Camera Appreciation Person

cliveh · Jan 29, 2012

Do others ever encounter a camera appreciation person? Some years ago I was walking across the Charles Bridge in Prague with my Leica 2 around my neck, Vidom finder on top, when a German man approached me to explain he had exactly the same camera. He was obviously very animated and wanted to discuss Leica values, but my German and his English was rather limited.

wblynch · Jan 30, 2012

I just get smiles and "thumbs up" from people when I'm out with an old classic. Occasionally someone will comment that they have such a camera hidden away, forgotten. I ask them why they don't dust it off and get a roll in it while they still can.

I guess I'm not the guy everyone want to stop and chat with so I don't have to worry about that.

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 30, 2012

In New York the expertise can be astonishing. Once I was walking around Central Park with something very conspicuous like my Bronica S2a with a 500mm lens, but I also had a little rangefinder around my neck for wide shots, and a guy walked by and said "Voigtlander Vitessa-L, nice!"

himself · Jan 30, 2012

In a supermarket in Warsaw the middle aged women ringing up my shopping tried to explain to me that it had been a while since she had seen or used a minolta 7s (or as far as I could gather), she really had a good fondle with it and cradled it like a pro, better in fact than how she handled my bottle of cola, froth everywhere there were...

dehk · Jan 30, 2012

Lots of people on the street seems to likes my EXA black flange. They don't give me as angry as a face as if I was using my Nikon F4.

Poisson Du Jour · Jan 30, 2012

My pretty-in-black Pentax 67 attracted a lot of inquisitive onlookers last weekend when it was rolled out for a rainforest waterfall shoot. First interruption: an Italian man with kids, he with a fondness for black cameras, excitedly eyeballing the 67 directly in front of the lens (mirror up, waiting for him to get out of the way before I fire it!) while clutching his own in one hand and one of the kids in the other.. I thought I had gone and found a quiet, cool place to photograph alone on a hot day, but no: in the space of 10 minutes I found myself ruefully surrounded by many very small, even miniscule digimons and none-too-tripod-savvy tourists. Would I attract the same attention if it was a Hasselblad or a Nikon? Perhaps size does matter...

benjiboy · Jan 31, 2012

About three years ago three young punks were so appreciative of my Canon F1-N AE that they tried to shove me down an alley and mug me for it in broad daylight at around 4PM right in front of the town hall on a busy weekday, they must have thought because I'm old (I was seventy at the time) that
I was "easy meat", but I'm a former Royal Marine and still keep in shape, and in the ensuing fight two of the three muggers ended up in hospital the third ran off.
The most shocking about this incident to me and my wife was as a result a police sergeant came to my house and told me that because I had been trained in Unarmed Combat, and Close Quarter Battle in the Marines although it had been about forty five years ago they were thinking about charging me with Assault With A Deadly Weapon !, fortunately the charge was never made probably because it would have been laughed out of court if made in the circumstances against a man of my age.

himself · Jan 31, 2012

benjiboy said:
About three years ago three young punks were so appreciative of my Canon F1-N AE that they tried to shove me down an alley and mug me for it in broad daylight at around 4PM right in front of the town hall on a busy weekday, they must have thought because I'm old (I was seventy at the time) that
I was "easy meat", but I'm a former Royal Marine and still keep in shape, and in the ensuing fight two of the three muggers ended up in hospital the third ran off.
The most shocking about this incident to me and my wife was as a result a police sergeant came to my house and told me that because I had been trained in Unarmed Combat, and Close Quarter Battle in the Marines although it had been about forty five years ago they were thinking about charging me with Assault With A Deadly Weapon !, fortunately the charge was never made probably because it would have been laughed out of court if made in the circumstances against a man of my age.

:eek:

Mackinaw · Jan 31, 2012

While in the Detroit Institute of Arts a few years back a guy with an ala' carte Leica MP spotted my MP and we had a long chat about Leicas, B&W film and developers. I get stopped a lot whenever I take my Mamiya C220 out in public. "Old" folks come over to tell me they had a camera just like that when they were younger while young folks come over to tell me that they think my camera is cool.

Jim B.

flatulent1 · Jan 31, 2012

When I'm out with a folder or some other classic, people tend to look at me like I was from another planet.

benjiboy · Mar 6, 2012

flatulent1 said:
When I'm out with a folder or some other classic, people tend to look at me like I was from another planet.

When you get old my friend, you don't need a folder with you for people to look at you "as if you are from another planet" .

Steve Smith · Mar 6, 2012

benjiboy said:
When you get old my friend, you don't need a folder with you for people to look at you "as if you are from another planet"

Sometimes you don't even need to get old!

Steve.

welly · Mar 6, 2012

flatulent1 said:
When I'm out with a folder or some other classic, people tend to look at me like I was from another planet.

