Italy on a Point and Shoot

Italy October 2011 I recently had the blessing of celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary and my gorgeous soul- mate, Sara, and I agreed Italy was a place we both wanted to visit. I being who I am and she knowing me as well as she does, immediately told me, "this is not going to be a photo trip." I said, "Of course not..." But in reality I was not very happy about the prospect of visiting such a visually-rich environment without my trusty DSLRs at hand. So I came up with a creative solution: instead of taking my big cameras and all the lenses that come along with it I convinced her that if I bought a point- and- shoot camera that would be all that I'd need. I did a lot of research and I asked a lot of professional photographers their opinion. At eh end I concluded I would try this specific "point-and_shoot" (which I now think is a blatant understatement and misnomer):the Leica X-1. I've always heard these camera brand and its legendary optics celebrated reverentially. As someone who'd never tried one, it always seemed to me as if such high praises had to have contain a great degree of exaggeration... that is until I tried one. The optics performed magnificently and the degree of control afforded by the camera when it came to aperture and speed control as well as its many yet simple features made it feel just as if I were using one of my big "guns." By using this tiny camera and making the photos I was able to make, I was once more able to prove one of the mantras I teach during my photo workshops: "It's not about the gear, it's about how you- the photographer- sees the world around you." However I think now I must add to that statement,"... it doesn't hurt if you have great optics backing you up." So if you don't want to log around your big cameras while on vacation or while simply not on assignment, or you simply want to give your weary shoulders and knees a break, then the Leica X-1 is a great alternative.