Vintage Leica

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Vintage Leica
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Leica brown leather camera case. M2 M3 Vintage
Leica brown leather camera case. M2 M3 Vintage
Paypal   US $.99
Zorki 4 Vintage Russian Camera 35mm Leica Leather Case Jupiter Rangefinder USSR
Zorki 4 Vintage Russian Camera 35mm Leica Leather Case Jupiter Rangefinder USSR
Paypal   US $39.99
Vintage B+W 46e 3x Yellow filter in case - suit Leica/Leitz/Voigtlander lenses
Vintage B+W 46e 3x Yellow filter in case - suit Leica/Leitz/Voigtlander lenses
Paypal   US $10.98
Leica Leitz Fan Flash Screw Mount Vintage Camera Attachment
Leica Leitz Fan Flash Screw Mount Vintage Camera Attachment
Paypal   US $14.95
zorki 3C body vintage film camera LEICA copy
zorki 3C body vintage film camera LEICA copy
Paypal   US $49.00
Vintage Leica Camera Kit M3 Single Stroke Body 3 Leitz Lenses & More NO RESERVE!
Vintage Leica Camera Kit M3 Single Stroke Body 3 Leitz Lenses & More NO RESERVE!
Paypal   US $1,036.67
zorki 4 body vintage film camera LEICA copy
zorki 4 body vintage film camera LEICA copy
Paypal   US $25.00
zorki 4k body vintage film camera LEICA copy
zorki 4k body vintage film camera LEICA copy
Paypal   US $20.00
ZORKI 2S Vintage Rare Russian Leica Copy Camera INDUSTAR-50 Lens
ZORKI 2S Vintage Rare Russian Leica Copy Camera INDUSTAR-50 Lens
Paypal   US $54.99
ZORKI 6 Vintage Rare Russian Leica Copy Camera Industar-50 Lens 1965
ZORKI 6 Vintage Rare Russian Leica Copy Camera Industar-50 Lens 1965
Paypal   US $59.99
VINTAGE GERMAN LEICA CAMERA IIIc ERNST LEITZ WETZLAR CAMERA
VINTAGE GERMAN LEICA CAMERA IIIc ERNST LEITZ WETZLAR CAMERA
Paypal   US $327.00
ZORKI 1 Vintage Russian Leica copy RF Camera Industar 22 M39 Lens nEXC
ZORKI 1 Vintage Russian Leica copy RF Camera Industar 22 M39 Lens nEXC
Paypal   US $89.99
vintage Sun Optical 9cm f4 lens w/ M39 Leica Canon rangefinder screw mount
vintage Sun Optical 9cm f4 lens w/ M39 Leica Canon rangefinder screw mount
Paypal   US $19.95
Vintage Leica Polarizer 39mm Thread Polarizing Filter; Leitz Wetzlar Germany
Vintage Leica Polarizer 39mm Thread Polarizing Filter; Leitz Wetzlar Germany
Paypal   US $9.99
FED 2 Russian 35 mm Vintage Rangefinder film Camera Lens Industar m39 Leica copy
FED 2 Russian 35 mm Vintage Rangefinder film Camera Lens Industar m39 Leica copy
Paypal   US $60.00
Vintage Leica 1 I Camera made in 1930 with Leitz Elmar lens
Vintage Leica 1 I Camera made in 1930 with Leitz Elmar lens
Paypal   US $591.03
Lg. Vintage Leica Hard Camera Case E. Leitz ALLENTOWN PA, CALL-CHRONICLE
Lg. Vintage Leica Hard Camera Case E. Leitz ALLENTOWN PA, CALL-CHRONICLE
Paypal   US $59.99
*VINTAGE*ORIGINAL BENSER*LEATHER LEICA*CASE*
*VINTAGE*ORIGINAL BENSER*LEATHER LEICA*CASE*
Paypal   US $31.34
Vintage Leica R4S Instruction Manual in great condition!
Vintage Leica R4S Instruction Manual in great condition!
   US $4.95
FED 5B USSR 35mm Vintage Rangefinder film Camera Lens Industar-61 L/D Leica copy
FED 5B USSR 35mm Vintage Rangefinder film Camera Lens Industar-61 L/D Leica copy
Paypal   US $50.00
VINTAGE RUSSIAN 35MM RANGEFINDER GOLD CAMERA LEICA-II LUFTWAFFE WWII EXCELLENT
VINTAGE RUSSIAN 35MM RANGEFINDER GOLD CAMERA LEICA-II LUFTWAFFE WWII EXCELLENT
Paypal   US $179.99
Vintage Leica DRP 678409 camera body, no lens, missing front leather
Vintage Leica DRP 678409 camera body, no lens, missing front leather
Paypal   US $127.50
VINTAGE RUSSIAN 35MM GOLD CAMERA LEICA-II OLYMPIADA BERLIN 1936 WWII EXCELLENT
VINTAGE RUSSIAN 35MM GOLD CAMERA LEICA-II OLYMPIADA BERLIN 1936 WWII EXCELLENT
Paypal   US $179.99
Vintage Leica DRP 594942 camera body, no lens, a real gem
Vintage Leica DRP 594942 camera body, no lens, a real gem
Paypal   US $260.00
Vintage Leica: Rangefinder? 3 inches long
Vintage Leica: Rangefinder? 3 inches long
Paypal   US $16.50
