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London was hit by a massive snowfall back in February, and pretty much shut down for a couple of days. This coincided with me getting my Leica MP and switching to Tri-X film. I wrapped up and headed out into the cold late in the evening and shot a roll, before the allure of a hot cup of tea back home proved too much. I love this picture because normally the bus stop would have a queue, the pavement would be busy and cars would be passing by – so it really shows how deserted London became for those two days. I almost threw the film out because I had yet to master loading film and became rather frustrated when trying to get it on the spool!
Why I use a Leica:
In the last year I’ve sold most of my Canon gear, and now shoot with a MP and M6, with the current 50mm f/1.4, 28mm f/2 and 28mm f/2.8 lenses. 28mm is a fantastic length for reportage, and the Leica lenses have beautifully clear distance markings on them. I finished two years of photography study last year and have been working freelance since then. I spent a week photographing Catholic pilgrims in Lourdes this summer: it was a personal project and the first I’d done with my Leicas. I used distance focusing almost all of the time during the day – so much faster than autofocus, and incredibly liberating. This photo also sums up the magic of the Leica rangefinder system – a wonderfully soft shutter (the photo was shot at 1/15s, I seem to recall, hence the snow raking across the frame) and beautiful fast lenses. I love shooting film, but I’m very excited by the M9 – I can’t wait to get my hands on one.
Please visit Matthew Plummer’s personal web site: matthewplummer.co.nz
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what I really like about this is the way you have used the lighting to contrast the street against the background, no easy feat with a white snow scene. The light just falls away perfectly. I think this is one of the amazing things about leica. Somehow it manages to differentiate between light and shadow in a way that is, well, different to other cameras/lenses. Just perfect.
Beautiful, moody capture, Matthew. The lights on the bus stop lift the image and give it a centre of attention. If it were mine, I’d be tempted to crop out the cars in order to emphasise the sense of isolation but I appreciate if others do not share that view.