I have added a Leica M6 to my camera collection. The only thing I would swap it for would be a Hasselblad that's been on the moon.

Leica is legendary in the photography world. They popularised the 35mm film format for stills photography by making one of the very first 35mm cameras, the Ur Leica. Then followed the iconic M series of Leica rangefinders.

The heritage of Leica cameras goes back 80 - 90 years. Having a Leica, for me, is a connection to that photographic heritage and history.

Unlike the M7, which has an electronically controlled shutter for all speeds except 1/60 and 1/125, the M6 has mechanical shutter speeds. The M6 operates at all shutter speeds without batteries, but does require batteries to operate the light metre should one choose to use that. Apart from the light metre, which shows a couple of LED triangles in the view finder, the camera is all manual. That's the way many Leica shooters like it, including me.

The M6 shutter is extremely quiet. Barely audible in, say, a café where there's some ambient noise. That's a welcome change from the noise of a modern day DSLR. This is due to the M6 not having a mirror that needs to be flapped up before the shutter opens, and the shutter itself being constructed mostly of cloth. This shutter mechanism allows much slower hand-held shutter speeds than an SLR camera as there is much less movement when the shutter is opened. This simple shutter mechanism is why so many Leica M3 cameras from the 1950s are still in good working order.

My Leica M6 was manufactured in 1995 and was first purchased in Geneva, Switzerland in 1996. Until I bought it, the camera had just one owner who cared for it like the special object it is.

I bought my Leica M6 in Alsace, France which I think is pretty neat since my favourite wines are from the Alsace wine region. Many thanks to Fabienne in France for taking such good care of the camera and for selling it to me. Fabienne, I hope the photos I make with your camera will do it justice.

As I write this, I am still on my very first roll of film, but I expect there'll be many shots from my Leica M6 posted here in the future.

Legends of photography who have used or are using a Leica:

• Henri Cartier-Bresson
• Robert Capa
• Tony Vaccaro
• Robert Frank
• Garry Winogrand
• Trent Parke
• Joel Meyerowitz

Of course there are numerous others, but those are a few who come to mind.

And another shot with a couple of bottles of the best Alsace Gewürztraminer I have ever tasted.