WATCH: Leica Recreates 35 Famous Photos
The short film explains that “the most iconic images in history, even the ones that weren’t taken with a Leica, were taken ‘because’ of a Leica.”
Camera manufacturer LEICA is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its earliest prototype models with a video that takes some of the 20th century’s most iconic images — but how many were taken on a Leica?
Among its 35 inspirations, the two-minute piece features versions of “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima” behind a moonwalking Buzz Aldrin, Annie Leibovitz’s portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the “Identical Twins” by Dianne Arbus, Alexander Rodchenko’s “Girl With Leica” and a quartet of Henri Cartier-Bresson shots.
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Commissioned by the new Leica Gallery in São Paulo, and produced by Brazil’s F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi agency, the montage explains that “the most iconic images in history, even the ones that weren’t taken with a Leica, were taken ‘because’ of a Leica.”
But reaction from photography buffs has been mixed, with praise for the video’s luscious adaptation of a century’s iconic images met by recoil from a reappropriation of art history.
“I’m kind of disgusted with Leica over their recent marketing and how I think it absolutely distorts the ideas that drive great photography,” wrote a photography lecturer on SLR Lounge.
“The Kodak Brownie should be the one given credit for photography,” quipped another commenter on PetaPixel, referring to The Kodak Company’s $1 cardboard box apparatus.
Partial listing of photos used: lavidaleica.com
