Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I have gone for years in which I have a camera with me where ever i go including the bathroom and to the movies. This will sometimes be a Hasselblad or twin lens Rolleiflex. I find them both quite handy and get used to their extra weight and size. But usually the weight and size that i can deal with the most attached to me or hanging from me is a Leica M6 with a Rapidwinder and a short lens. But during moments of extreme laziness I'll have my Rollei 35 attached to my belt. This does nothing to ruin the delicate lines of my latest sport coat or suit. So when i stop off at the Lloyd shopping mall on the way to the movies I'd take a few shots of the skaters and what ever else. No one ever stopped me. Of course the minute i get the shot i put the thing away again. Last year i was hired by Mall north of here in Clackamas to take pictures of everything and i went in there with Hasselblads, tripods and my Leica M system. That was the "Tonya Harding Mall" where she practiced all day from 6 AM. They taught me first hand the rules of photography in Malls. First off they do allow photography in the Mall!! Most malls don't. But if i should inadvertently get the front display window of a Gap? or a handful of other stores than THAT is serious business as contracts have been signed to the contrary. The Gap people think that if the J. Crew People got a photo of their store window the entire course of retail clothing in America would be rocked off its heels. Or does Gap own J. Crew? Maybe it's "the Banana store" which i used to refer to as "the sniper store" as they seemed to only sell sniper apparel. You know. The perfect attire for walking into a McDonalds with a bazooka or hanging out on a tower in a college in texas. So if my cameras seemed like they were pointing at one of those shop windows they intervened quickly by throwing a net over my camera over it blocking out all sunlight. I got shots of all kinds of private individuals - no one cared. Just watch out for the glass. But back to the Lloyd. The LHSA were all here last October for the big meeting and the hotel is right next to the Lloyd shopping mall. I found the Mall office and got permission for us to walk around in there with our Visoflex's and talk pictures without getting busted. It's a gorgeous mall really as malls go. By the way the head Lloyd cop tells me about the park between the mall and the hotel has a new surveillance camera aimed at it which sees things at night. He says our "guys" should probably not go into that park at night as there were "lots going on," "buying and selling." I told him we have lots of buying and selling going on the swap meet Sunday perhaps our members would like to check it out too. Perhaps with the aid of our Noctiluxes. But he says the product is much different. How many of our members are on crack i don't know but my guess would be in the zero area. Not much overlap between the Leica and Crack markets. Which just shows my naiveté I'm sure. But if you wanted to buy crack in Portland, that park is where you'd want to go. At night. During the day it's just a beautiful park with lots of broken glass. So never mind the people, just watch out for the storefronts, the glass. And stay out of the park at night. Mark Rabiner Portland, Oregon USA http://www.rabinergroup.com Email: mark@rabinergroup.com Fax: 503-221-0308 - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html