Vintage Leica Summaron Lens 1060853, Excellent, covers, no box
Vintage Leica Summaron Lens 1060853, Excellent, covers, no box
Paypal   US $224.50
Vintage Leica Summarit lens 1471303, looks great, 2 concerns
Vintage Leica Summarit lens 1471303, looks great, 2 concerns
Paypal   US $160.00
Vintage Leica Summitar Lens 862390, f= 5 cm, 1:2, Looks unused, no box
Vintage Leica Summitar Lens 862390, f= 5 cm, 1:2, Looks unused, no box
Paypal   US $127.50
FED-5C vintage russian Leica camera with lens Industar-61 VERY RARE
FED-5C vintage russian Leica camera with lens Industar-61 VERY RARE
Paypal   US $25.00
Vintage Leica Auxiliary Reproduction Device for close-ups, unused? box parts too
Vintage Leica Auxiliary Reproduction Device for close-ups, unused? box parts too
Paypal   US $9.99
Vintage Leica Diaphram accessory? #86985, EX
Vintage Leica Diaphram accessory? #86985, EX
Paypal   US $66.00
Leica Vintage Camera M2 Ernst Leitz Wetzlar DBP Rangefinder Body Germany 1052892
Leica Vintage Camera M2 Ernst Leitz Wetzlar DBP Rangefinder Body Germany 1052892
Paypal   US $327.00
Vintage Leica lot: filters, lens hoods, close up lens and more
Vintage Leica lot: filters, lens hoods, close up lens and more
Paypal   US $66.00
Vintage Leica Synchronblitzer (Flash) in OB and dock piece, EX
Vintage Leica Synchronblitzer (Flash) in OB and dock piece, EX
Paypal   US $9.99
FED-2  vintage russian Leica camera with lens Industar -26m VERY RARE
FED-2 vintage russian Leica camera with lens Industar -26m VERY RARE
Paypal   US $24.99
VINTAGE RUSSIAN GOLD LENS LEITZ ELMAR f3,5/5сm for 35MM CAMERAS LEICA ZORKI FED
VINTAGE RUSSIAN GOLD LENS LEITZ ELMAR f3,5/5сm for 35MM CAMERAS LEICA ZORKI FED
Paypal   US $61.02
Vintage 1950s Leather Leitz Leica Camera Case Gadget Bag
Vintage 1950s Leather Leitz Leica Camera Case Gadget Bag
Paypal   US $24.99
Leica 50mm Summarit f/ 1.5 Vintage Lens Ernst Leitz GmbH Wetzlar
Leica 50mm Summarit f/ 1.5 Vintage Lens Ernst Leitz GmbH Wetzlar
Paypal   US $750.00
Leitz Leica Vintage Antique Camera Outfit Case Leather Pigskin
Leitz Leica Vintage Antique Camera Outfit Case Leather Pigskin
Paypal   US $9.99
Vintage 1940-50s Leitz Leica Extension Tube boxed set MIB
Vintage 1940-50s Leitz Leica Extension Tube boxed set MIB
Paypal   US $9.99
Leica Ernst Leitz Wetzlar 9cm f/4 Chrome Elmar Camera Lens Germany Vintage NR
Leica Ernst Leitz Wetzlar 9cm f/4 Chrome Elmar Camera Lens Germany Vintage NR
Paypal   US $22.00
Lot of Vintage Leica Accessories
Lot of Vintage Leica Accessories
Paypal   US $15.00
Vintage Leica –
Vintage Leica – "Betriebsk" war model camera – Original / Replica ??? !!!
Paypal   US $150.00
Antique / Vintage Leica D.R.P. Ernst Leitz Wetzlar w/ Elmar f/3.5 50mm Lens!
Antique / Vintage Leica D.R.P. Ernst Leitz Wetzlar w/ Elmar f/3.5 50mm Lens!
Paypal   US $46.00
VINTAGE LEICA IIIc - 35mm RANGEFINDER CAMERA - c.1949
VINTAGE LEICA IIIc - 35mm RANGEFINDER CAMERA - c.1949
Paypal   US $549.99
Vintage Leica IIIf Red Dial Camera Body - Screw-Mount
Vintage Leica IIIf Red Dial Camera Body - Screw-Mount
Paypal   US $479.00
Dacora Dignette Vintage 1950s 35mm Camera + Bag, Germany, Leica Olympus Nikon
Dacora Dignette Vintage 1950s 35mm Camera + Bag, Germany, Leica Olympus Nikon
Paypal   US $29.00
Canon 50mm f1.8 50 f/1.8 1.8 RF LTM M39 L39 vintage lens Leica MINT TIME-MACHINE
Canon 50mm f1.8 50 f/1.8 1.8 RF LTM M39 L39 vintage lens Leica MINT TIME-MACHINE
Paypal   US $123.45
Leitz Leica VIOOH Brown Leather Universal Viewfinder Case, Vintage VGC
Leitz Leica VIOOH Brown Leather Universal Viewfinder Case, Vintage VGC
Paypal   US $14.00
Ricoh 35 S Vintage 1957 Film Camera, works! VERY RARE NO RESERVE, Leica Olympus
Ricoh 35 S Vintage 1957 Film Camera, works! VERY RARE NO RESERVE, Leica Olympus
Paypal   US $46.00
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Here are some more information for Vintage Leica:
Vintage Leica

