what

First, let's set the context. Let's get the tech stuff out of the way and then move beyond that.

For the purposes of this blog, I'm a writer and a photographer, and today it's the second of those categories I'm going to talk about.

I've been creating photographs for a long time, since age 15 at least. For most of that time, including my years as a working journalist, I've tended to value simplicity. Very often I'd carry one camera body and one lens, and work with available light. Briefly, at the advent of the digital age, I was tempted away from that paradigm. It didn't take long to return to simplicity. Since I shoot for myself now, as a creative outlet to balance the day job, there are more choices.

But it's harder to do today. I like to compare most camera manufacturers to the auto makers of recent years... digital SLRs have become a visual equivalent of the gas-guzzling SUV, getting ever more complex. 400+ page instruction manuals are now the rule; the cameras try to be all things to all people. The top-end models come close to doing this, as one recent reviewer recently said, they're good at a lot of things. What he didn't exactly say, what he left to inference, is that a lot of compromises have been made to get there.

The two that matter to me are bulk... while entry level models can be smaller and lighter, the pro level bodies can be nearly to size and weight of a medium format rig; and complexity, the deep layers of menus, too many buttons, and those ever-thicker instruction manuals.

The trend toward increased bulk and added complexity actually dates back a while, and affected later generations of pro-level film SLRs. This, combined with my interest in street photography, drove me away from the SLR approach and toward a rangefinder some time ago... a full 10 years ago.

Although I'd used a Leica for a while during my journalism years, it wasn't til about 1999 that a Leica became my primary camera. The compact size, the elegant simplicity, the ability to see more than the actual image during composition... I've become addicted to these things, and the the ease of handling that goes with rangefinder photography. Although I still shoot other things when conditions demand... DSLR for macro work or long telephotos or sustained fast action... medium format for carefully controlled studio work... the Leica is my camera of choice 90 percent of the time.

This forced me to stay with film for longer than I would have liked, because there simply wasn't a digital Leica M of pro quality until 2006. I waited a bit longer than that, as the M8 worked through it's teething problems. By the time I was ready to buy one, the price had come down and demos were readily available. It turned out to be a good choice. The M8 is now my primary camera.

More on this in a bit.