Incredible Beach Photos on the Leica M6

Leica branded cameras have very few ‘features.’ Instead, they favor craftsmanship and quality and the Leica M6 is no exception to this.

Photographers often get bogged down by the newest features. Bells and whistles absolutely don’t make an image; it’s the person behind the camera who drives image-making. Photographers Chris and Anna lean into the minimalist qualities of the camera by spending a day at the beach. Nothing more, nothing less. It sounds simple enough but to stay with a subject for a period of time and create images that peel back and yield more and more of the subject, whether it is a person or a place or even a thing, is something we can all strive towards.

As an exercise, I encourage you to pick a subject, whether it’s a person or a place, and spend a day photographing them. As simple as that; an entire day of photographing a single subject. If you’re feeling extra courageous, limit yourself to a single camera body and a single lens. By forcing yourself into these types of creative exercises, you not only learn more about yourself as a photographer, but really develop a way of seeing the world that is uniquely your own. As you progress in your career, much of this intentional way of making, that is making images with self-imposed rules, can become a part of your image-making practice more and more.

By slowing down and spending any length of time this way, you are forced to really see variations in what is present. Something in morning light might look very different from the same thing in harsh midday sun. Alternatively, something that looks one way in the afternoon might wax or wane physically during the evening. This isn’t a profound idea but putting it into practice takes a certain persistence. A day is a good starting point; eventually, you might find that you want to do this over longer and longer periods of time. It’s all about building up!