Re: [Leica] HCB method

[Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>]

Alex Brattell wrote:
> 
> >Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 22:07:26 -0700
> >From: Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>
> >Subject: Re: [Leica] HCB method
> 
> >I got threatened by an angry nut last week. I was doing an establishing
> >shot of the town square. All of a sudden I hear this voice far off in
> >the distance yelling at me. A young runaway who didn't much high school
> >time. She did a pretty good job of rallying a bunch of other people with
> >time on thier hands and I had to get the hell out of there.
> >They would have been small specks in the picture.
> 
> I was photographing in Greenwich Park today. Just by the Maritime Museum I
> was crouching down to change lenses when a drunk lurched at me out of
> nowhere, pointed and shouted something at me. "What?" I said, a little
> startled. "Your cap - you've got your lens cap on!" he slurred helpfully,
> then disappeared again. But then the sun does funny things to people in
> London, makes them friendly.
> 
> I only use wide lenses up close in crowds, otherwise I just find it too
> intrusive. This country has more surveillance cameras per head than anywhere
> else in the world. You could say that people would therefore be used to it,
> but I think there's enough cameras in people's faces already, I just don't
> like doing it (unless I really really want the picture!). H C-B was in a
> different world for sure, but his method of just waiting for something to
> happen in a composition or scene he'd already chosen - that's how I read a
> lot of his pictures anyway - still teaches us well.
> 
> It's been a lucky day  strolling about in the sunshine, finishing off the
> newspaper job (Georgian Greenwich today) using  M6's, 24, 35, 50, 90. Colour
> neg that I spent the afternoon processing and scanning, and my own BW (FP4)
> film with me as well (found a great tree just by the Observatory that had
> turned into an unofficial collection point for chewing gum - totally
> encrusted with the stuff, especially at child level!).
> 
> Alex
> 
I just drove through 3,500 miles of country and didn't spot one
survailance camera! I guess the USA and the U.K. share the same language
but have a few cultural/Geographical differences!
Did you really have your lens cap on and how long were you staring at
the sun?
Living in Greenwich must make it easy to set your clock!
This other guys post implies that HCB wasn't just lurking around like we
all think but out there raising hell!
I love to have my most treasured myths shattered on a regular basis;
keeps me fresh. HCB thought wide angles were for "showoffs".
Do you get to use the newspapers scanners and stuff? I'll be scanning
and printing this year.
Did you check to see if the gum was oozing out of the tree? Isn't that
how the British Empire got there in the first place? Or was it rubber?
Mark :-) Rabiner