I seem to get this with camera or without. Can't really explain it.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 6, 2012

It happens mostly when I carry my Hasselblad around. I had a very suspect looking person approach me in Denmark once, and he asked the question like this: "That's a Hasselblad, right? Aren't those worth like six thousand bucks (equivalent) nowadays?". I told him they're unfortunately not worth pennies anymore...
Once in the Cathedral of St Paul, Minnesota, I had an older well meaning gentleman approach me, asking: "Is that a Hasselback?"... I laughed hard inside, but kept my face as he called over his brother in law to admire the camera. Hasselback.
But I do get lots of positive comments on the Hasselblad, for sure.
Then there's the Leica. Oh goodness... I'm not sure what to think when people eye it as I carry it around on my chest, ready to shoot. Some people look like they want to steal it, and others look at it as guys look at women's chests, not looking me in the eye when they ask 'Double crank?'... hahaha

It makes for fun conversations some times, and I've met a few nice people for sure that were genuinely interested in the camera, its history, and what it's like to use them.

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 6, 2012

I've had only positive interactions with people on account of the camera I'm carrying, be it my Contax G2, the Rolleiflex, or one of the large format cameras. I do get the odd wierdo asking about how much it costs, mostly with the large format stuff. Back when I was shooting Hasselblads, I was wandering the streets of Toledo, Spain and got approached by a Polish gentleman with whom I had a lengthy conversation about cameras and photography. The Hassy was also an icebreaker with the security guard at the Da Vinci museum of Technology in Milan. The 5x7 led to a couple of interesting chats at Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, and it got me on a South American TV program as well. The large format stuff is a real hoot for people, especially those who've never seen a ground glass before. It usually takes me several hours to shoot just a few pictures with any of the large format cameras because I'm always stopping to talk and do show-and-tell for passersby.

brian d · Mar 6, 2012

When a local business burned down I was taking pictures with my Maxxum 800si with a vertical grip and some guy walked up looked at the camera and said "so which newspaper are you from? nobody but a pro uses a rig like that nowdays"

himself · Mar 6, 2012

so I had the opposite reaction recently... caused a bit of a scandal in a museum in Vienna.

I had my home-made camera with me attached to my tripod and no security guard made any noise about it, but when we were walking around there were some funny looks, but I figured it was because it looked funny you know, then my girlfriend wanted to use the loo so we went and there as a guard posted by the doors... i'm stood outside and she's giving me funny looks and then she follows my girlfriend into the toilet and starts talking to her.

they both come out and suddenly the guard is on here mic to a manager and he appears and starts questioning me about it, and in the end I manage to calm him down, that it's not like a bomb or weapon or something and we go about the museum again. then every time we meet a guard they are on their mics and eventually one comes over and says you can't have that here and we say ok and that we'll take it to the cloak room (just the tripod mind), then suddenly a guard comes running from the room yelling about the tripod in german.

we are then escorted to the cloakroom where I leave my tripod but not the camera and go back in where we are met with suspicious looks and followed from room to room.

Moopheus · Mar 6, 2012

One time, that guy was me! I was walking through Boston's Downtown Crossing area, and I see a guy carrying a Crown Graphic and a tripod, so I say, hey, nice, got a Speed at home. I let him take my picture on the street and we chat about film and lenses for a few minutes. It was cool.

Occasionally I get a comment or question, but most of the time, passersby are oblivious, even when I've got something really conspicuous, like the Speed Graphic or the RB67.

Chris Lange · Mar 6, 2012

Always get a number of people daily when I'm out with my Hasselblads or Rollei. Gotten me in, and out of, some pretty ridiculous situations, those little Swedish devils.

Klainmeister · Mar 6, 2012

I find it funny when I get lectured by middle-age gents when I pull out my M7II or a Nikon FE at Arches NP or another place in the area.

"You're still using film? *scoff*"

"I used to use that 10 years ago...." Grin.

Assholes.

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 6, 2012

Oh, one time I was out with the 14x17 and had this guy ask me if I wanted to take his picture with it. That was NOT my purpose that day, and he was far from fetching. Had it been the Rollei, sure, I'd have fluffed his ego by taking his picture. But not with the 14x17 at $15/exposure.

EASmithV · Mar 6, 2012

Once I had this comment from an old man when out shooting with my Nikon F. He started talking about his F3 and how the battery died when he was on safari and had to finish the trip with m90.

naeroscatu · Mar 6, 2012

Last fall I was taking pictures downtown Toronto in the "Occupied" zone when someone stopped me to say "well this is a real camera".
I was shooting my Canon QL 17 GIII and he was telling his girlfriend that you need to "know some stuff" to be able to get the picture right and print it with a full manual camera. They were using their IPhones. I smiled, what else can I say? I appreciated his comments though.

jp498 · Mar 6, 2012

See this frequently when using a rolleiflex or a speed graphic. Brings back lots of memories to old people. Young people have more of a wonder or curiosity than proven appreciation.

John Austin · Mar 6, 2012

Everyone looks at me like I am from another planet

To avoid boring conversations I have cultivated a curled-lip smile like an old dog with a bone - Works every time

John

Camera Appreciation Person

cliveh

wblynch

David A. Goldfarb

Moderator

himself

dehk

Poisson Du Jour

benjiboy

himself

Mackinaw

flatulent1

benjiboy

Steve Smith

welly

Thomas Bertilsson

TheFlyingCamera

Membership Council

brian d

himself

Moopheus

Chris Lange

Klainmeister

TheFlyingCamera

Membership Council

EASmithV

naeroscatu

jp498

John Austin

Camera Appreciation Person

Moderator

Membership Council

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