I am now the proud owner of a Leica M3 and three lenses (50mm f/2 DR, 35mm f/2.8 and 90mm f/4). And a MR meter, but no bat­tery for it (yet!). And I am grow­ing very, very fond of the camera.

How­ever, it is an uphill climb. The first ses­sion with it, when I was test­ing it out before pur­chase, was a frus­trat­ing mix of fits and starts. Remem­ber the first (and sec­ond, third and fourth) time you tried to drive stan­dard? But do you also remem­ber the first time you really were able to get a smooth take­off and run through the gears? The start of the roll was fum­bling and awk­ward, but by the end of my sec­ond ses­sion I felt like I could at least get the car around the block. I’m look­ing for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to work with this gear — espe­cially next week when I’m in Vancouver!

The pho­tos below were taken at Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­sity around Ben­ton Chapel.

All the above were done with the 50mm and 35mm lenses, with HP5+ shot at 400 and devel­oped in Ilfosol 3 1:14 dilution.

From a late-December hike along the Fiery Giz­zard trail, taken with Neopan Acros 100 (shot at 200). Devel­oped in Ilfosol 3 1+14.

A some­what stren­u­ous trail, but well worth the effort. I didn’t bring along a tri­pod so this was bal­anced on a con­ve­nient rock. Plenty of those around for using as makeshift sup­ports! The water was so clear, and so cold, it was amaz­ing. Some­times I still expect all water to be the same as that in south Mis­sis­sippi — silty, yel­low and so thick you lose your hand three inches under. This was the total oppo­site and just beautiful.

There are more pho­tos to come off this last roll of the year, but I had to go on and post this one (which may be my favorite from the walk).