved

Sara Galbiati is a freelance photographer based in Copenhagen, who graduated from the Danish School of Media & Journalism. She worked in various Danish national newspapers, and has accumulated awards in the Danish Picture of the Year, POYi, Canon Grant For Best Student Portfolio, the Danish FOTOKRAVLING, and was nominated for the Joop Swart Masterclass 2011.

I was drawn to Sara's Lucha Libre portfolio (actually there are two...one is a documentary style gallery, while the other is portraits of the wrestlers). Lucha Libre is a combination of sport, show-business and violence, and epitomizes the fight between good and evil....or between the good guys and bad guys in our current vernacular. The bouts are choreographed and winners are selected in advance.

Lucha Libre is extremely popular in Mexico, and has been a part of Mexican culture since the 1930’s. It's estimated to be the second most popular sport after soccer. According to Wikipedia, modern Lucha Libre require wrestlers to wear colorful masks designed in the likeness of animals, gods, ancient heroes, and other archetypes.

For an audio slideshow of Lucha Libre, Chico Sanchez has produced one here.

Alissa Everett: Pop Photo's Interview

Photo © Alissa Everett-Courtesy of PopPhoto

Alissa Everett is a documentary photographer and writer based in New York City. She covered the first 9 months of the Iraq war, and subsequently photographed and written stories throughout the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. She also co-founded a non-profit organization called Care Through Action aimed at helping victims of human rights abuses. Her clients include The Sunday Times, the Economist, NBC Dateline News, AP and others.

Alissa recently had an interview with PopPhoto magazine...which at first I thought was rather incongruous, since she was a photojournalist, and photojournalists don't usually appear on its pages, but then I read on and realized she had made travel photography (with presumably a documentary twist) on her return from the Middle East in 2005.

"The areas that tend to be more difficult to photograph are areas that are heavily touristed. People get this feeling of tourists coming and sticking cameras in peoples' faces without asking permission. That tends to make people more hesitant."

Alissa is right when she says that, and also right when she to wanting to make a connection with her subjects before making a photograph of them. It's a matter of respect, and engendering trust.

I have seen many photographers (certainly not as experienced and culturally-sensitive as Alissa) who make no effort in connecting with people...just gawk at them, and snap their pictures...and frequently give them money. Others seem unable to connect...and incapable of treating their intended subjects as persons, rather than objects.

From what I've seen of Alissa's work and from following her Tweets, I'm glad she decided to make travel photography her new focus.

Aaaargh! The Panasonic GF3 Is Pimped!

Photo Courtesy PetaPixel

I love my Panasonic GF1....I didn't like the Panasonic GF2, and I certainly don't like what the engineers at Panasonic came up with for the third iteration of the model. It seems the company is now leaving the "wannabe rangefinder" style and ergonomics that worked well with the GF1, and decided to get the GF3 as close as possible to the compact point and shoot segment as possible. Ridiculous.

That's how PetaPixel describes it: " In terms of differences (with the GF2), it has a faster processor that allows for faster autofocus times, weighs 15% less, is 17% smaller, and is also even more simple than the GF2 — it lacks a hot shoe and has a pop-up flash there instead."

Thanks, but no thanks. The Panasonic engineers and marketing people seemed to have aimed at a an interchangeable lens camera, but with simplistic and minimalistic controls. Why would consumers who like point and shoot cameras want interchangeable lenses...and pay upwards of $300 for each? It doesn't make sense.  Moreover, the GF3 has no hot shoe for an external flash or an external viewfinder. Another concession to the P+S consumers.

There are still stocks of the Panasonic GF1 around, and my guess is that they won't remain for long. The Fujifilm FinePix X100 looks great, but is expensive and has a fixed lens, and I am not sure if it's as as good as its reviews. Some of these reviews sound overly laudatory, and I sense it doesn't live to its hype. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I am glad I have the GF1...and the M9.

Tanguy Gilson: Christian Faith In India

Photo © Tanguy Gilson-All Rights Reserved

Tanguy Gilson tells me that he had thought of The Travel Photographer as being a great name for a blog...but he discovered he had been too late. It had been taken of course, but he started following it since then.

"While I sometimes disagree with some of your posts (usually about gear, rarely about rants), I still find that you have a point of view on travel photography today that is interesting and open-minded."

He is a Canadian & Belgian travel photographer and writer working in New York City, who spent his childhood running barefoot in Africa, before discovering skiing, anthropology and cinema at university in Canada. He started photographing his travels, and focused on stories on the Himalaya’s Buddhist culture, India and China’s religious minorities, as well as the growing Chinese inner-tourism.

His photo galleries are varied and include Buddhist monasteries, India's Christianity, Chinese tourism, Uyghurs, Nepal, Louisiana and NYC streets, among other work.

I found Tanguy's gallery Christian Faith In India very interesting, as I haven't seen much work on this topic before. According to Wikipedia, Christianity is India's third religion with approximately 24 million followers, or 2.3% of India's population. It is generally agreed upon that Christianity in India is almost as old as Christianity itself and spread in India even before it spread to many predominantly Christian nations.

Nacho Hernandez: Talking To God

Photo © Nacho Hernandez-All Rights Reserved

Nacho Hernandez is a Spanish freelance photographer currently based in Manila, Philippines. His forte is in documentary, editorial, travel photography and photography with a humanitarian focus, and has photographed on assignment for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and for magazines such as Courrier International and Asian Geographic. He has also worked on assignments for the World Bank and other NGOs.

A graduate from the Washington School of Photography, he studied with Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey, and has a degree in International Relations and Development.

I was drawn to Nacho's photo gallery titled Talking To God, in which he shares the degree of religiosity that permeates the Phillippines, where the majority of the population is Roman Catholic. It is estimated that over 80% of the almost 100 million Filipinos is Catholic, making it one of the largest catholic communities in the world.

Every Holy Week, some men from the city of San Fernando, in the Pampanga province, are crucified (and literally nailed) on Good Friday, while many of the local young men also wander around town flagellating themselves until their backs are raw and bleeding.

Not for the faint of heart, and extremely powerful.