#transcontinenta.

[amanwithaleica]

Nepal with the Leica Q

For the past 10 days I visited Nepal. I was there for Send Me Somewhere, to document the work of RNW (Radio Netherlands Worldwide), interview and photograph some of the people that took part in the WASH project that Simavi initiated in Ghorka and I joined the Sai Ram foundation when they distributed the WakaWaka lights to a community just outside of Kathmandu. A busy schedule, but it was great to be able to help so many initiatives that help rebuild Nepal after the earthquakes.

1/320 sec, f 4.0 @ ISO 100 

Download this photo for free as a wallpaper on sendmesomewhere.com

Of course I have many stories on my time in Nepal, but - as this blog is called ‘a man with a Leica’ - I’m writing this blog to tell you about my experience with the brand new Leica Q that I brought with me. (courtesy of Transcontinenta BV, thanks guys!)

Let me start by saying I’m in love. Not so much that I will dismiss my trusted Leica M, but enough to not want to miss the Q in my camera bag, next time traveling. For me the M and the Q are complementing and reinforcing each other. My M is most of the time used with a 35mm or a 50mm Summicron. The Q comes with a 28 mm Summilux. With the M I take my time, to get the settings right, to manually focus, to reframe etc. With the Q I can use the autofocus and the shutter on automatic… It’s quick (I’ve been shooting out of a car, something I’ve never done with the M), accurate and the colours are amazing. The M does it’s work in low light, even up to ISO 2000. The Q gives me 1 or 2 stops extra as I can even go up to 3600 easy, with the ISO and I can open up to f1.7  Maybe one of the nicest features for me, the Q offers macro. 
As I did with the M9 when going to Cuba and with the Monochrom when going to India, I tend to completely lose my self in a first hands on with a camera. So I haven’t been using the M that much in the past weeks, as I wanted to fully discover the Q.

If you don’t really like technical talk, please look at the pictures and skip to the last paragraph… If you do like that kind of talk, have fun…

1/1600 sec, f4.0 @ ISO 200

I have to admit, I had to get used to it. 28mm meant I had to get in even closer for my shots. With the Q, you also have the option to digitally choose for 35mm and 50mm in the camera. It will give you the framelines in your viewfinder and the JPGs you get that way are basically a crop of the 28 mm Sumilux. When importing a cropped picture as a .DNG file, it will still give you the original 28mm image. So I don’t really understand this option as I’d rather crop in Lightroom anyway. Must be a commercial trick of some sort, but I don’t get it. After the first few days I was already used to the new 28mm perspective and I was starting to love it.

1/350 sec, f4.8 @ ISO 250

1/320 sec, f4.0 @ ISO 100

1/1000 sec, f2.8 @ ISO 100

The macro option is a very welcome one. This is one of the things I’ve always missed with the M. Getting closer than the 0.7 meter that the M allows me, opens a whole new range of possibilities and creativity. Of course I’ve missed a ‘regular’ shot or two as I forgot to flip the dial back in to the normal range and my focus obviously did’t work, but I blame that on the camera being new to me.

1/125 sec, f2.8 @ ISO 100

Like I said, shooting in near dark was great. I miss the fact that the self timer is now an option in the menu instead of flipping your on/off switch an extra bit, as I use the 2sec option often in low light to reduce camera shake. The autofocus works perfectly, even in low light, due to the Af help light. In aperture priority, the settings were often spot on giving me little to no noise up to ISO 3600. I have no idea if I could push it even further, as I haven’t been in a situation where this was needed.

1/30 sec, f1.7 @ ISO 1600

1/60 sec, f2.8 @ ISO 3200

Speaking of autofocus. The Q is made for this. The manual focus option works… but is a bit stiff. If you want manual focus, the M is a way better option than the Q. But in autofocus the Q is extremely fast, accurate and it has it’s own little extra features as well. Most of the time I just used it with a single field autofocus that I could navigate through the frame. But using the touch screen and pointing out the desired point of interest was also a nice option. When I was just sight seeing with other people who were using an Iphone as a camera, the point ánd shoot option worked amazing as well. Extremely quick and still being able to play with the depth of field like no phone camera could. The Af-c option for me opens new doors of creativity. The moments I used to have to use zone focussing to make sure I would capture moving objects, I suddenly am able to shoot from a moving car with an aperture of f2.0 or f4.0.

1/8000 sec, f2.0 @ ISO 200 from a moving car.

1/2000 sec, f2.0 @ ISO 200 from a moving car.

The viewfinder is digital and that’s a big difference. It’s a very clear and good viewfinder with extras like magnification when focussing, but it’s just not the same as an optical viewfinder. Therefor I found myself using the camera mostly in live view. The M has the same option as well, but with that camera I rather use the optical viewfinder. In the viewfinder, using the function button it’s easy to excess other nice options... to name just one: shooting a panorama. Not something I’ll use very often but hey, it sure is fun every now and again.

