We breezed through our visit to Leica Store London Mayfair last Sunday and conducted a 3-hour quality conversation with Renz, the assistant store manager, about his work and life. The conversation was quite informative that I have to listen to the record again and digest it during weekdays.

Generally we discussed on a wide range of topics: photographic history and tech, Leica customers and product sales, Renz’s personal career trajectory, working in Leica and store Mayfair, AI and currently problems…

Personally here are some points impressive or beneficial:

Agency in Using Tech

As appreciated by Renz, the utilization of automation in cameras indeed helps improve the images (e.g. autofocus, noise removal, shaper images, etc.), and sometimes post-process with AI can effectively turn waste to treasure. However, the excessive pursuit of high-tech applied in photography might lead to a result that “camera is taking pictures, not me”. Since two years ago when I initially started the use of M-system in photography, even though it took longer time to adapt myself to fully manual mode, I felt I could control better over the camera rather than allowing the machine to capture the best images based on its built-in algorithms.

Maybe we should deliberate more in using tech to prevent ourselves from being overwhelmed by it.

Dying Art of Repair

The higher productivity leads to our habit of disposing damaged items easily and buying new ones with fair price. Sometimes repairing seems to be more costly than replacing.

This topic also reminded me what Elizabeth introduced in the first-time tutorial: nowadays tons of digital wastes (laptops, smartphones…) are piling up on a daily basis. People tend to buy a new MacBook just because the old one’s memory is full.

Renz mentioned that products of Leica were produced aiming at sustainability. Say, they can be passed through by generations, and Leica’s customer care center in London is also trying to improve customers’ experience in shortening the repair time of cameras.

I am not sure if it is worth propagandizing the resurgence of the art of repair, but I’d like to invest time in pondering on its value.

Life-Long Jack

I mentioned in Monday’s tutorial that I was quite moved by Renz’s views on his pursuit as a photographer. The full-time job as a manager and the duty to take care of his kids after work deprive of his time and energy to developing himself in photography. However, he felt currently it is good enough for him to capture his kids’ growth through cameras. Being a professional photographer could be scheduled later in his life.

Back to our key idea of “Jack of all trades”, Renz’s statement helped us to view Jack as a more flexible image. Realistic limitations inevitably prevent someone of being a Jack. While feeling excited at our utopian future scenario, we should consider the dilemma/problems at the same time and to be more positive, attempt to find solutions.