[Leica] Leica Bug

["Paul T. Collura" <pcollura@epix.net>]

I wish I had taken notes on my life as the dates and memories have begun
to get fuzzy but I can clearly remember my first contact with Leica as
if it were yesterday.  I was fourteen in 1959 and came across a brand
new Leica M3 with 50mm Summicron in my Dad's gear closet as I was
rummaging around for film for my Voigtlander. I knew I would incur the
wrath of my father if he knew I had "played" with his beloved Leica but
I held it dearly and operated the aperture ring and shutter while
looking through the viewfinder hardly believing how smooth the focusing
and other controls operated. It was the most beautiful and perfectly
manufactured object that I had ever seen and held. The bug bit me right
then and there.  I would have to wait until 1972 when I was 27 and a
resident in diagnostic radiology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
in Philadelphia until I was able to buy my own Leica. I bought a Leica
M4 chrome with 50mm Summicron which I proceeded to use with a passion
around Head House Square and Society Hill Phila.  I shot many pictures
of my future wife with that camera and have fond memories of that time
together. 

I had purchased my first Leica from The Photo-Cine Shop on 18th St. in
Phila. The owner George ( whose last name escapes me) took a liking to
me and would inform me whenever anything interesting in Leica turned
up.  I had joined the LHSA and met some local collectors but on a
resident's salary ($9,000 at the time) I could hardly afford much of
what I desired.  Nevertheless, I was able to purchase the entire 50
Jahre series from George and a KE-7A with Elcan lens both of which I
have to this day.

Marriage and my first child soon followed. My military obligation which
had been deferred for residency would now have to be met and I pulled
some strings in 1975 to get a US Army assignment overseas.  I was sent
to the 2nd General Army Hospital in Landstuhl Germany for two years. 
Living with Germans off base and shunning the military except when on
duty enabled me to blend into European culture almost as a native.  My
Leica purchases continued and I now added a Leicaflex SL2 camera and
lens system to my growing M4 system. These would be the best years of my
life so much so that my wife and I were reluctant to return home and
fantasized for a while about becoming German. But as much as we traveled
in Germany and around Europe we never made it to Wetzlar!

Love of our mutual families demanded we return to the states and I had
taken a job in Carlisle Pa as a radiologist. We would soon find
Lancaster more desirable and moved there in 1981 where we still reside.
We now had two more children and lots of responsibilities so Leica
purchases were deferred. Other than snaps of the kids I did less serious
photography.  When George sold the Photo-Cine shop I lost contact with
that establishment and began doing business with the upstart Tamarkin
and Co. Leica R4, Leica R7 and more M gear including three M6s followed
over the ensuing years but I was not really photographically active. I
even purchased a Canon EOS system to aid my aging eyes but found it user
unfriendly and lacking in what attracted me to Leica. I have given it to
my youngest son. Two years ago I did a western photo oriented trip to
Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park which has rekindled my interest in
photography. I used a Leica R7 and 6.2 exclusively on that trip. I still
use the R7 and a M6 about equally finding the R system invaluable for
tele and macro shots, landscape and nature photography but the M system
a joy for general 28-90mm shooting especially of people. 

Leically Yours,
Paul T. Collura M.D.