Bob Walkden wrote:
> tom wrote:
> > Which gets back to another problem, and maybe another thread: Shooting
> > people, in general, makes me a little nervous. In many instances I feel
> > like I've really got to screw up my courage to take a shot of someone if
> > we're in a situation where a photograph may seem a little out of place
> > to them.
>
> this is a problem even for the best of photographers. I've lost track
> of the number of people photographers I've read who describe
> themselves as shy, and who find it difficult to photograph people, but
> somehow they're still able to do it.
Well if you were still able to keep track, I'd tell you
to add one to your count. (Well, at least on the shy
part -- the "still able to do it", I'm still working on.)
> In this case there's
> usually nothing to be lost by just asking if it's ok to take pictures.
> This 'asking' can be as little as raising your eyebrows or engaging in
> eye contact first, and it can lead to some interesting meetings and
> experiences.
*nod* Especially if I'm a fair distance away, I'll try to get
eye contact, then raise the camera up with a questioning look.
Often as not I'll get either a nod or a shake. (Sometimes just
a puzzled look. Oh well.)
> I mean, what's the worst that could happen? They could be drug
> dealers, and cut you up a bit before smashing all your bones with your
> cameras and cementing you into a flyover, with only a straw to breathe
> through. But hey, you gotta suffer for your art.
Um. Actually, that's pretty much what my landlord and some of
my other friends are worried about happening to me in my
neighbourhood. More or less, anyhow: we don't expect the
drug dealers _here_ to be quite that _creative_.
BTW, that brings up an interesting observation on "intimidating
equipment" that I meant to mention in response to something else
that I've since forgotten...
When I've used my 400/6.3 in my neighbourhood (for example,
shooting firefighters at work), passers-by catching sight of
it nearly always first percieve it as a _really_big_GUN_.
(I do _not_ want to think about what the recoil from something
of that caliber would do to my wrist, arm, shoulder, and back.
That's way the [expletive] too much 'm' in the old 'F=ma', and
I'm not keen on demonstrating Newton's laws in such a personal
fashion. It's 72mm across at the muzzle end, fercryinoutloud.)
I don't get it -- it doesn't look at all like a gun to me, but
I've gotten that reaction several times. Maybe I hold it funny?
-- Glenn
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