Street Photography in Paris

Great news today as the first full format digital M Leica was finally anounced. This camera has a 24 x 36mm sensor that will replace the brave M8. I had a chance to try one this afternoon and something tells me that pictures on this blog will soon be taken by this camera ;) I am not a pro so I will let others review it such as www.stevehuffsphoto.com or www.reidreviews.com but my first impressions is that this is the digital M camera that so many have been waiting for. So here is my first test picture taken with the 35mm Summilux Asph. Click on picture to see the full size picture (slightly compressed). Note that you can also look at this picture unprocessed by clicking here.

As for the story of this picture, simple, this woman had her breath taken away as she saw the new Leica M9 in the window of PhotoSuffren.

Leica M9 with 35mm Summilux Asph at F1.4, 1/710, ISO160

As I wander through the streets of Paris, I usually pay special attention to the numerous tourists and their relationship to photography depending on their nationality. I believe there are some trends that can be extracted from these observations. So here is a little quizz full of stereotypes and, of course, just for fun :

Match the following nationalities (numbers) to the description of their photographic style (letters)

1) Japanese 2) American 3) Spanish 4) Parisians 5) Russians 6) British 7) Italians  8 ) Argentine

A) They own the biggest and latest cameras but use them on automatic mode. The ladies of this country will  pause with one hand on the hip and a leg elegantly positioned in front of the other. The stance will be completed with a deep and sensual look at the photographer.

B) There are two generations of photographers from this country. The  elder one lugs around a tripod all day and spends endless minutes composing his pictures. Yet at some point, after he set the self timer and walked to his position, he turns back and wonders why the tripod and camera are not here anymore.  The youngest generation always look for the most creative framing to match their extravagant clothing.

C) No contest here, they are always the best dressed in the streets. So each pictures has to look like the cover of the next Vogue magazine. They are sometimes seen complaining about not seeing well the LCD. Of course, this is usually solved when they finally take their sunglasses off.

D) The easiest to detect since most have never seen old stones before,  therefore they tend to behave like shooting machines. Note the generic smile of all females when pictured, probably the result of years of practice for the annual shoot of their High School yearbooks.

E) Most of their pictures are taken at night in a bar. After a few beers, creativity is always at its best. They  can also be detected by their clothing as it is usually adapted for temperatures at least 10 degrees higher. Expect them therefore to wear shorts in December.

F)  Only group pictures. Yet it takes forever since the grand mother does not know where the shutter is located. She is then helped by her grandson who cannot figure it out either. It usually ends up by asking a passerby « Take picturre please ».

G) They don’t take pictures as they think they look so much better live than on a still image. Therefore, they only use the LCD screen of their camera as a mirror and spend endless minutes contemplating their own reflection with their long hair wavering in the wind.

H) Street photographers come from all over the world just to picture them. So why bother? ;)

Got it right ? You will find the answers below the picture.

Leica M8 with 28mm Summicron at F2, 1/4000,  ISO160

Answers : 1B, 2D, 3F, 4H, 5A, 6E, 7C, 8G