(Disclaimer: I am the Lead Photographer at my Church and thinking about YouTube, therefore I do have a digital camera that I will use, hell this thumbnail was created by it. I don’t want anyone thinking I sold everything for a film camera in 2025)
The year was 2019, my oldest son was 1 years old and I found myself wanting a camera to document life after parting ways with the Fujifilm X70. Before my son’s birth I was consistently getting out weekly to do street photography around Atlanta as I found the X70 the perfect companion for this. While learning more about street photography I would stumble across blogs and YouTube videos debating on what focal length was the best for street photography. If you have ever gone down this rabbit hole you will find often the 35mm and 50mm are preferred by most street and documentary photographers. The X70 was the equivalent of a 28mm, but due to its compact size I was able to get very close to my subjects on the streets as well as really close to my son. But after selling what may be my favorite camera of all time, I wanted something more. Something I noticed popping up on my timeline consistently. A Fujifilm X100F, negative, a Leica! Once discovering the price range of the camera body alone then pairing it with a lens I was like hell nah. No way, not with a young child, plus the sell of the X70 did not recoup enough funds to purchase even a used Leica. Therefore I settled with a used Fujifilm X100F, a great camera no doubt as we had a great run together. Discovering different film simulations and often time pairing those JPEGS with a VSCO recipe I felt I was definitely getting my monies worth. However, a Leica was definitely imprinted in my mind at this time.
It was at this point a blog came up on my Google home page. “The Leica as a Teacher” by Mike Johnston also known as The Online Photographer. This blog was originally posted in 2009, 10 years before I got my X100F. The objective of the blog is to use a film Leica M camera, choose a focal length of 28,35, or 50mm, and a black and white film stock. After selecting your camera and focal length you are to use that setup and only that setup everyday for one year. You should shoot at minimum one roll of film per week and from each roll select five to six frames per roll, and every five to ten rolls print one frame without cropping. There were in my opinion three end goals to this project. one to see light better, two to compose photos better, and three to become so familiar with the camera system it becomes an extension of your body.
I attempted to duplicate this project with my X100F in 2020, but always felt something was missing. Though the optical viewfinder of the X100 series is an awesome feature, I was never certain it duplicated the real feel of a rangefinder. The other battle I faced was Fuji in my opinion attempting to replicate the Leica M but with more modernized features, therefore having those features available I felt also took away from the experience. Plus the focus by wire system on the X100F was not great. Nevertheless, after one year of the experience I returned to using the X100F as normal before replacing it with the X100V. Having an X100V to me was like having an iPhone, not to attack Fuji or Apple but it was basically the same feeling just with some updates.
So in 2024 I realized that if I did not upgrade my iPhone every year , sell some photography gear that was collecting dust, and due to its crazy hype sell my X100V I could potentially get that Leica Camera I have had my eyes on for quite some time. I could also attempt to go through the process of using The Leica as a Teacher as initially intended. So as 2025 begins I have a camera, Leica MP purchased used from KEH Camera, a lens Leica 28mm Summicron also purchased used from KEH, a boatload of Kodak Tri-X 400 I asked family members to purchase as Christmas and Birthday gifts, and some Ilford chemicals to develop at home. I also have the Negative Supply 35mm film scanning system, and Negative Lab Pro installed in Lightroom to digitize my negatives.
Some may ask why Film and not a digital Leica. Well in short I rented a Leica Q2 Monochrome while still owning the X100V, and after 3 days realized it felt very similar to the X100V. It had the focus throw just as a Leica M mount lens for manual focusing, but the electronic viewfinder hindered the manual focus experience and the option available still for autofocus, which if I’m honest with that 28mm Summilux lens is a bonus. I had also recently shot film on my brothers Nikon F2 and that feeling of not knowing if a single photo was even created just ignites a different emotion within. Shooting a roll, shipping it to California at the time to The Darkroom Lab, and waiting a week sometimes two just brought back a feeling similar to Christmas Day as a child.
With all that said, I guess you can say I am looking forward to the year ahead on the project, and as The Online Photographer said at the end of the original blog, if at the end of the project I feel it was pointless I can always sell the Leica and get a nice return on my initial investment.