A legendary lens
A legendary lens
When photography classic…
Reborn on the phone future
Legendary design. Iconic images.
The textures, the profiles that the lights reveal in the shadows, the looks, the gestures, the hands, the landscapes… From the pictorial and close to documentary conception of early times to the versatility that technology has provided to today’s photographer, The history of photography is pure evolution. It is a conquest of the gaze to capture the reality that has been closely related to the media and the context of each time and, of course, to the personality of those who were pioneers and their shots are today an object of worship in the best galleries on the planet. .
It is an exciting journey in which the artists soon joined their names with those of such legendary brands as Leica, which allowed the photographer’s own and exclusive gaze to be transferred to the negative with the highest quality and precision to achieve the status of iconic images. An indissoluble union between man and machine that is art and abstraction but also a window towards the most important episodes of the recent past or the most surprising reality of our world. In short, seeing a photograph where no one else does.
Building memory and exploiting creativity are just two of the most obvious paths in this field. But the soul of photography lies in that personal style that guides the exploration of life, camera in hand, and that is a continuous and demanding test for the material with which the photographer works. In the search for excellence, the choice of lenses and camera is always key.
Today, to that decision is added the entire technological component that accompanies the mechanical part and that is why the launch of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is a milestone because it transfers the experience and sensations of classic photography to a current environment, achieving what is apparently impossible: for a smartphone to look face to face with the usual cameras and find a place in the backpack of these reference artists.
Rui Caria (Portugal)
Documentary photography. Tradition.
“The camera is important and essential, but it doesn’t matter if it’s big or small because the most important thing is the way you look,” says Rui Caria, a Portuguese from Nazaré, with 52 years of journalistic vocation that have been spent mainly in the television medium. More than a decade ago, Leica in hand, he opted for the “frozen image” to document his immediate surroundings, work that has brought him awards of a very diverse nature.
Once the traditional camera has been mastered, has the professional had to relearn how to photograph with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra? “It really is much more like a camera than a phone, it’s like a camera that also allows you to communicate,” he says. In his experience, he argues, “I have been able to use this device and integrate it into my way of working to tell the same story and follow the same visual narrative in the same conditions as my Leica camera, because the differences between the two have been reduced a lot.”
Caria sets her sights on the traditions and people of her land – and her sea. His shots talk about the work of the fishermen, the landscapes and the most deeply rooted customs that are shown to the viewer with “aspects such as color, tones or textures” that the potential of the Asian terminal presents in a way “very close to what I know from the usual camera and transmitting the same sensations.”
Javier Corso (Spain)
Documentary photography. Flavor.
Alma, together with chef Begoña Rodrigo, of the first photographic marriage in history between haute cuisine and photography, if something defines the work of Javier Corso (1989) it is the thoroughness of the concept that he presents in his shots and the originality when it comes to translate it into the final results.
It is a self-demand that has pushed the Xiaomi 14 Ultra to the limit because Corso’s approach implicitly includes the need to have material up to the task to take his photos: “I am a documentary filmmaker, so my images are not even posed. They are neither composed nor do they have artificial light, since they all start from a spontaneous component and previous research,” he points out.
Corso also adds a new variant to how he conceives his job: “Time.” “What this device gives me is that, during the period in which I am trying to connect with the person I want to photograph, I can take out a cell phone, an object that we are all familiar with, and not miss the opportunity to take a photo that It will help me for the final project.”
“Before, I neither considered nor had I taken photography with a mobile terminal because I did not consider it to be a valid tool for what I did,” he acknowledges, but “it has given me great peace of mind to be able to verify that this phone is comparable in many ways at the level of of quality to the cameras that I am used to using.”
Fabien Ecochard (France)
Street photography. Vitality.
The spontaneity of the moment, the detail, the capricious reflections of the infinite surfaces of the city and the colors of the people and urban landscapes are the main motifs of Fabien Ecochard’s work.
This French photographer is an urban explorer who gives the person a great protagonist in his prints, which makes him “accustomed to using a compact and discreet device to always be prepared to shoot.” Due to its characteristics, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra has given him a unique opportunity to delve deeper into his technique given that, as he states, “everything is in the way you approach the subject. Using a camera on a cell phone like this makes you less suspicious and allows you to get closer.”
“In addition, it is a tool that stimulates your creativity” since “it allows me to explore other compositional styles, other perspectives, play with colors and lights and shadows.” And it also makes you a more complete and versatile photographer because “it pushes you to explore other styles and helps you go beyond your comfort zone in a very simple way and without changing my usual workflow.”
Caria, Corso and Ecochard were, along with the German Maurice Pehle, the Italian Emanuele Di Mare, the Greek Vassilis Makris and the Croatian Anto Magzan the seven international photographers that Xiaomi gathered in Madrid on the occasion of the presentation of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Not only the arrival on the market of the new model was celebrated, but also the strengthening of this symbiotic relationship between the tradition and quality of Leica and the technological potential that Xiaomi exalts and which began in 2022. A pairing, in short, ‘blessed’ by those More and better they can assess how far we have come with this proposal that is unreservedly located in the most premium range. All of them offered a valuable masterclass in which each artist explained some secrets of their work as well as the experience of working – some for the first time – with a smartphone as the axis of their projects.
The verdict is unanimous: it may be the first time that we are faced with a mobile phone that is more camera than phone.
And that, at a time when anyone can access these devices and image culture permeates everything, takes the act of taking a photograph to another level. Beyond the intangible value of the professional who dedicates his life and talent to this vocation, this alliance between Leica and Xiaomi is, therefore, a turning point in the world of photography.
Create something new
Cristina Caricato, Head of PR Western Europe, says that Xiaomi’s idea was to “take advantage of this perfect combination of Leica’s experience with our latest technology to create a single wonderful journey.” That a phone is capable of taking photos – and sometimes very good ones – is something that anyone pays attention to when purchasing a terminal. However, with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra there is an unprecedented leap in quality with which “we seek to change the approach of our users, even professionals for whom this device is not intended to replace their usual cameras, but to create something new and complementary for them. I think this is a very good starting point,” explains Caricato.
