Re: [Leica] concerned about red dots attracting attention... not!

["D . K." <tekapo@golden.net>]

> From: jimbrick@photoaccess.com (Jim Brick)
> Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 18:02:03 -0700
> Subject: [Leica] Re: concerned about red dots attracting attention...
not!

When I was in Havana a couple months back I found the same experience, but
I expected as much there. Nevertheless, one day I happened to be in a very
run-down part of the city that isn't frequented by tourists (the cabbie
couldn't believe where I was going, the locals looked at us oddly and none
of them tried to hustle us). When I was shooting some dilapidated tenements
with my M6, a very grubby man in his late thirties/early forties with a
Daschund under his arm began shouting at me from a distance of (I swear)
about 100 yards across the street and down the road. I had no clue what he
was on about in Spanish, so I availed myself for the worst. When he
approached me I gave him a quick "No intendio" (don't understand)," so he
measured me up and then began very excitedly in broken English talking
about my Leica. "I recognize that camera anywhere," he said, asking to have
a look. He said he was a photographer too, and that his camera was a Leica
rangefinder from 1933 and was still working perfectly. He had never seen a
M6 but knew from a distance what it was. I can't recall the model his 1933
was (sorry, I'm ignorant about the old Leicas) but he did make a concerted
mention of it. I asked if I could take his photograph and he obliged. I
should scan and post it on the list sometime. Unfortunately, I stupidly
forgot to ask his name and address, I suppose I was in a bit of shock at
the time, but maybe, just maybe someone else out there knows or recognizes
this fellow Leica user/lover.

Dave Fisher
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

> and restaurants. Not a single person. NOT ONE! Looked at my M6 and said
> anything. I took pictures of lots of other people. Basically right in
their
> face, since they were in the scene. And not a single person flinched,
> ducked, pointed, said anything... NOTHING! It was as if my M6 was
> invisible. It was as if I was invisable! I swear that people think that
it
> is just another tourist and his Point and Shoot. People simply don't pay
> any attention to P&S users and cameras. And this was the same in all of
the
> above listed countries.