Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/02/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]A (pro) friend of mine prefers a smelly ceegar (cigar) for street shooting. It seems to work. Nobody every confronts him. Who wants to go up against some guy smoking a ceegar? Good god man, you forgot credentials! You need a chain with a bunch of press passes around your neck. Veeery important. A true professional also has PEOPLE with him. It may be an assistant with some kind of light and umbrella, or models, or both. But people are important. An old black paint M2or3 hung on the shoulder is good. Doesn't matter if it works. Here's what to AVOID. 1) any ballistic nylon bag. An old canvas Domke with a shoulder strap that's so frayed it's turning into fringe is better. 2) never (ever) wear a camera around your neck. It never (ever) looks good. 3) lens caps 4) spindly cheap mono-pods or tripods. 5) spindly cheap looking telephoto lenses. [spindly cheap models are okay, however] 6) avoid deer in the headlights look. [Always look like you know what you're doing even if you don't. If you have a 180mm type lens on a motor carry it with your elbow cocked carrying the camera and lens pointed up from your shoulder. It should be next to your ear pointed up. You know--how the cops carry a .357 Magnum when they're ready for "action" on TV.] That's my "pro" advice for the day. <bg> John Fulton Fort Worth > >As for dress, sometimes a very smelly pipe helps the look, or a rather odd >hat (not Tilley - no pro would ever wear a Tilley - that's for amateurs, >especially doctors and dentists). A black photo vest can help, but it looks >best if it's a tan one you have tried to die it black yourself, using those >little packets of dye that make everything else you wash go grey for some >weeks afterwards. If you must have a tan vest - get one like Dave Harvey's >that was made by a small custom tailor in a back street in Havana. > >Also, a small pewter hip flask can add to the look - preferably one with the >crest of the Soviet Border Police, that you can claim to have picked up when >the Wall fell. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html