This morning, I took perhaps the most dramatic and challenging move in my time as a photographer, perhaps since the very beginning.

First, I’m giving up my large frame and wonderful Canon 5D Mark IV and every one of the dozen canon lenses I’ve purchased in recent years to support it. I took thousands of good photos with that camera.

Secondly, I purchase the new Leica Monochrome Q2 camera, at $6,195, the most expensive piece of photographic equipment I’ve ever bought, camera or lens.

To pay for it, I’m giving up my storied full-frame 5D camera and shipping the camera and every single one of the dozen high-end Canon lenses I’ve bought to support it. That will about bring us even.

B&H will evaluate the equipment and send me a check for between four and five thousand dollars. I’ll pay off the remaining difference on my credit card monthly. It should be around $1000

I love black and white photography very much, and I want to work at expanding my b & w photos with one of the most highly regarded monochrome cameras in the world.

I’ve drooled over the Leica 10 for years; it has always been way out of my price range at $9,000, the M series runs up to $15,000. Getting rid of all of my Canon equipment – camera and lenses – at once is a dramatic, even shocking risk to take.

I read about 50 different reviews, but this one, in  The Photographer, a publication I respect, sealed it for me. I just had to get this camera:

“…with the new Leica Q2 Monochrome, Leica has created the most liberating camera on the market. It takes the high ISO wars and slaps them in the face. It doesn’t bother too much with quibbles about the dynamic range. And it sure as heck doesn’t care about color depth. Instead, you’re getting pure sharpness, beauty, and freedom to shoot. At the heart of this camera is a Monochrome sensor. As I realized too late when testing the Leica M10 Monochrom, you don’t need to worry about high ISO noise. In this case, you’re embracing it.”

I never thought I would have a Leica, let alone a Leica monochrome. It’s a tough trade for me, but a good one. My Iphone camera has done just about everything I wanted and needed it to do. I’m betting on it for the long haul.

I feel secure in doing this because the quality of my Iphone photos keeps getting better and better. In an Iphone or two, no one doubts the quality will be just about as good as the big Canons and their full-frame lenses.

But it’s already hard for me to tell the difference; the color and depth of the Iphones are so great now young directors are making documentary films and movies with the ProMax12.

There was no way I could afford the Monochrome if I didn’t come up with almost equal savings. My much loved Canon, and her lenses are the sacrifices. They’re on the block, B&H photo will get the first crack to bid on them.

I love everything I know and can see about the Leica monochrome. The critical reviews are over the top, better than anything I’ve seen. The monochrome offers clarity and emotion I couldn’t manage to get with my existing refurbished monochrome, a rebuild Canon 5D.

I did have those old talk conversations with myself in the night. Can I afford this? At 74, will I ever be content to stay on an even keel and skip major changes and initiatives?

I guess the answer is no; I won’t. I don’t have old in my head, even as my body begs for mercy.  This is a huge step forward for me (I hope.) It will challenge me to re-think my photography. Thanks to my Iphone, which is so easy and convenient to use, I will continue to shoot my photos primarily in color.

And it’s time for a change. Photography is changing, the very idea of a camera is in great flux. My Canon equipment is heavy, not always easy to access. The Iphone slides out of my shirt pocket in a second.

To the reader, almost all of the photos on the blog will remain in color the way they are now. Once in a while, I hope to add a rich and striking image in black and white.

But I will also work hard to present my blog’s readers with much better and more powerful black and white photos. Photographers always say if you want to take a photo of somebody, do it in color.

If you want to capture their soul, shoot in black and white. I believe this. Wish me luck. I have a lot to learn. It’s a miracle for me to get a new Leica camera, even if I had to sacrifice my much loved 5D Mark IV to get it.

I’ve already spent an hour on YouTube looking at Monochrome q2 videos. This camera, says one geek, is not for everyone. But the people who manage to get one will never be disappointed.

____

Bonus: The Jon Katz guaranteed way to stop a fight.

Maria and I are both, shall I say, intense and high-strung. Once in a while, as every happily married couple should, we fight. Early on, I proposed an almost fail-safe way to stop a deadly fight. Maria agreed.

Yesterday we made plans to go to New York City on Sunday and trade in my camera and lenses in person at B&H photo. Maria and I made the train reservations together; I was looking forward to the ride.

It was all set until Maria turned on her radio and heard two detailed and chilling reports about how dangerous the spread of the delta coronavirus variant is now and how covid-19 cases are rising all over the country, even with a small number of vaccinated people.

Maria and I feel sorry for the children and others who will pay the ultimate price for Donald Trump’s legions of meathead anti-vaxxers. They no longer believe the earth revolves around the sun either; that is a plot by radical socialists to take over the minds of patriotic Americans. Protecting one’s children is apparently no longer an admirable instinct.

Anyway, Maria decided in the afternoon that it was dangerous for me to go to New York City, where covid cases are rising, and then go to B&H photo, a madhouse mob scene on the best of days.

I disagreed strongly. If we wore masks and stayed out of indoor restaurants, I was sure we would be s safe.

. We argued about it. Maria felt strongly about it, and that often means a volcano is rumbling just below the surface (and yes, I am going to mention that she is half-Sicilian, get your send buttons  ready.)And then I invoked the Jon Katz rule about fighting.

Maria was worried about my getting sick since I am at risk in different ways. I was upset; I wanted to take the lenses myself and get the payment right away. I also love train rides.

We each had good arguments to make. Mine didn’t turn out to be as good as hers. 

It is simple; it was made for strong-willed people like us who feel passionately about almost everything.

Here’s how it goes, if either partner or spouse feels strongly that something should not be done, then it will not be and should not be done.

If either partner or spouse feels strongly that something should be done, as long as it is not obvious or illegal, then strong consideration should be given to doing it.

I think people should be stopped from doing some a person who loves them really thinks is wrong or dangerous. But I don’t think anybody should be bullied or pressure into doing something they really don’t want to do.

The other part is that the veto by one person – that’s what it is – should end the discussion – no more arguments, hurt feelings, grievance, whining, self-pity or recrimination.

For me, the veto plan is successful unless people totally ignore it. Either party can stop the argument or the discussion in a flash. We don’t fight that often, but when we do, it can get exciting. I can also stop instantly.

I think this idea of equality cuts short arguments that can heat up or wound. If Maria or I don’t want to do something, it isn’t done. As simple as that. We both have to agree on substantial decisions like a trip to New York during a stubborn pandemic.

When I saw Maria was uncomfortable, and my argument didn’t move her, the discussion was over. I went and canceled the train tickets; we’ll send the lens by UPS or FedEx. Neither one of us has mentioned it again.