About me

Photography is a passion, a long time friend.

As a child, the images and the dramatic face expressions featured on the covers of “Life” and “Time”magazines and the incredible landscapes that appeared on “National Geographic”, created a profound impact on me. I was bitten and infected for life with “phos graph”.

At the age of six, my father would let me play around with his “Rolleiflex” and at the age of  9 he gave me a my first real camera, a “Canonet”. My first rangefinder.

The camera was second hand, but shinning new and it came with a beautiful leather case. I truly loved that camera and I felt proud of my new companion. Years went by and hundreds of film rolls, as I made sure the family steps were captured on prints. A few years later, I was introduced to what would become another great passion. The Nikon “F”. At that time my father really couldn’t put down that amount if cash for such a camera, but he encouraged me with my hobby he gave me the next best thing, a”Nikkormat”, a moderely priced (yet expensive for us then) Nikon .  The Nikkormat’s were in fact quite good cameras and at the time the closest I could get to my object of desire the true “F”.  The camera was fantastic, very sharp lenses and great built quality. It was also very versatile and a variety of accessories were available. With the help of a few additional lenses and some “cool” filters I had an amazing tool for years.

I shot hundreds of film rolls and around that time, me and my best friend, also a hobby photographer, partnered and installed a small darkroom on a vacant bedroom of his house. We had acquired a reasonable quality enlarger and started buying paper in bulk and film in cans. We experimented all sorts of possible combinations of ASA, aperture, shutter speeds, filters, lens extensions, over and under exposure and every new photography gadget we could get our hands on. In time we also geared to develop colour slides and with the help of a great quality projector we could see our works in full colour and large sizes.

I took me a few years to finally conquer my trophy, the “Nikon F” and with the “F” it was a true love affair. Wow, what a great camera it was. It made me proud and I felt “professional”, specially when large tele lenses were mounted. I shot great pictures with it and in one special occasion I was able to put my gear to full test . It was during a Formula-1 Grand Prix race in the late seventies. At that time we were allowed to be really close to the tracks and I had the opportunity to shoot some fantastic photos. Great memories.

During those days I worked as an “engineer” for a multinational Japanese company. They really liked my photos and I was commissioned to do the company’s product catalog. That was my first real “pro” work although I was not a professional photographer in the real sense of “making” a living out of it.

Time moved on and I had to depart with my “F”. I was about to get married and the camera and all the gear I had collected could earn me some important cash. I needed a home, had a child on the way and the “F” made a tremendous contribution to my budget. Years later I got another fine Nikon as a replacement and me and my buddy, now also married, shared cameras, lenses and accessories. Then a peculiar episode happened. He had a terrible argument with his wife, left his home which eventually led to a divorce, and all my stuff, camera, lenses, accessories and some real fine “vinyl” records left at his old home were never recouped. His wife would not believe they were mine and being “his or hers” now, it became part of her share for the divorce. I could not believe as it was my second “depart” with the Nikons. Frustrating…

Our friendship was more valuable and so I gave up trying to recoup my camera, my vinyls and god knows what else. We were great friends since high school so we shared many great moments. My friend passed away sometime ago and I know he would be laughing if he could read this…

Well, few years down the road technology changed, improved, cameras and lenses became less expensive and I bought a few more Cannons, Nikons and so on. They were all 35mm film of course. But then came the digital and that was something one could not avoid. It took me a while to get convinced that digital could take me back to the great days of “Ektachrome”, but eventually it did.

I embraced digital really slowly, started with some less expensive cameras, and as new and better models were released I upgraded and gave the old ones to my kids and so on. I decided to give digital a better opportunity with the release of the Leica Digilux 3.

The Digilux felt good, had great balance and feel, a retro “look” that I loved and it had a great “Leica D Vario Elmarit 14-50mm/f2.8-3.5 lens”. Sharp photos again,and a Leica… With the Leica I could shoot in manual mode which was what I really wanted, and from time to time make use of the auto features. I shot great pictures with that camera, but it I knew I wanted something else. I truly wanted an old Leica but I didn’t want to cope with the film processing. So I waited and it happened: Leica released the M8 Digital.

With the “M8″ I was now in possesion of a great trio: a top quality range finder camera that so much reminded me of my first camera, the “Cannonet”, the digital flexibility, and well, in my opinion a selection of the best lenses in the world. As “Leica” released new versions of the “M-System” I avidly acquired them and eventually geared up with an arsenal of “M’s”. I now had a second “M”, then a M8.2 special “Safari Edition” and finally a M9. With the M9 I packed some “pocket” Leicas like the “D” and “V” lux and the “X1″ as I travelled. As a Leica “obsessed” fan, I finally I decided it was time to acquire a photographers dream, the Leica “Noctilux”. The Noctilux is what technically people call “the world’s highest-speed aspherical lens”. In simple english translation, the worlds the fastest (greatest aperture) high quality commercial lens available.Period! As so it is, what amazing pictures it can produce.

Leica cameras and lenses continues as my passion although frankly the company has now caused some major disappointment as it releases cameras like any other “commodity” company, new model after new model, in intervals as short as “months”. This of course is not what a true Leica fan would expect. There are so many “M’s” available these days that it is hard to distinguish what is really “new and “worthwhile” investing or what is just another cosmetic update. I believe the legacy and the heritage of the brand is going to get beaten. But then, that it is just my opinion. If you do some research you will find lot’s of people that are really angry with the company. But the fact is that the lenses are still fantastic and of indisputable quality, and that is today for me is the heartbeat of the Leica. With the Leica I have captured many great shots and that is what matters most. Please have a look at some of my photos that I have shared on the pages of my website.

I hope you enjoy them!