The latest Leica mini digital offered by Minox can make an ideal choice which perfectly combines classical vintage style and outstanding technology in just one unit. The compact and stylish digital camera features a commanding 32 megabytes internal memory, 1.5 inch color display, 5 mega-pixels resolution and around 2 GB space for storage on SD cards to help photographers take images in the best quality. Being exceptionally effortless to use, this latest camera from Minox is one of the best choice for all those who need to get into photography.

This equipment is tiny enough to fit in your pocket making it an ideal device for all the sports personals. Movie sequences can even be recorded though its DCC technology in AVI format. The digital camera offers a magnificent quality images and hence is a popular choice among people who have great photographic skills. Being designed with 5 mega-pixels resolution, the images taken are perfectly explained through its higher tone. Some other great features of this digital camera include the lenses, a picture editing system and the sensors. These great features along with others are combined in this digital camera to offer magnificent image quality. The essential speed of ISO 160 in union with the CCD picture sensors which is extremely low sound, works perfectly with the camera. ISO 25000 is said to be the fastest speed needed and so there are different ranges from minimum to maximum.

This actually makes the use of Leica M3 digital with light photography one of the best choices. However, this has really been one of the best features of the M model. This latest mini digital camera is an adorable and impressive mini camera which is wrapped with scale reproduction of 1/3 of the new Leica rangefinder. This latest miniature digital camera appears to be one of the best choices which cost just about $225. Some other amazing features of this digital camera includes excellent video mode that can capture motions in AVI format, digital zoom of 4X, 5 mega-pixels resolution, 1.5 inches LCD/TFT screen display, 32 megabytes internal memory, USB interface that includes a cable, Li-ion rechargeable batteries, SD card space to extend the memory to more than 8 GB and is compatible with the Classic camera series of Minox digital cameras.

So, with all these excellent features, this latest offers a detail setting and the best quality images to anyone looking to capture perfect images. The CCD imaging sensor of this digital camera was specially created to fit the settings of the entire series and due to this the resolution of 5 mega-pixels is magnificent. This latest CCD technology helps in reducing the noise considerably making the photographer to get excellent quality photos. Overall, the Leica mini digital camera is entirely covered with all the necessary features making this camera the best choice for everyone.

I am John James and I am an expert on Camera's.

