[Leica] soft release for slow shutter speeds

[Charles Cason <cec@vbe.com>]

I had my first leica M2 in the early sixties when I found one in a pawn
shop.  I traded a .38 special detective special for it.  It had a dual
range f2 Summicron.   Down in Georgia, revolvers were more sought after
than strange cameras.  Anyway, I was taking a lot of pictures inside of
churches.  Some times with ceiling lights (I never used a flash) and
sometimes with just light through the stained glass windows.   A friend
put me on to the "upside down" method that works well for me.  Maybe
everyone does it, but I haven't seen it mentioned lately.  I would stand
with my back and head against a wall, or column, think about the
highlights I wanted, and turn the camera upside down and place in
against my forehead.  Then with the side of my thumb, I could press the
shutter release.  I would take 5 or six pictures like this, using no
more film than with bracketing, and usually would get a pretty sharp
photo.  I have even done it for 1 second and managed to get what I
wanted.  Of course I threw a lot of slides away before anyone saw
them.   That was over 30 years ago and I was not so shaky.  But it was
an alternative when I couldn't afford a flash or tripod.   I'd like to
hear of other simple but useful leica "tricks" for LUGers.
Thanks for listening.
Charles  Cason