a creative kick in the behind: playing with the new Leica D-Lux 6

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”

Eric Roth, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

In search of a creative kick in the ass lead me to an impulse buy last month.

But is it truly an impulse buy, I ask you, when you've obsessed with the idea of owning something for months on end? When every fiber of your being has spent countless hours keeping that desire bottled up and sealed tightly by the rationale that the money would be better spent elsewhere, is it so wrong then to let it go by giving in? 

Well, I gave in. But my justification for giving in was that I spent 2012 in a creative black hole as I dealt with heavy issues therefore making me in sore need of a kickstart. 

Kickstart meet my new Leica D-Lux 6. My first Leica. The gadget geek in me is jumping up and down with excitement.

So, OK, it's a point and shoot and not the rangefinder of my dreams but it's a start. This baby has an f/1.4 lens, allows for shooting in Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual and Creative modes plus 1080HD video. You can record shots in JPEG or RAW (uh, yay!) and it allows for manual focus. 

I haven't explored all it's features yet. But I did take it out for a test drive two weeks ago when I spent the day in the park shooting with my friend Kimberly. (I also challenged myself to shoot my next recipe post with it using only natural light. Look for that post on Monday when I start my Meatless Mondays postings to help document my meal ideas during this Lenten season.) 

Admittedly, the day shooting in the park didn't produce the world's best images content-wise. But that wasn't the point. You see, I was less concerned with WHAT I was shooting as I was with the fact that I WAS shooting. Other than the countless documenting of my fur baby with my iPhone and one freelance food shoot last year, I haven't picked up a camera in ages and it's been even longer since I shot just to shoot.

Denying the artist within a voice has taken it's toll. It's made me hesitant, self-conscious even. As I stated in my last post, I'm on a mission to get my creative journey back on track. More importantly, to learn to enjoy the process again. If I'm practicing my craft a little every day again, surely inspiration will find me.

The act of opening myself up again to life in all it's forms is, I won't lie, scary as hell but I know it's the right thing to do if I want to breath life back into my soul.

Shooting in the park just for the hell of it reminded me of the pre-teen who first picked up a camera all those years ago and got excited just photographing flowers in the garden and dressing up and posing her sisters for "fashion shoots" (remember those days, my dear sisters?).

And shooting in the park two weeks ago also served to inspire me to cook a recipe for this blog again. 

That impulse buy may have put a slight crinkle in my plan to get bills paid down but getting that kick in the behind was worth it.

I choose to invest in me. And that's a good thing.

Your turn: How do you get your creative juices flowing after a dry spell?

Until next time … I leave you with shots of my fur baby, Starbuck – the first shots taken with the new toy.

Peace & happy exploring,
Ani

The very first shot with the new Leica. Of course it had to be of my fur baby. I love how the camera handled the buff on  buff tones. Shoot this on the monochrome setting.

Same day as the BW above. Late afternoon. Minimal color correction to get rid of the bluish cast in the shade. Not too shabby for a point & shoot. So far, am loving this camera.

NOTE: All images shot with a Leica D-Lux 6 in manual or aperture priority. Processing was limited to slight color corrections with minor boosts in saturation and clarity to compensate for the RAW files. Black and whites shot in camera.