I also wrote articles on metal producing processes like the Forging Process

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Focus on Art Shay

A few months ago I was purchasing a couple of books via long-distance phone call from a very nice lady named Florence who owns a bookshop in Highland Park, Ill., called Titles, Inc., which sells rare books. Never having been to the Prairie State and unfamiliar with its geography, I assume every city in Illinois is near Chicago, so I asked Florence if she had anything by one of my favorite writers, Nelson Algren, author of "A Walk on the Wild Side" (published in 1956 and set in New Orleans, but many of Algren's stories – like "The Man with the Golden Arm" and my favorite, "Never Come Morning" – take place in the Windy City.)

Florence paused, then said, "Are you asking about Algren because my husband and I were friends of his?"

"I had no idea," I replied, completely taken by surprise. "I don't even know your last name."

"It's Shay," Florence said. "My husband is the photographer Art Shay."

Those who believe in coincidence – and even those who don't, and who are sure that all good things happen for a reason because cosmic forces are at work – can imagine my rare moment of speechlessness and delight!

That's because Art Shay – one of whose photos is on the dust jacket of the first edition of "A Walk on the Wild Side" – is one of the greatest photographers of the last century and this one as well. Even if you don't know Art by name, you probably know photos he has taken: Jim Brosnan's mitted hand extending from a vine-covered wall at Wrigley Field (like the Arthurian arm in the lake holding Excalibur) to make a catch; Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa blustering from a podium with his own giant image as the backdrop à la "Citizen Kane"; National Guardsmen poised in front of Chicago's Conrad Hilton Hotel (cheerfully emblazoned with "Welcome Democrats") before confronting angry protestors at the 1968 Democratic Convention (originally taken for Time magazine, but Art says they didn't use it, opting instead to use a shot of a tank and soldiers in a haze of teargas as half the story's lead page, and one of youths swarming a statue in Grant Park as the full-page closer); and any number of others. Art has captured amazing images of some of the most celebrated Americans of our era – from John F. Kennedy, a young Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner to Marlon Brando and Muhammad Ali – as well as taken many wonderful photos of Nelson Algren, the people of Chicago and thousands of other subjects.

Now 88, Art is originally from the Bronx and served as lead navigator aboard a B-24 Liberator flying missions over Europe in World War II (and twice helped lead the entire Eighth Army Air Force – 1,200 planes – to Berlin a week after D-Day); he also navigated the first non-combat flight from Guam to Tokyo following the Japanese surrender, bringing Gen. Douglas McArthur's advance staff to Tokyo to organize GHQ and the occupation.

Art's photographs – both black-and-white and color – have appeared in and/or on the covers of the America's most popular magazines over the past six decades: from Life to Look to Esquire, from Sports Illustrated to the Saturday Evening Post, from Playboy to Boy's Life. I absolutely love them, and I invite you to check them out at as well as see some of Art's images at the Museum of Contemporary Photography Web site (collections.mocp.org) and to read his illustrated essay "The Democratic Convention – Chicago 1968" a swans.com

Art is hugely admired by photographers, collectors and a legion of fans who just love a damn great photo. Nor is he one to sit on his laurels and play golf all day: He continues to make pure art with his camera.

For example, rock musician Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) recently hired Art to shoot a three-year project involving Corgan's creation of 41 new songs for some possible new albums he plans to market himself. Art explained that Corgan, "an astute businessman as well as artist who can't believe the flurry of interest the tabloids have in his romantic life with celebrated and beautiful young performers," got the idea of documenting the evolution of the albums after reading Art's book "Chicago's Nelson Algren" in one sitting. Corgan's studio is only three miles from the Shay house in Deerfield, so Art just drops in at daylong rehearsals with digital Nikons, Canons and his trusty film Leicas whenever it's convenient for both artists. (In fact, Leica Camera Inc. has just offered Art the use of their new M9 digital camera for the rest of the project. Art also proudly remembers being the first professional photographer to try the Canon 7 with its humongous .095 lens. He has the uncanny ability to recall each camera, lens and exposure used on most of his pictures: "I did my portrait of Liz Taylor by candlelight at the Ambassador East with that fantastic .095 lens: 1/30th of a second at .095. What a lens! What a woman!")

Art is also a great and prolific writer – the author of dozens of books on a variety of subjects, all featuring his photography: "Album for an Age: Unconventional Words and Pictures from the Twentieth Century," "Art Shay: Chicago Accent," "Chicago's Nelson Algren," "Couples," "Animals"; children's books ("What Happens at the Circus," "What Happens When You Turn on the Gas," "What It's Like to Be a Fireman" and many more); and sports ("40 Common Errors in Tennis and How to Correct Them" and similar titles for golf and racquetball). Some of the older books are bylined "Arthur Shay," if you want to search for them online.

