Usually, Europe gets the first leg, but this time the tour started in the US.
I didn’t think FOMO was going to hit so hard, but videos on the Internet reminded me how much I missed my DM Pilgrimage every 4 years.
I couldn’t miss the first show occurring in Europe: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome 5/18/2023
The Golden Circle queue was around 50 persons when I got to the venue a couple of hours before doors opening hour.
I decided to take pictures of this tour with a very unique camera, the Leica M10 Monochrom. It’s manual focus and only take black and white photos.
The lens I picked for this show was a 35mm f/2 Summicron ASPH, but it was too wide. For the other shows, I took a weird lens called the 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux.
It weights 1kg and is impossible to focus wide open.
However, when conditions are right and I can snap the shot, Leica does make magic. Especially compared to smartphones, the rendering is unique. Also, I like to enjoy the show. I prefer to watch the DVD instead of my smartphone recording. Usually, I take a few short clips for social media with my phone. Total time is about 10 minutes of filming and for the remaining time I collect moments in my mind.
Taking pictures with this weird camera is not easy. It’s not a problem to go through security, but it’s a challenge to get a decent image.
First mistake I made was to position myself on the right side of the stage. I was close – about in the 4th or 5th rows.
Since my first show in ’86, I like watching from the left.
This time Fletch wasn’t there and it sucked a lot. He was one of the main reason I always picked the right side. Dave was mostly standing in front of his mic when he was on the right side.
I like a few photos from this show. If you don’t like analog grain from the film era, my photos will throw you off. One of the benefit from my camera is to transform ugly digital noise into beautiful analog like grain.
Like Anton Corbijn said:: ” Grain is life, there’s all this striving for perfection with digital stuff. Striving is fine, but getting there is not great. I want a sense of the human and that is what breathes life into a picture. For me, imperfection is perfection.”
