Leaving the Heat Behind: Leica M11 Monochrom & the 35mm Steel Rim
Beyond the Streets
Field Notes
Location: Foot of the Jura Mountains, France
Camera: Leica M11 Monochrom
Lens: Leica 35mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Steel Rim Reissue
Distance walked: 8 km
Weather: Hot summer afternoon, woodland shade
Purpose: To slow down, walk, and see.
Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux Steel Rim Reissue ©Kieron Beard
There are days when the city asks more of us than we’d like to give.
When the streets shimmer beneath the summer heat, traffic never seems to pause, and the constant rhythm of work, notifications and routine slowly fills every available corner of our minds. After enough of those days, I find myself wanting the opposite. Not another destination, but another pace.
So rather than driving for hours in search of dramatic scenery, I stayed close to home.
The First Step - Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux Steel Rim Reissue ©Kieron Beard
Just beyond Geneva, at the foot of the Jura Mountains, are forests and walking trails that feel wonderfully detached from the pace of everyday life. Within minutes of stepping beneath the trees, the air becomes cooler, the sounds soften and the urgency that seemed so important only moments earlier begins to disappear.
Leaving the Heat - Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux Steel Rim Reissue ©Kieron Beard
Photography is often described as a way of recording the world. For me, it has become something slightly different.
Beneath the Trees - Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux Steel Rim Reissue ©Kieron Beard
It has become a reason to slow down.
A camera gives me permission to walk without hurrying, to stop when the light changes, to notice details that would otherwise pass unnoticed. The texture of bark, a shaft of sunlight cutting across a woodland path, the movement of long grass in a light breeze. These aren’t remarkable events, yet together they create something that is becoming increasingly rare: quiet.
Robin Sharma writes about spending time in nature as a way of clearing the mind. Whether you think of it as reflection, mindfulness or simply taking a break from modern life, there is something undeniably restorative about leaving the streets behind for a few hours. Every walk feels like a reminder that not every moment has to be productive to be valuable.
Beneath the Trees - Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux Steel Rim Reissue ©Kieron Beard
For this particular walk, I decided to travel light.
Beneath the Trees - Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux Steel Rim Reissue ©Kieron Beard
The Leica M11 Monochrom, fitted with Leica’s 35mm Steel Rim Reissue, was all I carried.
The decision wasn’t driven by a desire to test a lens in laboratory conditions. Instead, I wanted to discover how it would fit into a slower, more contemplative day outdoors. The combination is remarkably light, which matters more than you might think when you’re walking in the summer heat. Carrying less equipment meant thinking less about equipment.
And perhaps that became the real test.
The Steel Rim has earned a reputation for its distinctive rendering, and it didn’t take long to understand why. Wide open, there is a gentle softness to certain scenes that feels entirely at home beneath a woodland canopy. Light filtering through the leaves takes on an almost painterly quality. Stop the lens down and it reveals another side of its personality, producing crisp, detailed landscapes and woodland paths without losing the character that makes it so enjoyable to use.
Beneath the Trees - Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux Steel Rim Reissue ©Kieron Beard
Yet after the first half an hour, I stopped thinking about the lens altogether.
The World Opens Again - Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux Steel Rim Reissue ©Kieron Beard
Instead, I found myself following the light.
Some photographs appeared because a path disappeared into shadow. Others because the afternoon sun briefly illuminated a stand of trees. One or two existed simply because the atmosphere felt right. The camera became less of a piece of equipment and more of a companion, never demanding attention, simply allowing me to respond to whatever the landscape offered.
Looking back through the photographs later that evening, I realised they weren’t really about the forest.
The World Opens Again - Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux ASPH. ©Kieron Beard
They were about slowing down.
Perhaps that’s why I enjoy these walks so much. They remind me that photography isn’t always about chasing the next image. Sometimes it’s about allowing yourself to step away from the noise for a while, to breathe a little more deeply and to notice the world at walking pace.
If the Leica 35mm Steel Rim Reissue contributed anything that afternoon, it wasn’t simply beautiful rendering or pleasing contrast. It encouraged a way of working that felt calm, uncomplicated and unhurried.
And in a world that rarely slows down, that may be its finest quality.
Walking Home - Leica M11 Monochrom with 35mm Summilux ASPH. ©Kieron Beard
If you’d like to see more of my monochrome work…
Don’t hesitate to come back to read more soon.