The Leica M4 was my first Leica, I bought it in 2011 for the incredible amount of roughly 2000 Eur with a Summilux 50mm v2 attached, to the amazement of my son ( 9 years old then ) who looked at me counting 100 SGD bills as I paid the seller.
The M4 had a strange double effect on me : first it was not love at first sight, second it still pushed me further down the Leica rabbit hole. Fast forward 12 years, I only shoot rangefinders ( 90% or more of my pictures ) and I sold my Nikon Digital Kit (awesome gear) .
So as per the opening picture I still own the M4, and shoot with it from time to time, the lack of a meter make me use the M6 more ( or the IIIC if I want to go back to basic). Over all these years however I am ashamed to admit that I have only shot about 50 rolls with it, so roughly 4 a year.
Heading for Paris recently I attached the Summicron 35mm Asph v2 ( the only Leica Lens I ever bought new ) and loaded my second roll of Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow film. This is a pretty sexy combo, I also carried the Sekonic 380x.
Actually not : the young lady above is not a stone mason, but close enough : she is a project manager in a company renovating historical buildings. And she was giving a hand for the “Journées du Patrimoine”, and yes : she can handle a hammer.
So back to Agent Shadow… I found the name a bit ridiculous, why do you have to give witty names to films? Also I was not so amazed by my first roll. But at a third of the TMY / TRI-X price, it is worth giving it a second chance.
A Love Letter to Paris by Peter Turnley, by the Paris Townhall
In fact this roll gave me some good reasons to like the film : it is not too contrasty, grain is small, details are good. All in all this a very good midway between the HP5 and the TMY.
We were lucky to be in Paris during the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine as we could visit a couple of historical buildings like the Institut de France, la Sorbonne and the College de France.
On the last day we had a bit of street action as the sun was going down. Walking towards Chatelet, we met what was left of a street party / demonstration.
When suddenly arrived a massive party of rollers / cyclists.
Causing an interesting / interested reaction from the party side of the place.
I hope you enjoyed the pics. Film was processed ( and bought ) at Analogue Films in Shoreditch.
Waex99 PhotoBlog 