May 2, 2011
Passions
It all started many moons ago when I truly fell in love with the darkroom and all of its mystery and wonder. From rolling my own film through the work of processing and print, it was there that the sparks of this love affair truly took form. As I learned not only the function of the single-lens-reflex camera, but I also acquired knowledge of the mechanical beauty of the lightbox. My curiosity led me to building and repairing numerous amounts of lenses and bodies. To understand anything or anyone, I truly believe you should always start from the inside first. Through the years, I had the privilege of using a variety of both analog and digital cameras from both the Nikon and Canon lineage (FM-10, FE-2, Nikorrmat, FA, FM-2, F, F2, F3hp, F4s, F5, D1, A-1, 1n, D10, D20, 5D, 1Ds), as well as, many of the legendary prime and zoom lenses ever produced. It was through these cameras that I built my learning curve in photography, learning the balance of light and shadows, composition and motion, but above all loving every moment of it.
My experience as a professional photograher have been very selective, I've worked under one of the best events photographer in the Philly area. I've also collaborated with Shooting Stars Photography for various sports photography, and then going beyond that to doing many of my own private works, all of which have expanded my knowledge as a hobbyist and a professional.
Leica, I remembered it being referred to as having the best reputation in optics, but to actually own a Leica and witnessing its legendary performance and artistic manifestation is simply too pleasurable to be worded. I purchased this Leica M2, 35-50-90mm frames and push button rewind, from an old Chinese man who have opted out to the modern autofocus SLRs due to his aging eyes. The camera came to me after weeks of anticipation, but after a few frames, it was evident that the body needed to have some TLC and fine tuning to get it back into its ideal form. After its brief hiatus back to Wetzler, the Leica M2 arrived home after a week of minor cleaning and shutter tuning and have been a true marvel to use. At the arrival of the digital age, I had the honor of using the Leica M8 and now its descendent, the Leica M9. However, the crown jewels of the Leica is its glass, I can atest to its legend through the viewpoints of both the "King of the Night" and the "King of Bokeh", and the final addition - "King of Portraits". With Leica, there is no contemporary and no modernist approach, there is only a standard that supercedes anything and everything in the world of photography. The images produced by the Leica yields soft bokeh like a water-colored painting, supreme sharpness at its focus, and the subtle use of its shutter under the unnoticeable eyes of its subjects. These are the cameras that are crowned Pulitzers, for not just their artistic rendition and signature, but also their ability to capture the human soul.
~Huntington Beach, California
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