Monograph: Q2MR Urban
As I mentioned in the previous blog post, Q2MR Nature, I’ve been surprised at how I use the Leica Q2 monochrom. More often than not, I’m using it hand held, just walking around a location. I also predominantly use it in manual focus mode too. The smooth, buttery feel of the the focus ring on the lens is a flash back to my days of film photography and helps me slow down in my image making. But perhaps the thing that has struck me most of all is that it makes me want to make photographs when I am in urban areas. It speaks to me as an urban camera in ways no other camera has. In many ways, I think the Urban images are better than the Nature images.
I’m not sure whether it’s the black and white only aspect to it, or the amazing high-ISO capabilities of the sensor, but I almost always want that camera in hand when I’m walking around a city.
And if you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you’ll recall that I’ve discovered it does very well at night or very, very early in the morning. It’s allowed me to see and make images during times of the day (read: night) that previously I would have never considered a having potential for image-making.
And, of course, there are the qualities of black and white imagery that make working in that medium such a pleasure. Light, shadow, form and texture all rendered tonally.
Yet another nice flashback to days of old is how I can use colored filters (yellow, orange, red, green and polarizer) to manipulate tonal values. Again, it slows me down, gets me thinking about an image and how best to record it.
And, quite frankly, it has led me to make photographs when I previously would not have.
The Q2MR has allowed me to photograph things I would have with any another camera, but with limitations that push me to explore those subjects differently.
I don’t really know what more to say than the camera really makes me want to pick it up and just wander around.
Fortunately we’ve been to some places where the results have been photographically rewarding.
Trips into urban areas for business (we’ve got to find a . . . . and what not) are no longer automatically met with the “sigh … what a waste of a day” sort of attitude, but instead with, “well, why not bring the Q2MR, we might find something, or want to wander around a bit.”
Because you never really know what you’re going to find when walking the streets of some unknown town.
So yeah, some might say that purchasing the Q2MR was a near-impulse buy, but I can’t say that I regret it in the least. Even those few instance when I say to myself, “Gee, I really wish I could take this in color.”
A you might have expected, given my recent efforts to update the website, I’ve updated the Monographs Galleries to include both the Q2MR Nature and Q2MR Urban monographs. You can go check them out by clicking here.