It was a beautiful day. I stood in the park woods with my eyes closed. I felt the willow branches fluttering and the sun shining. A halo appeared above. Suddenly, I felt a light swaying and opened my eyes. I saw a little monkey playing with its owner, so I quickly took a picture. I learned that you can feel the light without opening your eyes. Don’t search for photos; let them come to you.
For a long time in the past, I thought photography was about taking pictures of scenery, friends, and family. When I saw Henri Cartier-Bresson’s street photography album in a bookstore, I had to close the book and hide my face to prevent strangers from seeing how excited I was. It turns out that street photography can amplify our sympathy and love and guide us to feel the enlightenment of life.
Since then, I often go out with a camera, sometimes a Leica, sometimes a compact. I don’t deliberately look for opportunities, but take my chances. Especially if someone is running in a hurry, I take a picture immediately. I know there must be a goal behind every person in a hurry. She and I have a common goal – to seize opportunities. It’s just that we express it in different ways, she uses running and I use shutter.
Time is like a wave that washes away all the hand-painted artwork on the beach. It will also wash away the footprints that each of us has left on the streets. And I will use my camera to record those calm and innocent expressions on film. Unbeknownst to the photographed, with the sound of the shutter, they are like falling crystal raindrops dancing on the edge of time.
Watching the flowers bloom so beautifully, it seems that life should be so beautiful too, and all your worries will dissipate. Therefore, whenever I come across a beautiful flower, I stop to take a picture.
Many seasoned photographers don’t take these photos. They think it’s too easy, that anyone can take them, that it’s not worth wasting film. But I don’t think so. The purpose of photography is not to show how good you are at it, but to have fun and keep the original love of nature alive, at least for me. I don’t create exaggerated perspectives or standard compositions, just keep it as it is. My goal is not to take photos that look like wallpaper, but to take photos that I want to take.
During the process of developing my black and white film, sometimes there are water stains left on the negative. It’s like, everyday life is calm as water, but even a small stone can make it ripple. Life is always full of dangers and even a drop of water can be magnified on film. Water stains can often be wiped away, but I’m still lazy. As long as it doesn’t ruin the picture, I don’t bother cleaning it up. Sometimes laziness is an open-mindedness. The water stains left on the film, I just regard as tattoos.
“I like pictures taken with film because it carries the smell of sunshine.”
“If film becomes obsolete, will you still like film cameras?”
“Even if the film camera is history, the images it takes will always be there, and I still like it because at the end of the film is you”
“Then I like the sky today because it ends with you and me”
From film. From Leica. It’s what gave me the courage to go out on the streets.It’s what made me strong and gentle.
The slowest shutter speed is the speed at which the snow melts on my hands.
Which shutter speed should I use to capture the speed at which we grow old?
开
工
In 1961, Leica unleashed the world’s first 35mm f/1.4 lens—the Steel Rim. Not merely a tool, but a manifesto in brass and glass. This 300g unicorn (1961-1966) redefined “luxury” in optics, its nickel-plated steel lens hood locking into milled grooves with Swiss watch precision. Today, surviving specimens trade for 8,000–8,000–15,000, not for their optics, but as mechanical haikus from an era when lenses were forged, not assembled.
| Aspect | Steel Rim v1 | Modern ASPH FLE |
|---|---|---|
| Aperture Blades | 10 (oil-painted bokeh) | 9 (laser-cut precision) |
| Contrast | Vermeer’s chiaroscuro | HDR hyperreality |
| Flare | Golden halo mysticism | Nano-coating suppression |
| Price (2024) | 8k–8k–15k (artifact) | 5k–5k–6k (tool) |
| Soul | Bauhaus rebel | Silicon Valley engineer |
Scene 1: Cyclists waiting at the intersection
Scene 2: Archery moments on the road collide with art
Leica’s greatest magic trick:
✓ Mechanical Fetishists: Who oil brass gears as meditation
✓ Portrait Shamans: Chasing Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon glow
✓ Leica Historians: Studying pre-ASPH theology
Avoid If: You need corner sharpness or fear focus shift.
The Steel Rim isn’t a lens—it’s Weimar Germany’s last laugh. For the price of a compact car, you buy:
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (for poets) | ⭐/5 (for engineers)
A lens that snarls: ‘You don’t choose me—I choose you.’
Pro Tips:
Brass whispers secrets,
Thirty-five millimeters—
Light bends to old gods.
I just heard about an awesome photographer moving to NYC. Unexpected, but it makes sense. I like his work, they are interesting and you can see an independent thinker. His favorite camera is the Fuji x100 and I love the Leica Summilux 35mm f/1.4 and take my Leica everywhere I go. And I’m not going to New York, I’m in Beijing.
Interesting photography is more than just good looking photos. The photograph is just the medium. The personality of the photographer is deeply imprinted in the work. We think about life through photography and photography through life.
In short, don’t think that street photographers only have time to take pictures and get lucky. In fact, when not taking pictures, photographers are reading and thinking. One more thing, many photographers have never read a text-only photography book. Can a photography book be without photos? Yes, a good photographer must have read picture books without words and photography books with only words. Have you ever seen a photography book without pictures?
Many street photographers prefer to use Fuji x100 cameras, while I like to use Leica film cameras. Of course, whether the photos are interesting or not depends mainly on the photographer, not the equipment. But one thing we have in common is that we both use small, quiet rangefinder cameras, which are actually more conducive to street photography. Cameras that don’t disturb other people are more advantageous in street photography. Therefore, sometimes the choice of equipment is also very important for the photographer. the Leica m3 and the Leica Summilux 35 f/1.4 pre-asph are my favorites. I learned this from a photography book without pictures, which was an interview with a photographer. Many street photographers choose cameras for street photography that are compact and don’t interfere with passersby.
