Luigi Crescenzi the founder of Leicatime and a well known craftsman has made the finest cases and bags for our camera’s for decades. He still keeps developing and making even better products, and he is really up to date in the digital era with his timeless Italian leather bags and cases.
A young Luigi already into camera’s…
One of his amazing half cases for Leica M8/9…
Luigi Crescenzi
Here’s a short interview with him:
Where are you located?
Roma, Italy where I am born, too…
What is your name and age?
Luigi Crescenzi, born September 15th, 1941
How did you start out with making leather bag, cases and straps?
As a Leica dealer, also for used and collectible cameras, I was “fighting” against the cases problems since the year 1982, with many broken cases, mostly due to the rear detaching “Snap” system, as well with the poor “cotton” stitching of most cases. Then, since the early 90’s, I thought to try to make and to offer my own HALF cases (1st year), then also the FULL cases. The line growth, until the actually 100++ models, each in 13+ colors, and each in several fitting’s variations… Plus, the exotic leathers.
What is your favorite camera accessory?
Formerly, say many years ago, I was loving the Leicavit, Scnoo, all rapid winders. Actually, and sincerely, I like really A LOT my special M-Mate2 baseplate for Leica M8, M8-2, M9 ! But, I will issue some new accessories, too… J
What is you favorite camera?
The Leica M9, actually, that I suggested Leica Co. to make since the year 1998/1999, obtaining only the answer, after MONTHS of my insisting calls and phone conversations : “It’s IMPOSSIBLE, mr. Crescenzi, do you want to understand ? It is I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E” !!! (Last time, shouted to me by Mr. Romolo Rappaini, the Leica brand manager in Italy at the time ! J) And all that, after that for years I gave several useful suggestions for the possible new items, some of which has been issued…
My favorite old, collectible cameras, are the Leica 250 Reporter, and the small Ducati Sogno, a micro-Leica copy, heavy, well made, a half frame 18x24mm To be used, as a film camera, I love the Leica M2, possibly with a my strap, and without any meter ! J
What is you main source of inspiration?
Probably, the fact that I was (am ?) a photographer, too, then I hope to may issue something really useful for the matter…
Any exiting upcoming news?
Yes, but (sorry) I prefer at the moment to don’t reveal the details…
As many other item’s makers, I am besieged and tormented by many imitators !
Thanks Luigi…
For more info please visit: www.leicatime.com
His death was confirmed by Peter Blachley of the Morrison Hotel Gallery, which represents him in New York. The cause was not immediately known, but Mr. Blachley said that Mr. Marshall had died in his sleep.
Mr. Marshall, who lived in San Francisco, was in New York to promote “Match Prints,” his new book with his friend and fellow photographer Timothy White. They had been scheduled to appear at an event at the John Varvatos clothing store in SoHo on Wednesday evening. An exhibition of photographs from the book is to open on Friday at the Staley-Wise Gallery, also in SoHo.
In crisp photographs, shot mostly in black and white and with a stable of trusty Leica rangefinders, Mr. Marshall captured pop stars in their full onstage glory, as well as in unguarded offstage scenes that humanized them as approachable or vulnerable.
Among his most famous pictures are Hendrix setting his guitar aflame at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967, which established Hendrix’s early reputation as a wild man; Cash angrily gesturing with his middle finger while at the San Quentin State Prison in 1969; a boyish Bob Dylan following a stray tire down a New York street in 1963; and Janis Joplin clutching a bottle of Southern Comfort backstage in 1968.
To get those pictures he insisted on extraordinary access, and usually got it. He was a favored portraitist for many of his subjects, who sometimes allowed him to follow them for days. He was the only photographer allowed backstage for the Beatles’ 1966 farewell concert in San Francisco, was at Woodstock in 1969, and shot the Rolling Stones’ 1972 tour on assignment for Life magazine.
Annie Leibovitz once called him “the rock ’n’ roll photographer.”
