Hey Steve,
I hope you’re well. First of all I would like to mention that you’re doing a great job and your reviews have been very valuable to my purchasing history! Here are some images I’m submitting for the ‘Daily inspiration’ section of your site. I hope there aren’t any spelling mistakes and one of them makes it to the daily submission!
Regards,
Alex Martin
1:
Image Title: Winter Warmth
Story: Another cold night in rural Scotland, there’s nothing better than spending it around a fire! For a little while now i have been getting back into film here and there using some inexpensive cameras, although I’m not the proud new owner of a Voigtlander R4A (couldn’t quite afford an M body yet) with a Leica 35mm Summicron ASPH which i truly love, easily one of the best lenses I have ever owned! Anyway, this is a result from the first roll i put through!
Eqip: Voigtlander R4A / Leica 35mm Summicron ASPH
2:
Image Title: Streams
Story: I’ve happily ended up with a girlfriend for 4 years from Los Angeles who lives with me in Scotland. A year ago we took a trip to Cali for 3 months to visit her family and explore (as i couldn’t get anymore out of the american government without an official visa) I hadn’t visited America before this point. What a controversial country, especially in the liberal state of California where they seem to be trying to set the trend for modern America and fight against the traditionalists and people so embedded in religion which seem to be holding America back… Above all this though, beauty still runs deep through this land which holds its own and fights back regardless of what happens with humanity on its surface.
Eqip: Canon 5dMKii / Canon 50mm 1.4
3.
Image Title: Pacing Land
Story: Getting out walking in the hills of Scotland is easily one of the most enjoyable things to do in this country. Once you’re perched atop a hill and eat your lunch as the clouds float through the sky creating drifting shadows on the land. Every time is unique in its own right as seasons change so quick altering the lands colours and texture so often.
Eqip: Canon 5dMKii / Canon 50mm 1.4
Scotland was made for walking and the last photo captures that. Bravo. I count myself fortunate to have roamed the hills of Glen Coe and Glen Etive.
Ooooooooh…. No.3 is the exactly kind of chiaroscuro-fest I wish I knew how to get! (And I have a 5DII – but I can’t do that…) So inspiring, thank you. Did you bracket? How much PS? Best wishes, Nick
Great shots…any links where to see the rest of your work?
Thanks!
The third image is gorgeous.
You’re a very polarizing individual. Shooting with “only” an R4A but buying expensive 35cron ASPH glass. Mocking the system yet loving the land it governs. Then shooting interesting photos but with very hard shadows.
**I almost missed the man in the second shot.
The digital images look very painterly! Great work.
It’s nice to see lower contrast photos now and then; I like your style. How has your experience been with the Bessa R4A been so far?
Wow these photography is amazing! Great work by Alexander – I am just getting into photography and this post has been inspiring. Thanks!
The summicron 35mm just has to be my mod often used lens, I love that focal length, the voigtlander 40mm would be a little better if I had a better idea of the framing, rather like an early Leica M just have an educated guess.
File the flange, Stewart, so it brings up the 35mm lines on your M. The Nokton 40 fits the lines almost perfectly – and a lot better than most 35mm lenses, which are wider than the lines. It’s easy to do – search for how on the web. Be sure to use a metal fingernail file (you won’t have to take off much) and keep the filings out of your lens. If I can do it, anyone can — and it makes a huge difference.
I would argue that a metal fingernail file would NOT be capable of doing it. Yes, I’ve tried it. Gave it a good 15minutes and ended up with a dull file and a brassed flange with no significant results. Awkward to handle as well.
Ended up using a $35 dremel kit from Home Depot. Make sure you buy the one with the thinnest circular disc for a straight cut to mark your end point (2mm or less from original). And the cone shaped one to make a rounded smooth edge like those found in stock flange.
Tape up the glass and make sure no metal shards flies inside the barrel nor your eyes. It’s a 2min process. As long as the flange doesn’t catch the frameline lever in the camera body it should display 35mm. Not sure if this applies to the R4A though.