Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]A big Thank You to the Luggers who sent through information about motor drives in 1968. Very much appreciated, and there will be large servings of your choice in way of thanks. It's enabled a very different angle on my thesis that will shake the foundations of the academic world. Probably not, but it would be nice if the academic world took the films i'm doing a little more seriously. Other than that, i took some time out with my Leicas the other afternoon after computer stress disorder started driving me nuts. I think i got some good shots down town here, but didn't quite get through the rolls of film in the M3 and Leica III. I went to a wedding last month and shot a number of rolls of Tri-X and thought i should process the negs. i'll leave the nasty Kodak gold i got from the gas station on the way from one part of the wedding to the next to a lab... I should explain the wedding, because if any of you are planning anything like this, you'll probably leave your guests exhausted, but very happy. And it was by far the best wedding i've been to in this 'old friends get married' year. I think just about all of my closest friends have got married in the last year. Most of them surprised me doing this, but none more so than Adrian. OK, Aid, decides that they're going to have a wedding. First things first. The theme of the wedding is The Love Boat meets Hawaii Five-O and the costuming is mandatory. All guests must comply with awful 1970's/80's fashions because the guests are being taken for a cruise around the harbour and the ceremony is being performed by the captain of the boat. As part of my official duties the ceremony is performed and i do a reading of a (excuse the pun) doctored copy of Dr Seuss' 'Oh, the places you'll go!' after the vows are done. I'm looking replete with facial growth which is in accordance with the Motorhead fan club. Suffice to say, i look sufficiently criminal there isn't a judge who wouldn't convict me for just about anything on appearance alone. So everyone ate hor's d'ourves and drank champagne on the boat and had a good time for 4 hours. The bride looks beautiful, and my friend Adrian is wearing the worst suit i have ever seen in my life. Baby blue, late 1960's synthetic fabric, crotch grabbing, arse hugging, just awful. To cap it off he is wearing $2 mauve sunglasses. I was a little worried about shooting on the boat. It had glass ceilings and the light was bouncing around all over the place, and the awning at the back subdued almost all of the details, but the shots on the boat are great and the DR performed well. This lens always amazes me what it can pull off/forgive. after the cruise it is off the boat and on to a bus the destination is a viewing area looking over Dunedin. The previous evening Adrian and i had been making a series of compilation tapes for the bus and boat. This includes all sorts of weird stuff. Beatnik poetry readings, traditional 70's stuff like the theme from 'Shaft', but also some truly wonderful things like a version of 'Up, up and away..done on the sitar. Yes folks, this wedding has a soundtrack that is a trip in itself. Getting off the bus, at a service station i restock on the awful Kodak Gold stuff. Back on the bus and up the hill to the look-out where a large vat of cocktails was prepared with much toasting and photographs. And of course i haven't bought the 135 Hektor with me. Grrr. The DR 50 is covering all of this, which is ok, but the scenery is lost, and i wish i had a 24/28 too. After many cocktails the bus takes us to a fantastic beach where the bride and groom hang Lei's over everyone and break folks up into groups and hand them patanque (sp?) sets and everyone plays and watches the sunset drinking more cocktails. Doing a mock points score the bride and groom then give each of the guests presents/prizes. Lots of Kodak Gold shot here, portraits of the couple and people goofing on the beach. By this point neither my hands or my legs are very steady and i'm spending a lot of time grinning at my friend Tam who has had sufficient cocktails he's self-proclaiming the king-hood of patanque champions. Back on the bus and off to a Tepanyaki restaurant for food, saki and speeches. Afterwards the couple disappear with many goodbyes and thank yous, and those who haven't collapsed from sheer exhaustion disappear for a coffee crawl in the city. A group of us after many coffees disappear back to Adrian's and collapse into unconsciousness with very large smiles on our faces. Some of us have even bigger smiles because we had our M3 with us. Best of light, Gary - -- "The difficulty now is that unexceptional adults believe the loss of youthful dreaming is itself "growing up," as though adulthood were the passive conclusion to a doomed activity and hope during adolescence." OO The Uses of Disorder [_]<| Personal Identity and City Life -- Richard Sennett /|\ Gary Elshaw Post-Grad Film Student Victoria University New Zealand http://elshaw.tripod.com/ http://elshaw.tripod.com/photointro.html