With an imposing figure and gruff, forceful personality, Mr. Marshall was something of a rock star himself, and musicians respected him as much for his pictures as for his dedication to getting them. Yet he saw his work largely in photojournalistic terms, capturing a natural scene instead of staging an artificial one.
“When I’m photographing people, I don’t like to give any direction,” he wrote in the introduction to his 1997 retrospective book, “Not Fade Away.” “There are no hair people fussing around, no make-up artists. I’m like a reporter, only with a camera; I react to my subject in their environment, and, if it’s going well, I get so immersed in it that I become one with the camera.”
Born in Chicago on Feb. 3, 1936, he moved with his family to San Francisco two years later. His father, a housepainter, left when he was a boy, and his mother worked in a laundry. As a child he enjoyed playing with his Kodak Brownie, but it was not until about 1960 that Mr. Marshall, equipped with his first Leica M2, found his calling through a chance encounter with John Coltrane. “He asked me for directions to a club,” he said in a 2004 interview. “I told him I’d pick him up and take him there if he’d let me take his picture.”
In addition to Coltrane, he shot Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and other jazz stars, but he is best known for his extensive catalog of 1960s and ’70s rockers, which includes most of the San Francisco psychedelic groups as well as Jim Morrison, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young and the Allman Brothers Band.
In 1962 Mr. Marshall moved to Greenwich Village, where his neighbors included Mr. Dylan and Judy Collins. But after two years he returned to San Francisco, where he remained. In his career he shot for Rolling Stone and other magazines and had more than 500 album cover credits.
No immediate family members survive.
Mr. Marshall spoke candidly about how his cocaine addiction had sidelined his career in the mid-1970s. By the late 1980s he had re-emerged, and his skills — and prestige — were often in demand by younger musicians like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Cult. He had numerous gallery shows in recent years, and some of his work was included in the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition “Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present,” which ran from October to January.
“A lot of photography of music is about the look, the style, the celebrity image,” said Gail Buckland, the curator of that show. But Mr. Marshall, she added, “wasn’t really manufacturing an image.”
“He was trying to see who that person was,” she said.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/
Rather than fight in World War II, conscientious objector and Quaker Charlie Lord was sent by the government to work at a mental institution called Philadelphia State Hospital. He secretly took photographs to expose the horrors of the institution.
These are his photos…
Source: http://ww.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122017757
From April 27 to May 2, 2010
We still got room for some more photographers on this amazing workshop, be it you are a professional photographer or just an happy amateur, this workshop is for you, we also have people just joining for the adventure which is really more than enough by itself…
Pictures from the March 2010 workshop by Alexander Tufte ©
Glacier Vatnajokull & Landmannalaugar
Theme: Europe largest Glacier Vatnajokull & Landmannalaugar
Date: April 27 to May 2. Total 5 nights
Deadline registration: March 31 – 2010
Deadline arrival Keflavik Airport Iceland local time before 16.00 on April 27.
Departure Keflavik May 2 from 07.30 AM local time
Minimum: 6 participants
Maximum: 16 participants
Description:
This is one of our most extreme and unique tours in Iceland.
We will stay 2 nights in a cottage built under the ice on top of Europe’s largest Glacier Vatnajokull and the volcano Grimsvotn. The cottage was built by the government and is very comfortable with a sauna. This is defiantly a destination very few will ever experience. Only accessible thanks to our professional guides and their modified Super Jeep’s. This is not a Self-Drive tour.
Photo coaching and photo stops on the way. There will be lots of challenging photo objectives before and on the Glacier.
We will pass famous Landmannalauger on the way to the Glacier. We will spend one night in Landmannalauger on the way back to Reykjavik. Where we will enjoy natural heated Geothermal water. Local dishes with Icelandic ingredients served each day. Photo challenges and photo coaching.
Programme:
Day 1: Arrival & welcome – Heading to the Highland
From the airport we will drive in a bus to Hotel Leirubakki a stepping point into the Highland and close to the famous volcano Hekla. When we arrive Leirubakki, we will make a toast for the upcoming glacier adventure.
