Pick a Card, Any Card; Play Poker or Improve Your Photography Game
Sep 19, 2025
David Prochnow
Our resident “how-to” project editor, David Prochnow, lives on the Gulf Coast of the United States in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He brings his expertise at making our photography projects accessible to everyone, from a lengthy stint acting as the Contributing How-To Editor with Popular Science magazine. While you don’t have to actually build each of his projects, reading about these adventures will contribute to your continued overall appreciation of do-it-yourself photography. A collection of David’s best Popular Science projects can be found in the book, “The Big Book of Hacks,” Edited by Doug Cantor.
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It’s time to get flush with excitement. Leica Camera AG has released a deck of cards that benefits both Poker players, as well as photographers. Akademie Cards is an elegant, pocketable black lid box that is filled with 52 playing cards, 2 jokers, and a brief informational card. Priced at $30, the Leica Akademie Cards is much more than an overpriced game of Go Fish, however.
Each card serves as a dual purpose treat. First and foremost, yes, each card is printed with a proper rank in each of the four suits. In other words, you have the common four playing card suits ranging from deuce to ace for diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades. Additionally, each card is imprinted with a curated inspirational photography task gleaned from the renowned Leica Akademie workshop program. That’s 52 photographic ideas, challenges, and projects, along with two “bonus” tasks printed on the included jokers, that are ready to make you a better photographer.
Don’t Deal from the Bottom of This Deck
Becoming a Leica Akademie card shark is a “sure thing” when adhering to the intended use for this deck of cards. Those 52 inspirational offerings are to be played out once per week. Therefore, when used in this intended capacity, you’ll have a full year’s worth of professional photographic guidance.
Building on the playing card theme, each card suit is paired with a specific photographic topic or category. So, diamonds are street photography, clubs provide landscape activities, hearts are focused on classic photography, and spades deal with a favorite Leica topic, monochrom. Likewise, within each of these topical suits, each card renders further granular resolution on tackling each suit subject matter. For example, the deuce of spades is an exploration of shadow and its interrelationship with light.
Keep in mind, that Akademie Cards is still a deck of playing cards, too. Whether its Solitaire, Hearts, or Old Maid, remember to continually shuffle the deck before playing or delving into any of the photographic challenges. Otherwise, you’ll finish all of your landscape topics before you’ve had a chance to declare that “jokers are wild.”
Enjoy.
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David Prochnow
Our resident “how-to” project editor, David Prochnow, lives on the Gulf Coast of the United States in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He brings his expertise at making our photography projects accessible to everyone, from a lengthy stint acting as the Contributing How-To Editor with Popular Science magazine. While you don’t have to actually build each of his projects, reading about these adventures will contribute to your continued overall appreciation of do-it-yourself photography. A collection of David’s best Popular Science projects can be found in the book, “The Big Book of Hacks,” Edited by Doug Cantor.
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