Isle Of Skye #949 - Limited Edition 1 of 15 Print

Isle Of Skye is a project born from process. It was an unexpected trip. Skye, an unforgiving land where the relentless wind pushes water uphill. Wet, cold, windy, dark, stunning. Knowing little of what to expect, I let my gear shape my process. One Leica M rangefinder camera and one 50mm lens. No more. One camera. One lens. A "normal" lens for a non-normal experience. My visit to Isle of Skye was unique compared to my previous landscape endeavors. I thought, “What a great opportunity to go to a fascinating location and shake up my workflow with my Leica M.” I have typically used my M only for street, travel, and some portrait photography. For my landscape work I’ve always used medium format. I committed to taking only my M, and nothing else. To some degree 35 mm rangefinders haven’t really been the camera of choice for landscape photography. Usually it’s DSLR, medium and large format. Personally, the M had been the antithesis of landscape photography. Medium format was always my default. I figured I’d be shooting mostly landscape at Skye. I was already going to shoot with the M instead of my medium format, so why not shake things up even more by using only the 50mm lens for everything? The 50mm never came off of my Leica for the whole trip. Not once. I had three basic reasons for shooting Skye with only the 50mm. First, I liked the challenge of committing to just one focal length. It was limiting and liberating all at the same time. On one hand, I had to constantly adapt to that one lens, as opposed to simply switching to a desired focal length. If I wanted a wider shot, move back. If I wanted a longer shot, move forward. Sometimes there was a cliff, so stepping in any direction wasn’t an option. An open mind was the way to go. On the other hand, I never had to think about what lens to use. That was liberating. Second, I simply love the focal length. Unlike shorter or longer lenses, its perspective is not exaggerated. It’s comparable to the perspective of human vision. It also has quite stunning bokeh. Bokeh is a bit of a departure from most of my landscape work, which tends to have an extended depth of field. Third, even though the 50 mm is frequently referred as a normal lens, they get used much less than longer and shorter lenses and for landscape, even less. They’re more of an oddball, or student lens (student, because it’s usually the first used at photo school). In my experience, landscape is typically shot with wide lenses. So shooting landscape with the 50mm was bound to give interesting and unique results. Here's what happened. *Also available in custom limited edition sizes. Please inquire at for details and pricing. Limited Edition archival inkjet prints are produced on the state of the art Canon P4000 printer using the latest HDR archival inkjet technology, printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art Rag Fibre paper. All limited edition photographic prints are signed and include a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity. ©Santiago Vanegas Photography. No use is granted without written permission. visit