[Leica] hasselblad photoz!! and a question for LONDON LUGgers

[kcassidy at asc.upenn.edu (Kyle Cassidy)]

So I'm walking through the hood on friday and I run into Omar, our best 
dressed homeless person. "Hey!" he says, "take my picture!" because that's 
what he always says when he sees me. "I don't have a camera," I tell him, 
and he seems a little disapointed. But I remember I have the Hasselbad in my 
backpack (snapping my spine) so I plop down on a chair outside the coffee 
shop and try and figure out how to get film in it (not so bad). Omar is a 
little dejected. "I'm happy," he says, "but I'm tired, worn out." All the 
liquor stores and bars in the area have stopped serving him. He's charming 
when he's sober but turns into a mean drunk. I think I've taken about nine 
photos when I realize that I have one white dot and one blue dot and one 
purple dot on the side of the camera, and i realize that's probably not good 
-- there's no number in the frame window. Then I realize that you might need 
to turn the OTHER crank on the back of the camera. so I do. the film winds, 
a number shows up, I take a photo of omar:

http://www.kylecassidy.com/lj/2007/hassey-omar3.jpg

it cost freaking EIGHT DOLLARS so have this roll of film developed. i 
"scanned" it by photographing it with my leica d200 (that's my thumb at the 
top left).


QUESTION FOR LONDON LUGGERS
The wonderful archaeologist who lives upstairs from me is in Syria digging 
up dead people right now. When he's done he's going to the British Museum 
for a couple weeks or possibly a month doing research on his book (about 
dead people who are in the British Museum it would seem) and is looking for 
a place to stay -- sublet apartment, academic housing, or a room in 
someone's house. He's quiet and self sufficient and knows his way around 
london very well. Might be late July and August -- it depends on how many 
dead people they find in Syria I guess. If you know of anything, please 
email me off list. Many thanks.

You can read his exciting blog about syria here:

http://whafford.livejournal.com