Hipsters and hasselblads

[Alan Gales]

Can someone please supply a working definition of ‘hipster’?

Brad, scroll down for various definitions. Hipster can mean different things to different people just like any other term, Photographer for instance.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster

 

[etn]

Doing landscape with C220 on tripod. A group passing by is attracted by the TLR (I understand that the TLR form is popular with onlookers). Asks couple questions. I invite them to look into the WLF.
"Oooh it's in color!"

ROFL This one really made my day. Thanks for sharing!

 

[etn]

This reminds me of a situation from about 3 years ago. I was taking a Photography 101 class as part of my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and the assignment was motion and blur. It's important to note that I'm in my mid- to late-60s. I walked to the end of my street and decided to take long exposure and panning shots of cars going by on their way to work. I am there doing my thing with a Minolta SRT-101 on my Linhoff tripod and my Luna Pro Six3 meter hanging from the handle. I have my notebook and am recording the exposure settings for each shot. The next thing I know I have a police officer in my face demanding to know what I am doing. I tell him I am working on an assignment for an art class I am taking at the university. He doubts that and wants to know what I am really doing and what is this equipment. I thought he was joking but he wasn't so I just said it's a film camera on a tripod and that other thing is my light meter. He says something about me not telling the truth and, again, demands to know what I am up to. I take a deep breath and hand him the assignment sheet from my notebook and suggested that he call the professor at the number on it. He glances at it and hands it back and still wants to know what this equipment is. I didn't know what else to tell him and asked that if I was standing here doing the same thing with a phone if that would be suspicious and he said "No." We stood there sort of staring at each other for a moment and them he leaves. It's a good thing he didn't ask for ID since I had none with me.

Crazy story. Remind me of a situation I had here in Munich. I will not give details about the exact location nor the persons involved.
I was strolling along, carrying my very inconspicuous Hassy + 250mm lens + PME45, taking a few pics (or at least looking through the camera in search of pictures) there and there.
Came 2 (plainclothes civilian) security guards from a nearby building, asking me what I was doing, and if I could please avoid taking pictures in the direction of that building.
I tried to explain that if I really had evil intentions and was planning something against that building, why would I be so stupid and come with something as visible as a Hasselblad? it's so easy to take all pics I want with a cell phone, or look up google maps for that matter. This didn't seem to register with the guys. I didn't want to go into an argument and left.

 

[etn]

I'm getting asked "is it a film camera", even if it is not. I think, young ones look at older people with cameras as film users...

Hipsters (and everyone under the age of 40) nowadays say "analog". "Film" is dead - at least as a word in the dictionary
As an EE by profession, I hate that word "analog" to describe film!

 

[Helge]

Hipsters (and everyone under the age of 40) nowadays say "analog". "Film" is dead - at least as a word in the dictionary
As an EE by profession, I hate that word "analog" to describe film!

Especially since “digital capture” is fundamentally just as analog as film.
Just a worse kind of analog, apart from the convenience.

 

[BradS]

Hipsters (and everyone under the age of 40) nowadays say "analog". "Film" is dead - at least as a word in the dictionary
As an EE by profession, I hate that word "analog" to describe film!

Oh, I completely agree. So much of the vocabulary associated with photography has changed it mostly makes me cringe.
Another one that I constantly hear from twenty-somethings that makes my kinda wonder WTF is when the call film, "film stocks"....not sure why we cannot just call a roll of film a roll of film.
That wildly over used and misapplied "shot". I've even seen people call exposed rolls of film "shot film" .... which is stupid beyond belief.

 

[focus_on_infinity]

Hipsters (and everyone under the age of 40) nowadays say "analog". "Film" is dead - at least as a word in the dictionary
As an EE by profession, I hate that word "analog" to describe film!

Yes, as an EE (by training, there's better money elsewhere these days), the use of 'analog' to describe film seems totally incorrect. I suppose one could use the term 'chemical'. But why not just say 'film'?

That wildly over used and misapplied "shot". I've even seen people call exposed rolls of film "shot film" .... which is stupid beyond belief.

I've heard 'shot' my entire life. What's wrong with that? Admittedly, the shot is going the other way, and in the end the light is hitting the film. But, in that respect, the film has actually been 'shot', as opposed to expended.

 

[BradS]

I've heard 'shot' my entire life. What's wrong with that? Admittedly, the shot is going the other way, and in the end the light is hitting the film. But, in that respect, the film has actually been 'shot', as opposed to expended.

Yes, It used to be that we occasionally used shot as a metaphor for photograph but we had many other words as well, expose, use, photograph, make pictures, take pictures, etc...now it seems all these words and phrases have been replaced by "shot'. There is no other word anymore and to make matters even more nauseatingly insipid, we also hear/read such nonsense as "shot film" meaning exposed film - brain dead. The vocabulary of digital imaging has inundated and often displaced wholesale the vocabulary of photography and the result is that the vocabulary of photography has contracted and morphed.

 

[Arthurwg]

Brad, scroll down for various definitions. Hipster can mean different things to different people just like any other term, Photographer for instance.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster

I was a Hippy, but now I'm too old to be a Hipster.

 

[Ariston]

Yes, It used to be that we occasionally used shot as a metaphor for photograph but we had many other words as well, expose, use, photograph, make pictures, take pictures, etc...now it seems all these words and phrases have been replaced by "shot'. There is no other word anymore and to make matters even more nauseatingly insipid, we also hear/read such nonsense as "shot film" meaning exposed film - brain dead. The vocabulary of digital imaging has inundated and often displaced wholesale the vocabulary of photography and the result is that the vocabulary of photography has contracted and morphed.

