LEICA PHOTOGRAPHER ERNESTO DE QUESADA - STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Today’S LEICA Barnack Berek Blog Gallery is entirely dedicated to the art of street photography and Minneapolis Leica photographer Ernesto De Quesada.  Ernesto is the Director of Development & Membership Operations of MIA, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  He has used Leica equipment for a large part of his career.  All of today’s images were taken with a Leica M8.

 

Minneapolis 2011 - Crowd at a Block Party

 

Minneapolis 2012 - Crowd at a Block Party

 

Minneapolis 2009 - Crowd at a Concert

 

Minneapolis 2012 - Man Looking at Baby

 

Minneapolis 2011 - Man with Black T-Shirt

 

Minneapolis 2012 - Man with Tattoos and Beret

 

Minneapolis 2012 - People at Art Opening

 

New York 2012 - Chinatown

 

New York 2012 - Shopping Bag in the Rain

 

New York 2012 - Striped Dress

 

New York 2012 - Umbrellas

For more of Ernesto De Quesada’s work go to his website:

http://ernestodequesada.com/

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VERY RARELY SEEN LEICA – LEICA TEST CAMERA

Over the years, Leica has made a number of specially modified cameras for testing purposes.  These cameras do present an exclusive range of extremely rare cameras, many of which are unknown to the general public.

I just obtained some pictures of one of these Leica test cameras.  This one was specially modified by Leitz to check focus at the film plane and to show the internal workings of the rangefinder.  The camera does not show any specific engravings, but it has a special serial number engraved to designate it as a special test model.

If any reader of this blog has any information about other modified test cameras, I would very much appreciate hearing about it.

Test camera showing specially installed ground glass to check focus at the film plane

Photo courtesy of Don Goldberg

 

The same camera with a cut-out to reveal the rangefinder

Photo courtesy of Don Goldberg

 

The specially engraved serial number

Photo courtesy of Don Goldberg

Don Goldberg is the owner of this camera.  He is interested in selling it.  You can reach Don at:

DAG Camera Service

2128 Vintage Drive

Oregon WI 53575 USA

608 875 3342

http://www.dagcamera.com/

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For high quality camera bags and accessories worthy of Leica equipment, go to

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LEICA ADS FROM THE 30s

In the 1930s Leica used a very distinctive style of advertising.  Fortunately, some of these ads have been preserved and I am the lucky owner of some of them.

It is also no secret that the Leica was copied quite blatantly by several other camera manufacturers, including FED and ZORKY in Russia.  In several instances they didn’t even use their own company names.  Instead they literally made fake Leicas, including the Leica script, Leica names on the lenses and fake serial numbers.

But they didn’t stop there.  They also copied the Leica ads of the time and used them for their own purposes.

Fortunately, international law has progressed to eliminate (some of) these practices and Leica Camera AG doesn’t have to compete with fake examples of their cameras any longer.

 

 

Virtually the same ad for the FED

... and for the Zorki

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THE GLOBE AT LEITZ PARK IN WETZLAR

Driving from Wetzlar to the new Leica headquarters at Leitz Park, you first arrive at a large roundabout with a huge globe off center.  It was a present to the city of Wetzlar from the Leitz Park corporation and Andreas Kaufmann, chairman of the board of Leica Camera AG.

The globe and roundabout came at a price of half a million euros.  It has a weight of four metric tons and a diameter of 16.5 feet.  The globe is covered with over 1000 circular plates of different diameters, outlining the various continents.  In Europe, at the position of Germany or more precisely, Wetzlar, a red plate marks the home of Leica.

The view of the globe when arriving from the east

The design came largely from Karin Rehn-Kaufmann and it was implemented by the Frankfurt-based landscape architecture company Wewer.  The globe was built in Ludwigshafen by the firm of Kunstwerk Maudach.  The inside is hollow.  It was built along the same principles as the hulls of ships.  It arrived at Leitz Park in two halves which were welded together along the equator.

