How the Dream Camera finally disappeared

(Not a post about a dream)

For many years I’ve been convinced that my dream camera would be a Leica Monochrom. I love Leica lenses and the history of these amazing cameras. The Monochrom is special as it only takes black and white pictures, an area I spend a lot of time in. It is also phenomenally expensive. Way beyond my means.

But, the dream endured. It’s funny how you can convince yourself of anything and so it was with the Leica and me. I read all the reviews, good and bad. I weighed up the positive and negative points and had a good, long think about it. If I really wanted it, I could find a way. Sell things, dig into savings and so on. The last remaining thing to deal with before sanity finally gave way, was that I had never shot with this camera. I had no hands on experience.

Last Thursday I was in London with a little spare time and decided to make my way to Harrods, since they have a Leica department. Luckily, the man there understood my dilemma and let me have a go on a Monochrom. Even with only depressed looking rich people to take pictures of, I managed to get a few decent shots and loved the results. The depth of the black and white image on this thing is like the best film. To me, that’s truly beautiful.

However, the magic aura, that had existed before, vanished. I looked at this exceptional camera and knew that it wasn’t for me. I felt happy, if not happier, to have the much more modest camera that was in my bag. Reality had won.

If I ever win the lottery though…