A new discovery
DOWN RANGE WITH CARLO
We are excited to highlight another one of our LHC Community members and celebrate the success of our competition winners. Meet Carlo, the winner of our COMP 10 competition, who proudly received a Brand-New Leica M11.
Let's start off with where you're from and where you're currently based.
Hi everyone, I’m from Sicily in Italy but I actually live in Milan with my wife. Here, I work as a director of photography on commercials and documentaries.
How did you get started in photography, and what drew you to Leica cameras?
My passion started when my grandma gave me an Olympus film compact camera when I was 8 years old. From that moment, I started to shoot everything everywhere, and my photographs were truly horrific!
I have a huge, typical Sicilian family, and many of the members are photographers. Two of them are famous unit still photographers for movies in Madrid. Another one is an underwater and cave diver photographer in Mexico, and another was friends with Oliviero Toscani and worked with him. So photography was one of the main languages I learned when I was young, and I think I inherited something from all of them.
What type of photography do you enjoy the most, and how does your Leica gear enhance this experience?
I love photography in each aspect of my life. I enjoy travel, outdoor, street, and nature photography. My Leica gear is amazing and a true challenge at the same time.
As I said, photography is part of my life, and I bring a camera everywhere I go. A Leica M is the perfect camera for its size, portability, and discreetness. At the same time, a rangefinder camera is not what we could call an “easy camera,” especially if you shoot in difficult weather conditions or with fast-moving subjects. However, after a short period to get used to it, I could never leave it at home. It enhances my photography as it’s easy to have it always with me and keep my photographic eye always on alert.
It has changed the way I shoot into a more intimate and relaxed style. Having to manually focus in front of a subject often forces me to interact more with it and be less shy, and this surely made me a better photographer as I learned to be in the scene instead of “photographing a scene.”
Right now, I’ve just returned to Italy from an expedition in Papua New Guinea to shoot a documentary, and for the photographic part, I decided to bring only the Leica M and three lenses. Before the job started, I was worried about the weather conditions (it’s the rainy season down there) and the limited lens choice, but at this time I don’t regret my choice for a second. It’s giving me amazing results, and it’s built like a tank. Although the M is not waterproof, it remained under water and in extremely humid conditions for days and never faltered, even where our (waterproof) cinema cameras showed signs of failure.
Which Leica camera and lens combination is your favorite?
My dream combo is the M11 with the Summicron 35 f2 KoB version. I had the chance to try it for a whole summer, and the results were astonishing. Right now, my favorite combo is the M11 with my Summicron 35 f2 ASPH. It’s extremely versatile, and I know I could travel the entire world with just that lens. When I can bring more than one lens, I love to have my 90mm f2 Summicron for more extreme shots, portraits, and particular photo ideas.
Can you share a favorite photo you've taken with your Leica?
This photo was taken while I was speeding down a river in Papua. The tide was rising, and we were in a hurry to get back from filming a documentary. In the distance, I saw these children playing on a palm tree by the water. I quickly changed lenses amidst the splashes of water. I put the 90mm on and luckily managed to capture this shot.
What camera did you win with us?
I won a Leica M11 black version. I was out of Italy for a documentary when I won it, and when I came back home, the Leica had already arrived—super fast!
Do you prefer shooting with film or digital for your photography?
I started with film photography, but I was young when the switch to digital was happening, and I embraced it naturally. So I’d say I prefer digital photography mainly because I’m used to it, but also because I believe that the digital post-production phase is a tool that lets you enhance your art with what you have in your mind and not only in front of your eyes.
How does using Leica cameras influence your photography style?
Using a Leica M camera greatly influenced my style. As I said before, I learned to be a photographer more “in” the scene. Being with a small camera in one hand makes me look less “aggressive” as a photographer when I approach people, and I can create a more relaxed connection with my subjects. Other than that, before having the Leica M, I was more of a zoom-type photographer. I carried many zooms with me. Leica forced me to learn to work with prime lenses and to think more deeply about focal length in relation to space, subject, and intentions instead of just rotating a gear on the zoom.
Share with us your top 10 photos to date.
I'm currently traveling for a new job and don't have all my hard drives with me. So here are 10 of the photos that I like most and that I have taken over time. Coincidence or not, most of them were shot with the Leica M11 anyway.
See more of Carlo here @carlostagno
