Marcelina After Dark — Shot on the Leica M11 Monochrom (Patreon)

Marcelina came into town, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Danny Duncan had just surprised me with a Leica M11 Monochrom, and I immediately wanted to see how far I could push it.

The M11 Monochrom is known for its incredible high-ISO capabilities, so instead of easing into it under ideal conditions, I decided to throw myself into probably the hardest possible situation for a rangefinder: photographing at night in almost complete darkness.

A lot of these photos may look surprisingly well lit, but it was genuinely pitch black in many of these locations—and I mean dark. We ended up hitting up a connection who got us onto a rooftop overlooking downtown Syracuse, where we were able to create some iconic images with the Landmark Theatre sign behind Marcelina. Those are easily some of my favorite photographs from the entire night. The setting, the sign, the grain and the mood all came together perfectly.

Many of these images were photographed at ISO 10,000, with some reaching ISO 64,000 and beyond. Somehow, the files still hold their own. Instead of completely falling apart, the high ISO gave the photographs a gritty, film-like character that worked perfectly for the atmosphere we were chasing.

This was also my first time really putting the camera through its paces, and using it was completely different from shooting with my usual equipment. It didn’t feel overly polished or clinical. Everything was manual, slower and much more deliberate. I definitely missed focus—more than once—and there are some photographs I genuinely loved that I simply didn’t nail. That part hurts, but it’s also part of what made the experience exciting.

I wouldn’t say the camera made me feel like a beginner again, but it forced me to return to the roots of photography. You have to pay attention to everything. You have to anticipate the moment, manually line up the rangefinder patch and commit to the frame—sometimes while barely being able to see your subject. If you’ve ever used a rangefinder, you know how challenging that can be. I just happened to choose one of the most difficult lighting situations imaginable for my first real test.

That challenge is what made this set so much fun. Not every frame was perfect, but the photographs that came together have a rawness and personality that I don’t think I would have gotten from any other camera.

This is Marcelina, photographed after dark in downtown Syracuse on the Leica M11 Monochrom—pushed almost as far as I could take it.