[Leica] Bill Pierce on the Leica today

[jpphoto at hci.net (John Payne)]

Here's another view on unobtrusive photography by one who has done it
hundreds of times.  it matters not if I am shooting a band in a bar or a
wedding reception with an M series camera or a Nikon d2x, people react to me
or not the same way.  What can change this might be the way the individual
shooter  may bring to the event.  A red dot or  not, an dslr or not, does
not seem to be much of a factor as much as  the way of shooting and the
behavior of the photographer in getting him or her noticed.  I've  shot with
M cameras, nikon film and digital, lenses of all sizes, and not noticed
people reacting differently towards me  based on the actual size of my
cameras.  It's more on how  you use them and how one interacts with the
subjects.  Each week I have several portrait shoots that involve 100-300
frames with a d2x and 70-200, and I don't see people acting differently
towards me/my camera than with a Leica, Hasselblad, etc.  A photographer's
personality might be differnt with a rangefinder than a medium format camera
due to his or her's familiarity with the equipment. It might simply be what
one is used to instead of characteristics of a certain camera system.  Not
to say camera size is never an issue but it's rarely one from my experience.
Just a thought,
John Payne