After dinner there will be information about the program and a lecture will be given about Vatnajokull and the most active volcano in Iceland, Grimsvotn.
We will go over the safety and the equipment. Photo meeting.
Relaxation in the hot tub before we go early to bed.
Day 2: To the top of Vatnajokull & Grimsvotn
We will leave early in the morning in our modified Land Rover Super Truck’s through very impressive landscape surrounded by rough mountains. Stopping for lunch at Jokulheimar, a mountain cabin situated deep in the Highland, next to Vatnajokull Glacier. After lunch we will start our glacier drive. We will be putting the air pressure down on the 44” tires in order to be able to drive over what looks like an endless snowfield, entering Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Europe.
Photo stops and photo coaching on the way.
When arrive Grimsfjall after ca 50 km driving over glacier terrain, we will reach the highest mountain cottage in Iceland, the Grimsvotn cottage at 1700 meters. It is also one of the most challenging cottages in Iceland to reach. Believe it or not there will be a sauna waiting to be enjoyed, needless to say the most remote sauna in Europe. Glacier photo hikes before dinner.
Day 3: On the Vatnajokull Glacier
This is day a full day on the glacier. We will be looking for ice caves and explore the volcano Grimsvotn, one of the most interesting volcanoes in the world.
Experienced glacier drivers and guides will be in charge where to go and how to explore the glacier with safety as priority. Photo coaching.
Proper gears for glacier exploring for everybody. This is the day where we have to be flexible monitoring the weather and conditions. In any case we can promise an interesting and eventful day mixed with the luxury of the cottage and local food at the end of the day.
Day 4 Grimsvotn to Landmannalauger
Heading west from Grimsvotn setting the course to one of the jewels of the Icelandic Highland, Landmannalauger which offers great surrounding of mountains, streams, lava fields and geothermal activity. Photo stops and photo coaching. The roomy mountain cottage in Landmannalauger is a fun place to stay over nights with the nearby natural a geothermal hot pool to bath in after a long and cold day.
Day 5 from wilderness to civilization
Driving through the snow with a little help from gravity will make this a fun and interesting day with a stop at Palsfjall, a very impressive peak on the glacier.
Photo stops and photo coaching. This will be a long day heading all the way back to Reykjavik and our hotel downtown. Dinner and some moments of reflection will be followed by city and night life until our departure the following next day.
Day 6: Departure
Going home with unique photos and memories for life
Accommodation and food
From start to end, we will lodge in comfortable cottages, farms and a hotel.
Enjoying dishes prepared with local ingredients. In shared double room. Extra for single room.
What to bring?
We will supply you with all the necessary gear for participating in our winter activities.
All you need to bring is your photo equipment, warm and comfortable outdoor clothing, bathing clothes and towel together with your spirit of adventure.
Our fleet:
Land Rover Super trucks modified with 44’ tires and equipped with VHF radio intercommunication.
Price is all included except the airline ticket to Keflavik airport
Inlcuded is:
Pick up and delivery at Keflavik airport, photo coaching by professional photographer (s), all meals and accommodations, fuel and insurance, demo and testing of photo equipment, all equipment and activities, prizes and competitions, a photo book and a map of Iceland, workshop fleece jacket. Memories for life.
Euro 2750 per person
Date: April 27 to May 2. Total 5 nights
Deadline registration: March 31 – 2010
Deadline arrival Keflavik Airport Iceland local time before 16.00 on April 27.
Departure Keflavik May 2 from 07.30 AM local time
Minimum: 6 participants
Maximum: 16 participants
PLEASE NOTE:
No reservations have been made at this point and the prices are subject to change, depending on availability should you decide to use this offer.
All taxes, service charges and VAT are included.
All prices are subject to changes according to currency fluctuations and government tax regulations.
We reserve the right to cancel the tour or to alter the itinerary according to the weather and road conditions.