1/100 sec, f4.0 @ ISO 100 Panoramic 

All in all, for me the Q was a hit. I agree with many M lovers that the Q could never replace the M. Personally I don’t think that has ever been the idea behind launching this camera. To me it’s not a matter of either/or. But of course it’s quite an investment to buy both these cameras. On several occasions I read about the M being a better investment, as the Leica M lenses keep their value. The Q indeed might loose it’s value in time. I don’t understand this argument when choosing to buy a camera. I buy a camera because I want to shoot with it, because I like the way it works, because it gives me the quality that I need to deliver the images I decided to take. When you’re looking for a camera to train your skills, to develop your craftsmanship, to be flexible with your range of lenses choose a Leica M. If you’re looking for a top quality camera that lets you play around, gives you all the options of a fast, accurate and modern camera, choose the Q. Personally I think these cameras both love to be in my bag together (I for sure love them to be there), each having their own special qualities en features and both giving me beautiful high quality images.

1/250 sec, f4.8 @ ISO 250

1/500 sec, f2.8 @ ISO 250

You can see the photos a bit larger at my Flickr account.

[amanwithaleica]

What a life...

A re- occurring problem…. it’s been a while. I have so many excuses I can make, but let’s not do that and just take you on the journey I’ve been making. 

As I hinted last time I wrote something, I’m working on a new concept or philosophy if you like. ‘Send me Somewhere’ is more a way of living than a concept and it’s still work in progress as is life. 

I truly believe in the idea of doing what you love. There’s an enormous amount of videos and quotes circling Facebook and the rest of internet telling us this is how ‘it’ works or should work, but I’ve also figured out that it is quite difficult to actually, unconditionally, do it. 

I’ve talked to many people about the idea of Send me Somewhere. “What if I could provide the world with free photos? No rights, no contracts, no charge… What if my life is facilitated by people, companies and institutions that share my vision? A vision of providing good causes, interesting initiatives or people in need of good images… for free!”  Often these people and I came to the same conclusion: “In a world where money is the most important valuation of work and business is most of the time done in terms of ‘return of investment’, Send me Somewhere might be a very difficult idea to incorporate in everyday life. 

Still I can’t just put the idea aside. It already has become quite a big part of my life and I’ve been adjusting my life more and more to live the life I envision. I’ve cancelled my wifi and tv subscription, unnecessary insurance policies and found some great people believing in me and helping me out, all to just lower my monthly costs. I’ve incorporated the idea of having less can be more, by giving away lots of my stuff and not buying to much new stuff. I’ve been working more and more for free, in barter deals or on a no cure no pay basis where you pay what you want afterwards. Don’t get me wrong and please don’t flood me with inquiries for photography for free. I still look at every job I’m asked to do. Whether I like the job, whether it’s a commercial gig, whether the agreement ‘feels’ right… basically my underbelly decides if - and if so, in which form I’m taking the job. 

As I’ve said in my last post, I’ve been doing some great gigs for Serious Request. The concert of Gitaarlem was special, I’ve enjoyed working with BADE and I’m currently working for another initiative involving celebrities, lamps and an auction. All for the Serious Request event. The exhibition I made in South Sudan and Uganda is now open for the public and the grand opening took some serious preparation, but was legendary. (more on this later in a separate post.) 

Also I’ve traveled to Gaziantep, Turkey, for RNW (radio Netherlands worldwide) to document some of their work in the middle east. In my spare time there, I wandered through the streets of this very nice city and snapped some nice street work. New plans are being made, but I’ve learned by now not to elaborate until things actually are set to go… so hopefully more on that later. For now, thanks for your patience and sticking around.. I’ll try to post a bit more regularly from now on. (but I can’t promise ;-) )   

[amanwithaleica]

Gay in Uganda

In the past week I've spend some moments with Clare, a gay activist in Uganda. She invited me to her good-bye party, as she's moving because of safety reasons. Her compound, even though protected by a high wall with barbwire on top and a steel gate, was broken into several times. "It's only a matter of time before they break through the bars in front of the windows and enter the house", she said,"I'll just have to move." 

The morning before I met Clare for the second time, I was watching "the Butler", a movie about the racial history of America. After seeing it, I realised humanity is a very stubborn student. Basically what happened in the United States in the 20th century isn't that much different than what is happening right now here in Uganda. Only here it's the gay community that is being suppressed. Februari this year the president even signed into law the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act. Luckily the law, criminalising being gay, was ruled invalid by the constitutional court only three weeks ago.

Still, the Ugandan gay community is far from being free and many gays and lesbians therefor don't come out but instead hide their sexuality. Something I understand very well after reading some of the hate mails and fb messages Clare receives. Being out in a country like Uganda, means that you try to avoid public places and when you do go there, you ware a hat, shades and you try to keep a low profile. It means you're constantly at risk of being bullied or even being targeted with violence. Clare and I visited the church that she used to go to. We couldn't go in as they told her she wasn't welcome anymore. I was even forced by police to delete some of the pictures I took at the entrance.

