What's Better: Taking Photos With or Of Your Leica?

Portland, Ore. — A local photographer recently purchased a brand new Leica M10 and matching lens, but has said he has no plans to take pictures with it, only to take pictures of it at his local coffee shop.

John Wicker, a local self-described “flannel and IPA aficionado/part-time DJ,” recently posted a picture of the Leica camera on his Instagram account alongside some sort of coffee drink with resplendent latte art and a vaping pen, carefully laid out in an aesthetically pleasing pattern atop a wooden table made from recovered driftwood carved into the shape of a dolphin.

Another patron at the coffee shop notes he was a bit confused by a conversation with Wicker:

I’m a bit of an amateur photographer myself, and I know how nice Leicas are, so I went to ask him how he liked it. He told me: ‘It’s great; my Instagram has never looked better.’ I asked to see his account, but all I saw were pictures of the camera. I asked him to see images taken with it, but he just looked confused and said: ‘You buy a Leica to take pictures of it, not with it.’ I never knew prepositions were so important.

Fstoppers reached out for a comment from Wicker, who noted he had expanded his horizons beyond the coffee shop after discovering the Leica’s good looks, also taking pictures of it alongside a craft beer at a local microbrewery you've probably never heard of with a caption that read:

Almost got run over by a road-hogging SUV on the way here because the city refuses to widen the bike lanes. Good thing IPAs and rangefinders look so good together. #widerbikelanesforportland #IPAs #downwithcorporations #exceptapple #iphonelove #leicalove #imaginealeicaiphone

Fstoppers was originally incredulous that Wicker had truly purchased $10,000 in photography equipment that he never used in lieu of groceries or his own cigarettes that he didn't bum off someone. But sure enough, he showed the shutter count on the camera was indeed zero. When asked why he made such a frivolous life decision, Wicker could only reply: "It's more ironic that way."