To call someone a shutterbug in today’s world of Instagram and digital cameras on people’s smartphones and devices may sound positively antediluvian; and yet, it wasn’t so long ago that the term had popular meaning, connoting a person “loving” cameras and photography. And while shutterbugs here in the Philippines will rejoice over the Lucerne Group’s opening of the first official Leica flagship store at Greenbelt 5; anyone interested in imaging, precision lenses and loves pictures, and has never experienced holding a Leica (the lucky “Leica Virgin,” to touch one for the very first time), will also find joy in the fact that this more than 100-year-old legend of a brand has now established a Manila “home.”
From that moment in 1913 when Oskar Barnack approached Ernst Leitz with the idea to develop a compact 35mm. film camera for landscape photography, and made use of the lenses the Leitz company was renowned for; Leica has never looked back. It has amassed a history full of prestige, technical excellence, and fierce loyalty. The red dot with Leica emblazoned in the center has come to represent the ultimate camera every camera buff longs for, and places at the very top of his, or her, wish list. Leica owners even wax romantic about the camera, likening the sound of the special shutter to a kiss. And where did the name come from? The first three letters of Leitz, combined with the first syllable of camera!
My late father was something of an amateur shutterbug, and it would be hard to remember moments growing up when he didn’t have his ever ready camera. Early on, I loved how pictures and images could “paint a thousand words”; and I vividly remember the issues of Life and Look that would be a constant of my childhood. While I never picked up a camera myself, this love of images was solidified when I first entered the glossy magazine world, and worked with Joanne Ramirez on starting up PeopleAsia. There, I would work with, and forge lasting friendships with, the likes of Jun de Leon and Raymund Isaac. And I would recall how those images from the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus and Annie Leibovitz would strike a nerve in my body.
Henri Cartier-Bresson is regarded as the father of photojournalism, his pictures of wartime and post-war Paris are iconic images of the era. Also attributed to Cartier-Bresson are most of the photographs of Mahatma Gandhi we have seared in our memory banks. Throughout his fabled career, and up to his death in 2004; it’s a known fact that his Leica Rangefinder and his 50mm. lens were never far from his side. His street photography, his portraits, his most popular photographs and images, were all the result of the special relationship he had with his trusted Leica.
Leica Camera AG is always particular about who they allow to represent them, and they were so excited to see a Manila flagship store rise, that Alfred Schopf, CEO of the management board of Leica Camera AG, and Sunil Kaul, managing director of Leica Asia Pacific, both flew in for the store’s launch. And you really have to visit the shop to appreciate how much loving care and pride Leica places in its provenance. Not just a retail store or collection of cameras and lenses for sale, the store is also a mini-art gallery — with photographs and prints that help us visualize, understand and appreciate why these Leica cameras are so special. Within the four corners of the store, it’s truly a (shutter)Bug’s Life! And a haven for those fortunate Leica Virgins — who will see first hand the world of possibility open to them. In fact, their first Leica would make for the perfect Christmas gift — a “renewal” of their love affair with pictures!
Of mice and (wo)men
The world of genetic research, murder most foul, and a dysfunctional future take center stage via the three novels featured today. Consistent to all three is the impeccable quality of the writing — no surprise with such luminaries as Isabel Allende and Chang-Rae Lee among the crop; and a promising newcomer, Simsion.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (available at National Book Store) The world of scientific research, and how one nerdy professor systematically looks for love and the perfect wife, are the backdrops for this truly engaging comedic novel. And when Professor Don Tillman uses his genetics specialization to help Rosie (a med student temping in a risqué bar) find her bio-dad, that’s when the story takes flight. The light tone and touch of the author serves the subject matter very well; and we’re entranced by how he portrays Tillman, a brilliant mind and yet so socially inept and clumsy, always ready to put foot in mouth. At times, you literally want to step into the book and slap Don for being so dense, and that’s the charm of this witty “project.”
Ripper by Isabel Allende (available at National Book Store) Known more for her sprawling South American family sagas with magical realism thrown in, Allende shifts gears this time out, and acts on the whimsical dare made to write something in the crime mystery genre — a category where her husband made his name. Set in San Francisco, and with obvious salutes to Hitchcock films and the Ripley books; this novel works on the strengths of her characters, and their back stories. In a sense, this is human drama disguised as a serial murder thriller. In place of magical realism, her main character Indiana is into holistic medicine and aromatherapy massage. And it’s daughter Amanda, 17, who supplies the online sleuthing. A brisk, tightly written piece that satisfies.
On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee (available at National Book Store) Also known for his novels with the dispossessed and estranged as central characters, recent Manila visitor Chang flexes his wings with this novel, where he imagines a dystopian near-future, and challenges us to understand the genesis of a counter-culture non-hero. Fan is a fishtank diver at one of the service settlements that exist to provide food and services to the charter cities. When she inexplicably leaves the settlement to look for her boyfriend who suddenly disappeared, we’re whisked along an odyssey that entails outright survival, and encountering bizarre responses to eking out a living, in the “open countries.” Compelling here is how familiar, yet strange, this imagined future is made to be.