In October 2016, me and my wife visited Japan for the first time. We always want to go there, since we heard people saying Japan is a beautiful place to visit. That is actually true. So we went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and surrounding area. We got to move fast and be efficient, knowing we have only seven days in this trip.

Apparently, I used a few digital Leica camera back then like the Leica M8, Leica M-P (Typ 240), and Leica Q; with some Leica lenses : Leica Summicron-M 35mm/f2.0 (Version 4), Leica Summilux-M 50mm/f1.4 Pre-ASPH and also other M Mount lens. But this time, i want to shoot in film.

So the day we arrived in Tokyo, Japan, I walk into local camera store and get my first Analog M Camera : a Leica M6 TTL.

What I always like about Leica cameras, especially the M, its simplicity and the way it feels in my hand. And with Leica M6, all i need is load a film, set my ISO – f stop – shutter speed and shoot. Manually focus with M cameras is a joy, especially with zone focus method. And also with its big, crisp and bright viewfinder. It is more to the basics – simply attached to this camera.

So I took my M6 all over the place, and shoot almost everything with it. From a busy street in Shibuya, night time in Gion, interesting scenery in Arashiyama, and huge park in Ibaraki , anything that caught my eye.

Japan is also one of camera heaven, its easy to find film stock. There are a lot camera store – from big to small company – that sell film photography equipment. In this series, I use mostly Kodak Portra 800 and Fuji Pro 400H color film – I don’t want to missed the beautiful color – and this films provide grain, color and latitude to my liking.

How I see Japan is a pleasure, joy yet well structured place. The joyous, humble people I met there makes us visitors feel welcomed. The people are committed to time, discipline. Once I saw a small Ramen booth without table and chairs, literally “ stop, eat and go”. Time is precious here. Everything is efficient and do not compensate lazy feet.

So there are some pictures that I took, while in Japan. There are more to see, another trip to Japan is worth most of all.

About Me

My name is Altama Sidarta, 26 years old. Born in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia. I completed my degree as Medical Doctor in 2015. I do photography to be the extension of my eye. How I see and feel things. It creates an emotional bonding to me. I use Leica M camera as my main equipment for both film and digital.

To know more about Altama Sidarta, please visit his official website and follow him on Instagram or Facebook.