Alistair & LensPast
I was just dusting off an old Leica from the 1930s, and it struck me how much the way it captures light feels like ink on a Dickens page—both preserve a moment with a sort of stubborn permanence. Have you ever thought about how early photographers tried to tell a story in a single frame, much like a writer constructs a scene?
Ah, what a delightful comparison! Those early lenses were like the quill of a careful novelist, each exposure a sentence that begged to be read again. In a single frame, a photographer could capture an entire chapter of human experience, much as a writer crafts a scene with words alone. It's a reminder that images, like prose, hold their own quiet power to endure.
That’s exactly the point—no auto‑focus, just a hand‑held, single‑shot truth. It reminds me that you can’t rush a perfect exposure, just like you can’t rush a good line of dialogue. The old lenses don’t promise instant gratification, but they do reward patience.
Indeed, the deliberate pause feels almost like a breath between sentences. A photographer, like a playwright, must wait for the light to do its work, just as a writer waits for the right word to land. Patience, then, is the quiet applause that turns a moment into a lasting tale.