Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/17
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At 12:19 AM -0700 5/17/01, Jay Burleson wrote:
>A long time ago I was using my 4x5 at the Grand Canyon. I got so tired of
>constant interruptions from everyone - ""I had one of those things when I
>was young, but had to sell it during the depression", or "Ooh, what is that?
>Is it some kind of camera?" So I taped up a sign to my tripod that said
>"Sorry, the photographer is deaf and dumb".
>The first person to come up after that looked at the sign, then me, then the
>sign again, and said in a very LOUD voice, "What kind of camera is that?"
>I looked at him, shrugged, and made some funny motions with my hands ala
>sign language (when I really wanted to give him a one-fingered sign...)
>2 minutes later a lady comes by, looks at the sign, smiles, and starts
>giving me her life story in American Sign Language.
>I had to give up and confess at that point!
>Next I folded my gear up and went in search of a tall glass of single-malt,
>but that is another story.
It's for this same reason that I taped up my cameras. Leicas, Canons, whatever.
For the paying stuff I shoot mostly in fairly public places in
cities. People come up to me all the time and want to talk
photography. When I have the time, I love to talk about all aspects
of photography, especially face to face, one on one. However, when
the light is going to be just right, or the traffic is going to go
away for just 5 seconds for the first time in an hour, I _don't_ want
to talk photography. I feel that when people can't see brands or
model names on cameras they might be less likely to start up a
conversation, and then have me be extremely brusque if not downright
rude in brushing them off.
Of course, if I'm on a stepladder and have my 4x5 set up at maximum
height on my 11' Gitzo, I'll stand out anyway and will get
approached, but then I'm high enough up that I can pretend I didn't
hear them for a bit.
On the other hand, here in downtown Vancouver the other day a
homeless guy looking for handouts said to me 'Is that a 35 Summilux
on your M6?' even though the tape covered the M6 lettering. I wonder
what his other job is.
In the end I'm not really sure it works, but I'll probably continue doing it.
- --
* Henning J. Wulff
/|\ Wulff Photography & Design
/###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
|[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com