Leica and the Alternative

My name is Ajit Menon and I am a hobbyist photographer from New York City. I started shooting seriously in the summer of 2012 when I procured the Nikon D800. The shift from casual amateur to serious hobbyist is itself an interesting story; however this article is focused more on a subtle shift in focus over the last couple of months and beginning to shoot both with a camera I was (until now) too snobbish to accept and also more casual subject matter which I found hard to fit into my (perceived) style of photography.

NIKON D800 + 16-35mm f/4 @ 16mm, ISO 200, 30/1, f/8.0

A little background first. I work as a visual effects artist in NYC and coming from a digital background, photo manipulation and technical know-how was part and parcel of my job. This gave me an initial advantage to quick-start my photography obsession and polish my images enough to give them a refined look. For the last few years, landscape is what I have primarily shot and feel comfortable in and I have travelled to some interesting places in pursuit of that “moment and place” with my Nikon gear, the D800 and a host of lenses, some of my favorites being the Zeiss 21mm and the Nikon 45mm PC-E.