Palm Springs Photo Festival

The Palm Springs Photo Festival describes itself as "an intense week-long event for Professional, Emerging and Serious Advanced Amateur Photographers". This is the first year that I've attended, and even though it was only for two days, it was a great experience. There's so much going on - from classes and workshops to portfolio reviews and presentations. The festival base is at the Korakia Pensione Hotel, where the sponsor suites are set up to share knowledge and introduce their products.
I had the opportunity to check out a yet-to-be-released camera. The brand new Leica S Series features the S2 camera body. It's a medium format digital SLR in the body of a 35 mm camera. The Leica reps just received two of these working prototype cameras from Germany, along with 4 new lenses. Not only was I able to handle and shoot with this new system, but I was allowed to photograph it, too. I have to say that it is not only the most gorgeous camera body I've ever seen, but it's crafted in a way that it just molds to your hand. The controls are laid out in a very cool minimalist way and it appears to be built like a tank. Leica is legendary for the quality of their cameras & lenses. The S system will be very expensive when it becomes available later this year, and while it won't be for everyone, it will be a hot topic of conversation in the photography world.