Having had the great honor and pleasure of corresponding with Art, I can attest to the fact that he is as "real," down-to-earth and captivating as the pictures he takes. I'm also OVERJOYED to say that he has graciously written a warm, often funny and very moving story for AmeriCollector.com, which appears below …

Finally, if you want to give yourself or the photography lover in your life a real gift, Florence Shay (who writes a fantastic blog that any bibliophile will enjoy: It's at tr.im/florence has copies of Art's most recent books, "Album for an Age," "Couples," "Animals," "Art Shay: Chicago Accent" and "Chicago's Nelson Algren," which you can purchase signed by Art. ("Couples" and "Animals" are especially popular sellers.) Contact Florence through her blog or by calling Titles, Inc., at (847) 432-3690.

And if you want to purchase prints of Art's photos, contact Paul Berlanga at Chicago's Stephen Daiter Gallery (stephendaitergallery.com where you can see excellent examples of Art's work):

 

A photographer looks at his work – and his collectors

By Art Shay

 

My favorite practitioner of graphic satire before I entered the lists is, of all people, Honoré Daumier, who wandered the streets and courthouses of Paris 150 years ago as I did in Chicago in the more recent fifties and sixties: Daumier with his caricaturizing pencil, I with my caricaturizing camera – wicked instruments both. Henry James, again of all people, attributed the swelling of journalism by Daumier and George Cruikshank to the rise of pictorial satire.

"The stream of time is in this case mainly the stream of journalism …" James wrote presciently in an 1893 essay on Daumier.

My entire oeuvre rests on another James observation in the same essay: "A society has to be old before it becomes critical, and it has to become critical before it can take pleasure in the reproduction of its incongruities by an instrument as impertinent as the indefatigable crayon" – or, in my case, mutatis mutandis: my Leica.

I just got off the phone with the great Paul Berlanga, chief of staff at the Stephen Daiter Gallery (Chicago's best) and my friend of the past 30 years. Paul has almost single-handedly guided my pictures up the money slope from the $350 I was glad to command for the vintage prints I had made for myself after shooting a story, say, for Life magazine to a median of around $1,500 for 11 x 14s. When I showed some 80 prints at the Galerie Albert Loeb (www.galerieloeb.com) in Paris in 2008, it was Paul who helped convince Albert Loeb (who came from a family of Picasso and Matisse sellers) that he should charge 1,725 euros (about $2,200 per today's exchange rate) for my Chicago pictures.

"Shall I send some of my aerial combat pictures made over Paris in World War II?" I asked. "And some lovely candids of a beautiful American girl alone with the ‘Mona Lisa'?"

"No, my dear friend," Albert said unhesitantly. "Our Paris collectors are more interested in your views of Cheecago, not Paris. They know Paris and wonder about Cheecago."

 We sold around half of the photos, and the orders are still trickling in – especially for my famous dorsal nude candid of Simone de Beauvoir, who was my friend Nelson Algren's Cheecago girlfriend. The French press (in the form of a cover of Le Nouvel Observateur) and a New Yorker article about the picture helped sales to no end, so to speak.

(Ironically, my wonderful archivist Erica DeGlopper recently found several frontal nude bathroom pictures I had done of Simone but planned not to release until my death. Erica and my collection were honored by the Society of American Archivists in the May/June issue of Archival Outlook.)

As it happens, the redoubtable publisher Eric Vieljeux of 13e Note Éditions (13th Note Editions) and I have a handshake deal for a small French book next year, telling the story behind my nude picture of the great philosopher and, according to Algren, lousy novelist. He reviewed her book "The Mandarins" (purportedly telling of their great Chicago love affair) in Harper's and noted that the lady had invaded her own privacy.

"I've been in whorehouses all over the world, and even in the Far East they have the decency to pull down the blinds," Algren observed.

(When Simone phoned Algren from France to berate him for his negative review, asking him if he hadn't enjoyed their lovemaking as much as she, he replied, "Yes, but I wasn't reviewing the fucking, I was reviewing the fucking book.")

One of the rarer dishes on my table at the moment is a plan by Johnny Depp to film the Algren–de Beauvoir Chicago love story. Depp is considering casting his beautiful French wife, Vanessa Paradis, as Simone, and has hired the Swede Lasse Hallström as director. This is for 2011, with the film apparently to be shot in Chicago after Depp finishes yet another pirate movie. His agent avers that "Johnny will be in touch with you."

