I haven't shot film for years. I think that the last time was in 2018 when I borrowed a friend's Bronica to try shooting some 120 film. When I returned it to him, he asked me how I found it: my reply was that it made me realise that I am no longer a film photographer. But that may be about to change.
The Leica you see above belonged to my great friend Vasken who sadly died of cancer about four years ago, much too young.
For many years, Vasken and I would meet once in a while in central London and "hit the streets", as he put it, for a day’s-worth of street photography. We'd start with coffee, usually at Cafe Vergnano in Charing Cross Rd (now gone, a victim of the pandemic) and then walk, chat and photograph. Vasken often lent me one of his various Leica film cameras with a lens of my most comfortable focal length (35mm). I'd usually shoot some black and white for the day (perhaps one of the Kodak TMax films, or an Ilford Delta, whichever I had to hand).
He always tried to persuade me that I was missing out by not using a Leica more generally: "I think you should get a Leica" was his view. But I became much more of a digital SLR shooter over the years and could see no reason why buying a Leica was a better use for my gear budget. Nonetheless, days out shooting film Leicas with Vasken are treasured memories.
Vasken in Covent Garden, Nov 2007. Photographed with one of his Leicas.
Vasken was something of a collector and trader, as well as a photographer. Leica cameras (both film and digital) and lenses would come and go; often as not, the one he offered me to shoot with would be one I'd not seen previously.
I recently met his widow, Jaqui, who commented that it was about time she did something with his extensive camera collection: it was doing no good to anyone sitting unused. Very kindly, she offered me first refusal on anything from a long list.
To cut a long story short, I decided I should finally take Vasken's advice and "get a Leica". Of his collection, I've chosen a 1970 Leica M4 body, along with the 35mm Summicron f/2 ASPH that I used to use. He'd had that lens since the early noughties, and never traded it.
I feel some days in London with a Leica and a few rolls of film coming on.