The Liberation of Limitation: Alan Schaller

Limitations come in many forms. What makes all the difference, is if we can manage to turn them into our friends instead of seeing them as our enemies. To set limitations in gear, locations, subject and aesthetics can benefit an artist greatly, as street photographer Alan Schaller from London points out. Alan Schaller, an early adopter of black and white photography in the digital age, was among the first to get his hands on the new Leica M10 Monochrom. This May, Leica Camera Hong Kong welcomes him and his photographs with open arms, dedicating the Leica Store Hong Kong Causeway Bay and Leica Store Hong Kong IFC stores space to exhibit his work from today until July 29^th.

Using his Leica M Monochrom (Typ 246), he developed his style through all kinds of limitations by ignoring everything outside of his zone in order to anticipate an image. Acertainty, the means of seeing what there is and imagining what there could be allows him to achieve limiting oneself in terms of what he wants to shoot and what he is shooting with. When he found the Leica M Monochrom (Typ 246) and the M-lens system with the zone focusing, he knew immediately with the tactile nature of the camera and its discreteness, that it would be the perfect tool to execute his ideas. Being able to pre-focus and therefore be discreet, the new M10 Monochrom even has its benefit of being quitter, having a better shutter and higher resolution. The dynamic range and low light performance are unaltered, meaning that he may freely express his ideas through the machine.