A broken lens, collaborative clothing, and the body as a weapon

Or: Dispatches #14

Nov 13, 2024

Surrounded by nightmarish, hissing creatures with long claws beneath small airships of light and alongside 6 small choirs amassed to sing our way home. This was how I spent a Friday evening last month as the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw moved from its temporary home to its showpiece new building in the very centre of the city.

Alas, my evening didn't transpire quite as I would have liked. For 2 hours, I moved quietly and anonymously between the actors, dancers, musicians, and singers as they dressed in their costumes, prepared their lights and artwork, and warmed up their voices - the shutter of my Leica silent amongst the chattering excitement.

Finally, it was time to leave the building on Pańska and make our way out towards the new building. Frame after frame was made, picture after picture. The parade was about to set off and for me, at least, disaster struck.

After several hours of photography, and for no apparent reason it seems, my 35mm Summicron tumbled off my camera and bounced on the concrete below.

Fuck.

Picking it up with looming, abject dread, I expected the glass to be in pieces. To my great relief, there wasn't even a scratch. Styling it out like a pro, I slotted it back into the mount and... no! With horror, I realised the mount on the back of the lens was damaged. Several thousand Polish Złoty figuratively evaporated from my bank account in that instant.

Continuing to style it out, I dropped the Summicron into my bag and popped my 28mm onto the camera and got back to work. All the while, though, I am thinking of the film festivals I have booked for most of November and how on earth I'll fair without my 35mm. You could say I was a little distracted - devising some plan to replace an iconic lens while having the original repaired.

Later that night, I wrote to Leica in Wetzlar to discuss repair, then took to eBay to find an affordable backup. For a year now, I had been planning to replace my chunky Voigtlander 28mm with the tiny Winogrand lens - a Leica Thread Mount Canon 28mm f2.8. Comparatively cheap, I wondered if, instead - for now, another Winogrand staple, the Canon 35mm f1.8, would do the trick. Within the hour, I'd bought a Rayqual thread mount adapter and the 35mm lens, both from Japan. In hope rather than expectation, I crossed my fingers they would arrive before Five Flavours, the 1st festival I'm booked for in November.

The following Monday, I received a reply from Leica and, after a short back and forth, discovered that due to its age and lack of replacement parts, the Summicron is now a very expensive paperweight. Heartbroken, I start looking around my home for things to sell to replace the wee fella.

Japanese eBay sellers don't mess around with their shipping, and much to my surprise, both the Rayqual adapter and Canon lens arrived only a few days later. I opened both boxes praying emphatically to a god I don't believe in that this combination will work - and it did!

I've spent a couple of weeks now with the Canon 35mm, and I'm almost convinced I don't need to replace the Summicron at all. The new lens is tiny, clear, clean, and sharp. The focus is correct, and it's enjoyable to use. So much so that I have already also replaced the Voigtlander 28mm with the aforementioned Winogrand lens. My bank account smarts a little, but a lot less than it might have.

Ok, let's get to the news.

What's been happening this month

The trailer for the new documentary, I Am Martin Parr debuted a couple of weeks ago to give us a 1st look at the upcoming film. (Petapixel).

Chris Wiley pens a timely essay on contemporary street photography to introduce the exhibition We Are Here: Scenes from the Street, showing at ICP in New York until January 6th 2025. (Aperture)

Former University of Georgia photography student and R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe discusses his recent photography book with Matthew Kraus. (Musée)

I missed this article back in September, but Sam Moore features Carson Stachura’s series My Body is a Weapon (Waiting At Your Door), which, by giving agency to its subjects, capture the realities of trans experience. (AnOther)

Continuing the Leica release news from last month, a collaboration with Aether resulted in the limited edition Reporter jacket. It has pockets for everything, even a hidden pouch in the collar for SD cards. The price is, well, as you'd expect. (Petapixel)

Dispatches from Substack

The subject of our first issue of Conversations, mostly, Wesley Verhoeve, wrote an informative piece on the lessons he learned from his recent book presale.

Dina Litovsky writes about photographing the now infamous MSG Trump rally and how she approached it.

In a recent issue of his eponymous newsletter, Anthony Morganti dives deep into the exceptional photography of Belgian photographer, Martine Franck.

Andy Adams curates a sprawling, diverse YouTube playlist of videos and films on photography. Here, he shares the playlist for his subscribers, and everyone else.

Taking a break from his wandering Bus route, Bryan Padrick has been sharing older stops on the map. In this post from August 2022, he finds surrealist Joan Miró.

Something Funny

There’s not a whole lot to find funny this month. As the great Matt Christman might say, there’s a goddamn Cheeto in the White House. Again. Nevertheless, I tried to raise my spirits recently by watching Stewart Lee’s superlative Pear Cider bit. As always, it worked wonders. Enjoy.

And Finally…

I’ll be back next week with chapter 2 of The Tinnitus Diaries, and later in the month with a new Photos, mostly.

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