Bill Millard

Bill is a lifelong amateur photographer living in Dallas, Texas. Bill cannot travel without a camera (or two, plus that iPhone) because it excites his traveling experience in a way that may not be realized again. Travel is a passion and over the years has now set foot in 29 countries and 49 US states (ok, maybe we didn’t actually stop the car crossing Delaware but it counts just as his plane landing in Guam and getting to stretch your legs before flying to Taipei adds a second US protectorate). Besides the incredible sites the world presents, Bill shoots the mundane, those things street photography or an architectural setting may offer and which one has to discover. Today Bill shoots a Leica Q2 Monochrom (black and white only), a Leica V-Lux 5 and his most recent acquisition the Leica Q2.

What he lacked in technical understandings about operating his cameras he always felt he had an eye for spotting something he particularly liked. Unfortunately point and shoot on an automatic setting did not always capture what he thought he saw. Bill had nice Nikons with multiple lenses to take on trips but traveling with little kids made it feel cumbersome. Dropping his favorite zoom lens on a step at the Tower of London because he was lugging that extra camera bag caused a change of heart. How fun was that? Then several years ago Bill saw a compact camera while visiting Cooter’s Camera, a no longer existing Dallas classic realtor and was introduced to nifty compact Leica (the D-Lux 4) which so excited him that you’d think he had bought a Mercedes Benz. Well, the Leica brand is to cameras very much what a Mercedes is to the automotive industry. After that slurge Bill had an obligation to make the thing work to its full capabilities. This meant learning aperture priority and shutter speed setting as well as when to adjust ISO and exposure compensation. These were not concepts easy for Bill to understand and he really never did maximize what he could do with that incredible little D-Lux 4. (Leica now offers the D-Lux 8 but the Q2 models are more sophisticated). As Bill traveled more, he did miss was shooting with a big zoom lens - those close ups of people, architectural features and special things too far off to capture with a wide angle lens. So in 2021 Bill stepped up buying a much more sophisticated (to him anyway) Leica V-Lux 5, an introductory level Leica never intended as a sophisticated Leica model (nor priced as such) but most importantly it had that built in lens that could zoom from 25 to 400mm. Valhalla. Now Bill had a gadget something to get serious about. Now Bill had his pocket compact and once again a big zoom lens. Leica as a brand is a master at creating a culture for an owner that constantly intrigues. New models are introduced to much fanfare, multiple Youtube reviews (pro and con) debate the modifications, very limited retail availability ( few stores in America — none in Texas). Narrative to be finished later.