Even motorists were part of the considerations for the design of the globe.  It is sandblasted to a matte finish to prevent reflections of the sun that might blind the driver.

By now the globe has become another landmark besides the amazing architecture of the new Leica headquarters at Leitz Park in Wetzlar, which is once again the Mecca of all Leica enthusiasts.

Areal view of Leitz Park with the globe in front

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LEICA CAMERA AG IS REBUILDING THEIR GLOBAL SALES ORGANIZATION

Leica Camera AG reports:

Wetzlar, 28/01/2015 - Leica Camera AG is rebuilding their global sales organization and  in this context is newly rearranging the responsibilities for the German market.  Under the umbrella of the global Sales Unit, in the future a German organization is operating in addition to the various branch offices in Europe, America, Asia and Australia.  By the  global reorganization of the sales areas, the markets in which the Leica Camera AG is represented by subsidiaries and trading partners will be even more closely closely tied to the company's headquarters in the Hessian town of Wetzlar.  The goal is to expand the national companies globally to achieve greater market penetration.

The Leica Camera AG has grown in recent years, counter to the trend in the global photography market, especially by working closely with retailers and a consistent focus on the company's own retail business with Leica galleries, Leica stores and boutiques. To further increase the efficiency and create potential for additional growth, sales and retail operate in the future in separate organizational structures. The area of sales will be led by Global Sales Director Steffen Keil (47)in the future with immediate effect. He is directly responsible for the national organizations.  He reports to Kaltner Oliver, CEO of Leica Camera AG for Marketing, Sales and Retail.  Prior to this, Keil had already been successful by pushing ahead with the internationalization of the sales structures.

At the head of the German subsidiary will be Falk Friedrich (41) who, in recent years, was very successful in expanding international sales transactions with trading partners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.   In his function, the former sales manager for Germany, Tim Pullman (43), has contributed significantly to the growth of Leica Camera AG in the German market. He changes over to the retail sector and assumes the newly created position of Head of Retail Stores Leica Germany and Austria.  As such, he is responsible for the Leica Stores in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Vienna and Wetzlar.

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For high quality camera bags and accessories worthy of Leica equipment, go to

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THE CREATION OF AN ORIGINAL PIECE OF LEICA ART

In 1980, PhotoVisuals of Minneapolis, the first Leica only store in the US, commissioned artist Susan Kennedy to create an original piece of Leica art.  It was to be in honor of Oskar Barnack and his invention of the Leica.  The idea was to show Oscar Barnack as well as some items out of the then current Leica catalog.

Susan Kennedy was given total freedom in the design of the artwork.  After a few weeks she presented several different layouts in form of sketches.  After considerable evaluations, one began to stand out from the others and Susan was asked to draw the original poster.

It showed two pictures of Oskar Barnack, created after two photographs, one of him sitting on his workbench and the other a head shot portrait.  Also included in the poster were the Ur-Leica, the original prototype that Oscar Barnack began making in 1913.  This was the camera that gave 35mm photography, as we know it, its start.  One important part of the poster was to show how the original Ur-Leica had progressed to that date.  Subsequently the Leica M4 was shown as the then latest model in the development of the Leica cameras.  In addition two of the current Leica lenses were shown also, a 90mm f/2.8 Tele Elmarit and a 135mm f/4 Tele Elmar.

 

 

 

All these individual pictures were combined in the poster.  This was later made into a limited series of lithographs, all of which found their original owners soon after their introduction.

The LEICA Barnack Berek Blog has reproduced the original poster in a 13 x 16.7 inch size and made them once again available for all Leica enthusiasts at a cost of $ 25.00 including shipping and handling.  These reproductions are made in form of giclee prints, printed on archival paper with archival inks.

For orders please contact us at info@gmpphoto.com

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For high quality camera bags and accessories worthy of Leica equipment, go to

http://www.thinktankphoto.com/affiliates-validated.aspx?type=affiliate