I went to see this show at the Leica shop today. Can’t really call it a gallery, more of a reading room, and even that is perhaps not fully appropriate as it has canteen-like benches and tables.

The intro states that the exhibit contains images taken with the Leica M8 and sure enough there are two photos dated 2006, amongst a dozen or so predating them.

I was really surprised about how noticably different they looked in terms of colour quality. The other prints had a depth and warm richness to them, which those didn’t have.

Obviously we cannot tell whether this is the result of a technological limitation of the camera or printer, or the artist’s intention. In fact, it may not be seen as a limitation at all – perhaps this is what things look like now. Nonetheless, for a subject matter named American Colour to be only a little bleak, it raises some interesting questions.

Perhaps there is dry brightness after all? Or are we just seeing differences where there aren’t any, or none should be seen? Are we sticking with meaningless benchmarks of the past?

I once briefly explained my preference for film for black white photographs and the person (a non-photographer) replied that I must be the equivalent of people preferring vinyl records to CDs. I have to admit I was quite disappointed being compared to that, although perhaps there is some truth in it. The remarkable irony in the situation was that the person wore a Patek Philippe watch – the most complicated mechanical watches made.