I guess Uganda, and many countries in the world, have a long way to go when it comes down to accepting people for who they are. Whether it's a colour issue, a gender issue or a matter of sexual preference, the world seems to be far from acceptance. Meeting Clare and seeing how she fights for her rights and the rights of gay and lesbian people in Uganda, was very inspirational.

[amanwithaleica]

Moving around...

As I'm not yet getting the contacts I want/need, to work on the reportage I had planned. I've been sitting around a lot the past week. I've been in Juba for the past seven days and had numerous meetings and appointments with people that might be able to help me but I haven't come far just yet. I did learn some new quotes like: "In Africa waiting is an activity" or " You westerners all have watches, but us... we have the time". They're insightful and I learn a lot from them, but nothing has happened just yet. Of course I'll keep on trying and it taking this long, was something to expect when picking a topic that is as delicate as gender based violence. But today I got tired of staying in the surroundings I've stayed in all this time. I needed to get out.

Luckily a friend I met here offered to drive me to the desolate villages on the outskirts of Juba. The ones that are left empty after the fights of December last year, the ones that have been broken down, looted and burned out. 

Slowly some people are returning though, and a few even never left. It's kind of eerie to walk around on these grounds and I was glad my companion could speak some arabic so we could have some communication with the few people we met and the soldiers that stopped us along the way.

It's strange for me to be this careful when doing my job. Always ask permission, never walk around with the camera out of the bag, basically making sure that you are as inconspicuous as possible. A though job being 1.90 m, full of tattoos and white. As a consequence of this, most pictures I've taken up till now are posed or people are very aware I'm there. I didn't tell them how to sit or stand, but people just tend to pose when you ask them if you can take their photo.

Also it's a strange revelation to notice that, up to now, I struggle with the choice of monochrome or color. I've always been and still am a huge fan of black & white. But these surroundings, despite the horrific history, just scream to use color. 

Well, at least I've been able to do a little bit of what I came here for. And like I said, I'll keep on going to try and get the story on sexual violence that I came for. For now, I'll just settle and take in the stories and surroundings that I encounter.

Just to be clear: The women in these pictures, to my knowledge, have not been victims of gender based violence or indicated such in any way. I haven't spoke to them about this nor did I ask, as this wasn't the time nor the place and I didn't have a proper translator with me.

[amanwithaleica]

No Selfies...

Normally I’m not in a picture that often, but because there was a second photographer with me in Nairobi and  the people at PeaceTones also were enthusiastic photographers, I suddenly got very well documented. Here are some nice ones. The first is accompanied by the picture I took ​​myself at the very time Ruha Devanesan, Director of Peace Tones, took a photo of me.  

    These two shots were taken by Joshua, the San Francisco photographer that joined us as well. One is made ​​with his Sony RX1 and the other with Instagram on his Iphone.

[amanwithaleica]

Nairobi

Next month I'll be leaving for Nairobi to help out with this beautiful project, initiated by Peacetones.

This trip will also be part of my research for a new business model in which I'll be able to work "non profit" more often. Giving foundations, institutions and young creative/social entrepreneurs some nice photographic material to help them make this world just a little bit better. 

For this I'm asking for your help if you can and if you want. Check out how you can help me here.

Thanks a lot, I'll keep you all posted!!

[amanwithaleica]

Jeferson, a five year old autistic boy.

These weeks I've joined the Abrazos foundation, visiting several families with autistic children in Cuzco- Peru. This foundation strives for awareness and education about autism. My job mainly consists of photographing the families, the work this foundation is doing and of course the children. Only to show contributors what the foundation is doing and of course to try and get some more contributors.

As I have brought my Leica M240 besides the Monochrom, I can suddenly also capture some of their work on video. As this is quite new for me, I noticed how I can lose myself in filming as well as in editing - even though I edit in Imovie instead of one of those fancy programs. 

Two days ago I've spend about an hour with Jeferson, his mom and Cusi, who is one of the therapist of Abrazos. Jeferson is only 5 years old. During this therapy session they worked on concentration, numbers and reaction.

[amanwithaleica]

Hunting the Robot

Yesterday I took a long drive with my brother to see these young guys performing with their band. Their performance was amazing and the energy on stage was impressive. Luckily I brought my Monochrom as these pretty guys are a joy for every photographer to capture.

Afterwards I had a little talk with the band and it was great to learn the eagerness and creativity of these guys. The lead singer and I shared some common philosophy about doing what you do. One of them; making no concessions while you follow your own path. This is why I work with the Leicas and prefer to work in black and white. These guys decided to raise money through crowd funding, to record their first album. (releases early 2014) Doing so, they taught themselves all they needed to know about working in a studio. The guitarist also does all their photography and video. They write all their groovy, afro indierock tunes themselves and their stage performance is impressive to say the least. A couple of incredible creative young minds, joined together.

In short, if you get the chance to check them out live: do so! Otherwise check their site and download the single for free.