(Hollywood has its own clock and calendar. In this connection my wife gave me Joseph Heller's sadly humorous book on his adventures with the mañana-mouthed movie people who kept him on a 15-month series of tenterhooks even after he got his money.)

Depp's agent has sent him my two books on Algren and has so far bought two of my Algren–de Beauvoir pictures, framed them, and given them to Depp for his birthday, reporting that the actor likes them.

So now, among my showbiz collectors, I can add Depp to rocker Billy Corgan; actors Jennifer Aniston, John Cusack and William Petersen; and my old friend, the late Marcel Marceau. Oh – and one of my favorite collectors and the writer of the forewords for two of my books: David Mamet. David says he's cheered up when he comes down to his desk to work in the morning "and I see your picture of Maxwell Street at dawn hanging over my desk. I used to live there." Recently David asked me for permission to use the same picture on the cover of his upcoming autobiography. He's likened my pictures to the bums who used to tug at his sleeve.

I perhaps made a mistake joking with master jokester Mamet. I had helped him "collect" a World War II–era Kodak Retina III, the kind of camera Mamet owned and lost long ago. Periodically he's sent me a snap or two to critique. Of one pretty good self-portrait of David in a mirror, I wrote back: "It's fine, but don't give up your day job." No riposte came back, so I guess I'll stick to photo criticism and lay off the humor.

Another of my favorite collectors – who collects bird pictures as well as my grungy Chicago views, and whose nickname is Birdman – took me to the recent Chicago Art Institute exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson. I thought it a great 500-picture display, but only a very few pictures filled me with a sense of joy. (In this area I much like the picture of two human strollers compositionally repeating the two statues on the background structure.) Albert Loeb, on his recent visit from Paris, told me, "I knew Bresson and I know you. He is such a cold man. Your pictures are much warmer and have great sympathy in them."

Of course, Loeb himself is a gracious man of the arts and a friend. He attributes the warmth in my work to my being Jewish. Perhaps. I also attribute it to my visceral love of life and my understanding of death's insistence. I learned that from flying 52 combat missions in my B-24, Sweet Sue, in World War II. And with the heartbreak that comes with having my oldest son, Harmon Shay, murdered at 21. And not even having his body returned from the Florida swamps, where he presumably perished in 1972. Florence and I have four spirited children: Richard Shay, Steve Shay and Lauren Shay Lavin are much-published photo-journalists; and our-daughter-the-lawyer, Jane Shay Wald, an intellectual-property attorney, was recently named by Super Lawyers magazine to their 2010 "Top 100 Lawyers" list for Southern California.

My wife, Florence, knows collecting better than I: She's the proprietor of the world-renowned antiquarian bookstore Titles, Inc., in Highland Park, Ill. Florence's collector-clients have included a Chicago Bear, a Chicago Bull, Billy Corgan, David Mamet, 11-time champion professional wrestler Bret the Hitman Hart, two unjailed Illinois governors and many others. She carried on (if that's the phrase) a correspondence with Joseph Heller – one of her favorite authors – and so has an extensive collection of signed first editions of "Catch-22."

One of the glories of selling to collectors is usually not having much of a clue to their likes … This week I'm pulling up some prints of Life magazine photos of society ladies Hula Hooping on Michigan Avenue in the sixties, as well as some prints for a prominent legal firm in Chicago collecting Chicagoana. They like my picture of the first Mayor Richard Daley exultant on a grandstand in front of City Hall, celebrating the 1957 Chicago White Sox pennant with his young son, now mayor of Chicago himself. My old friend and subject, Bill Veeck, owner of the Sox, is up there with the Daleys. It was Veeck who set off baseball's first home-run fireworks. This helped light the night sky for my first Sports Illustrated cover, on July 4, 1960. (Attention baseball collectors: Someplace in Veeck's estate my print must still exist – autographed by Minnie Miñoso, who hit the homer that precipitated the fireworks. But not, alas, by me.)

I didn't become aware that people were collecting my photos until years later when one of my first collectors, a Chicago restaurateur, bought my picture of Muhammad Ali (still Cassius Clay at that time) knocking out Alex Miteff in Louisville in 1961. The restaurateur gave it to his then-partner, Michael Jordan, for the "Celebrities Room" at their ill-fated LaSalle Street restaurant. I heard Jordan praise my picture on his wall on opening night. Michael had gotten Ali to autograph the print next to my proud signature. I'm sure it'll turn up in some collection one far-off day – possibly in the house of one of Jordan's handsome, smart, sports-savvy children.

