During the holidays, the park is transformed into a winter wonderland of festive decorations and classic holiday music. The celebratory mood of all the families, the the aroma of baking treats, mixed with the holiday-themed decorations, evokes a nostalgia of days of Christmas past.

Making a living with photography is my goal, but am I willing to kill my love of the art form to achieve it? And if I’m not, am I really going to make any money? These are questions I’m constantly wrestling with and are likely behind my periodic bouts of burnout. And when I burnout on photography, I mean it.

Shooting middle of the day "Street" Landscape Photography with the Leica M10 Monochrom with a red filter to create high contrast black and white images.

Street photography is a bit of a mystery to me. Probably because its origins are surrounded in mystique and filled with famous names and even more famous photographs. But what sets an iconic street photograph apart from just an average or a not very good one?

Earlier this year, around February 2021, I finally just bit the bullet and ordered a Leica M10 Monochrom from the Leica store in San Francisco. This was the first brand new Leica that I’d ever purchased. I’m not ashamed to admit that I had tears in my eyes as I opened the package. I don’t know what it is about the Leica bug, but I have it big time. Opening a Leica camera is akin to buying a new iPhone or computer from Apple. Each company puts in a lot of effort into their packaging and it just adds to the mystique of their products.

As the owner of a Leica Monochrom, you will know that there is no color information available with the .dng files from the camera. Since the color filter array has been removed from the sensor, there will be no way to manipulate the different “colors” of grayscale like when you convert a color photo by setting the Treatment to Black and White in Lightroom.