Why Film? Experience That Led to Zine Volume 1
NYC, Leica Camera's 100th Anniversary, food, friends, streets, film, what's not to love?
Welcome to the Why Film? Project. We’re all new here, since I just launched the site and published my first ‘zine to accompany it this week (see post from yesterday). If you haven’t picked up on it, my goal here is to answer “Why Film?,” a question that I get a lot. And I’ll answer it for your benefit as well as my own from as many perspectives as I can think of, including photographically.
Here’s a glimpse of one answer. I won’t start at the beginning in this case – it was Sunday May 4, 2025, the day after Leica Camera’s 100th Anniversary celebration in New York, NY (NYC). After breakfast (a huge pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onion, and avocado at Esse Bagel) and before my 11:00 check out time, I was assembling my things to prepare for the bus trip back to Virginia. My view from from 406 of the Heritage Hotel, a not-so-gleaming 2-star hotel on 25th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues afforded just the coolest view of the Empire State Building. I grabbed my 2022 Leica M6 Reissue camera loaded with Ilford HP5 (iso 400) black & white film, 35mm Summicron ASPH lens mounted, and made this shot. I knew it would be one of my favorites from the trip. If I’d made the same shot, even with the same lens mounted on my perfectly nice digital Leica body, it just would not have been the same. I know that about myself. The fact that it took a leap of faith, some wet-hands time in the darkroom to develop the film, and a slow scanning process only added to the value for me.
Thanks for reading Reed’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
I have many great memories from the Leica celebration. I felt that I was part of photographic history just by being there. I met up with several old friends, if only briefly, including Tom Smith of Leica, David Knoble who is the President of Leica Society International (I’m a long-time member), and Dan Tamarkin who is the Leica man in Chicago...
I also met someone I knew of but had not yet met in person – Louis Mendes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Mendes). Mr. Mendes is known for walking the streets of NYC with his Graflex 4x5 camera, shooting portraits of and for tourists. Yes, I bought an instant portrait from Louis, which I treasure. And I got to photograph Louis myself with my 1932 Leica II and date-matched 50mm Elmar f/3.5 collapsible lens on Ilford PanF (iso 50) film. That’s also a memorable Leica and film photography experience.
In closing, there was a lot to love about this trip. I go to NYC every chance I get. I love shooting film Leicas in one of street photography’s true original locations. I love getting food that’s impossible to run down at home. I can feel the NYC streets right now as I recount the trip. I hope you get a bit of a feel for it yourself. And I hope my ‘zine will deepen the experience for you just a little more.
Here are a couple of additional shots, both with the Leica M6 and HP5, that bring me back to the NYC streets in my mind.
Click Here to get yourself a hardcopy (real ‘zine) or pdf download.
Thanks for reading Reed’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.