Re: [Leica] HCB method

[Alex Brattell <alex@zetetic.co.uk>]

>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



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                         alex@zetetic.co.uk
    http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~abrattell/

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