My royalty check from – bless 'em – Time Inc. this month includes payment for my famous picture of Ray Kroc in the sixties, eating a hamburger in front of his first McDonald's, in Des Plaines, Ill. (My gallery has a one-off 4 x 5-foot framed copy of the Kroc photo that cost me $900 to frame. My gallery man, Paul, aims to approach McDonald's about buying the print: better on their wall than on mine.) The same check covers photos of Arnold Palmer winning the 1960 Masters, some Teamsters picketers, the 108-year-old last survivor of the Civil War (from the Union side) and Dolly Parton.

Time Inc.'s picture choices have always been enigmatic. Now these secondary-use sales are further funneled through Getty Images. Last year a friend of mine at the photo agency Polaris Images discovered that a New York hotel chain was using my dorsal nude of Simone to illustrate their dinner menu. The chain came up with a considerable sum for an out-of-court settlement. The hotel admen apparently thought I wouldn't care or was dead.

Hell, I'm only 88!

Incidentally, I've had photos on more than 1,000 covers of all kinds, from Ford Motor Company and 3M annual reports to magazines like Time, Life, Fortune, the Sunday New York Times Magazine and Sports Illustrated to all the covers on the 50+ books I've published. (Heck, it wasn't a cover, but four years ago the New York Times Magazine ran six of the pictures I did of my own heart surgery- shot before I went "under" – as their back-page "Lives" feature. They even used a picture of Florence.)

Two of my plays have been produced professionally: "A Clock for Nikita" in 1963 and "Where Have You Gone, Jimmy Stewart?" four years ago. (Stewart was my Air Force squadron commander, though I didn't fly with him. "Nikita" was about a creative Russian who designed an alarm clock that played Tchaikovsky and woke the workers up happy … and what happens to a free spirit in a closed society …)

I can't decide whether to send Johnny Depp's agent, the ebullient Tracey Jacobs, two of my unproduced attempts at a play about the great Nelson-Simone love affair. She might advise me not to give up my day job.

About the Author

David Chesanow grew up in East Islip, Long Island. After sparing humanity by bombing out of the premed program at Johns Hopkins University, he majored in history (his real passion, not science) and somehow barely managed to get his B.A. in 1978. He moved to Manhattan, briefly attended Columbia University's School of Advanced International Affairs and worked odd jobs before being hired as a copy editor at Dell Publishing Company, enabling him to draw a salary while indulging his love of books.

Despite having a great apartment in SoHo, David pursued his dream of moving to Japan in 1985, where he taught English in Tochigi Prefecture and Hokkaido (the northernmost of the five main islands) and developed a lifelong hatred of snow. In 1999, he moved back to the U.S. with his wife and three sons and settled in the South Puget Sound area of Washington State, reestablishing himself as a freelance copy editor for New York book publishers while also embarking on an exciting new career as a starving writer

David is interested in a wide range of pop-cultural subjects, from doo-wop to roadside Americana to tattooing. An inveterate collector on a perpetually limited budget, he tries to limit himself to vintage boxing memorabilia, unusual autograph letters and off-beat illustration; sometimes he's successful. He approaches collecting as student of history – i.e., as a means to preserve and build on our body of knowledge of a subject – and not as the mindless accumulation of "stuff." He especially promotes collecting as a great educational pursuit for kids, believing you can still have a lot of fun and learn a lot while doing it on the cheap.

is Leica M9, M8/8.2, M7 a dslr?

it's hard for me to see whether it's just a handy digicam, dslr or not because of it's vintage like look. i love the vintage look though, so different from other brand of dslrs...

Well, the M7 is not digital, but the M8 and M9 are digital cameras, but they're not a DSLR, which stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex, because they don't use a 'single lens reflex' system, they use a 'rangefinder' system, which means that you view the scene through one small viewing lens and the picture is taken through another main shooting lens (see links, below).

Good luck!...

LUTHER AUCTIONS 2556 E. 7th Avenue, North St. Paul, MN 55109 Sale Date: Monday, May 31st, 2010 • 4 pm
A weekly newspaper serving the antiques and arts industry, collectors, and institutions. New information each week on antiques shows and auctions around the country and antiques dealer listings.

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