[Leica] Shooting from the Hip and other

["Rod Fleming" <rodfleming@sol.co.uk>]

Hi

Robert wrote

>I have a friend that did a whole series of b&w street shots shooting from
>the hip with a Hasselblad and they remind me very much of these.  In my
>opinion, this is what Leica M photography is all about.

Heh, heh, a former colleague- now sadly passed on to the greater darkroom-
had a lovely technique for doing court. In Scotland it is completely
forbidden to take pictures on court property- the penalties for attempting
to
do so can be most unpleasant. So you go into the court, having checked the
cameras, identify your victim, and then leave, ge the cameras, and wait for
said person to come out
onto public property, where you nail 'em.

My colleague's refinement of this was delicious; he would have a Rollei TLR
slung over his right shoulder, all set up and prefocussed to about 4 yards.
As the victim came out of the court, he would hang back from the crowd with
the normal cameras (like me), and make friendly eye contact with the victim,
sometimes even wishing him well, or pretending to know him. And then, quick
glance down at the groundglass and click! They never even knew they'd been
got. (Rollei shutters are even quieter than Leica ones BTW.)

But don't get me started on that, or I might have to tell the story about
the black labrador.........



Best


Rod