My wife and I went to the original Chinatown in Manhattan to have lunch with my high school friend and his wife. I hadn’t been to this part of New York for decades. More recently, for Chinese food, I’ve been going to Flushing, which has now eclipsed the old Chinatown for variety.

The architecture, however, was terrific, with the old brick structures and their characteristic fire escapes on the front facades. It was bright and contrasty, and I thought the Leica M Monochrom Type 246 would capture the scene nicely.

Contrasty scenes with ample shadows seem to work particularly well in black and white. Perhaps it’s because the monochrome treatment already makes the image look a bit more artistic and abstracts it somewhat from real life. Thus, extra shadows only add to the mystery and creative energy.

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