I must confess that I often use the word “shoot” just because I know it goads some. I shouldn’t be that way, but some people go overboard with policing the way others talk, so I have a hard time resisting. It makes me chuckle when someone says “making a photograph,” but I would never deride them for that. There’s nothing really wrong with them describing it the way they want.

I’ll have to work on not being so juvenile.

 

[BradS]

I must confess that I often use the word “shoot” just because I know it goads some. I shouldn’t be that way, but some people go overboard with policing the way others talk, so I have a hard time resisting. It makes me chuckle when someone says “making a photograph,” but I would never deride them for that. There’s nothing really wrong with them describing it the way they want.

I’ll have to work on not being so juvenile.

Not policing anybody. Just expressing my opinion. Free...take it for what it is worth. Everybody is free to behave and use as limited a vocabulary as they wish.

 

[BrianShaw]

What’s the topic of this thread?

 

[Pieter12]

Not policing anybody. Just expressing my opinion. Free...take it for what it is worth. Everybody is free to behave as limited a vocabulary as they wish.

Well, no i=one is policing you for sure.

 

[BradS]

What’s the topic of this thread?

point taken. Sorry for the digression.
We can all go back to making fun of young people who show interest in old cameras and old cars.

 

[fgorga]

Well, I have been a hippie for longer than most hipsters have been around!

I call what I do with a camera "making" a photograph because that describes exactly and precisely what I am doing.

Being a retired chemistry professor, I do object to calling film-based photography a chemical process in an attempt to distinguish it from silicon sensor-based photography*. Both approaches use many chemicals to achieve a result. The chemicals involved just happen to be mostly different.


* "Analog" and "digital", while maybe not exactly precise are certainly convenient terms!

 

[grat]

I admit, I tend to use "shoot" as a synonym for "exposing". When someone says they're "making a photograph", I consider that the whole process-- composing, exposing, developing and printing. I also don't care about analog vs. digital as terms-- again, everyone knows what you mean, and the photo-sensitive medium is definitely either analog or digital.

But to veer back towards the topic, I've never shot a hipster. I did once consider shooting a coffee barista who sneered at my order.

 

[grain elevator]

the photo-sensitive medium is definitely either analog or digital.

Indeed. A grain of silver halide is digital (maybe not strictly speaking, but it can be in one of two discrete states), a sensor site is analog (AD conversion happens after detection). But I'd say sticking with the convention makes our lives easier.
I've found that the word "film" makes a lot of people immediately think of moving pictures...

 

[Tel]

Many decades ago I was working in TV, shooting video in-studio and film on location. A studio session was always called a studio session but filming out of studio was always called a shoot. That was also where I learned to refer to specific emulsions as stocks. Probably it was because we always referred to Kodak stock numbers--different emulsions didn't have names. I think the practice of using this terminology came from motion picture culture, hence not used by old-line still photographers.

 

[Steve@f8]

I hate that word "analog" to describe film!

Yeah I know, better to write it as it should be: analogue.

 

[Huss]

That wildly over used and misapplied "shot". I've even seen people call exposed rolls of film "shot film" .... which is stupid beyond belief.

Kodak uses 'shot on film'.

https://www.kodak.com/en/motion/page/shot-on-film

 

[NB23]

Yeah I know, better to write it as it should be: analogue.

Anal-hog.

 

[Ariston]

Not policing anybody. Just expressing my opinion. Free...take it for what it is worth. Everybody is free to behave and use as limited a vocabulary as they wish.

Hi Brad, I just want to make sure you didn’t think I was talking about you. Like I said, I am the one who is being childish in the scenarios I mentioned. I enjoy your posts and did not mean to offend.

Back on topic, I am happy that hipsters, YouTube posters, and everyone that can possibly jump in is enjoying film. It is good news for film stocks.

I had one young guy approach me when I was using my Hasselblad, but he turned out to be a professional photographer. My RB gets attention, too, but no one has ever mistaken it for a Hasselblad.

 

[Alan Gales]

I admit, I tend to use "shoot" as a synonym for "exposing". When someone says they're "making a photograph", I consider that the whole process-- composing, exposing, developing and printing. I also don't care about analog vs. digital as terms-- again, everyone knows what you mean, and the photo-sensitive medium is definitely either analog or digital.

But to veer back towards the topic, I've never shot a hipster. I did once consider shooting a coffee barista who sneered at my order.

I've heard photo shoot my whole life. I also use the word shoot.

As for the barista, did you order your coffee black?

A friend of mine liked his coffee really sweet. It's the only way he would drink it. One day he was in a truck stop dumping several packets of sugar in his coffee. The Trucker seated next to him asked if he was building a cake.

 

[etn]

What’s the topic of this thread?

Hasselblads. What else?



EDIT: with such a loose and funny topic, it was clear it would derail. Maybe it's more a topic for the lounge. I personally enjoy this thread, gave me good laughs and a lighter discussion than our usual tech-loaded stuff. Thanks everybody!

 

[grat]

I've heard photo shoot my whole life. I also use the word shoot.

As for the barista, did you order your coffee black?

... and iced.

Had been out riding with some friends on motorcycles all day in Florida summer weather.