Last fall I had set up my Hasselblad, and was trying with some difficulty to compose an image. Things weren't going well, I may have misplaced my light meter, and a lens cap ended up on the ground, in the water.
I thought I was alone.
Then I heard a voice, "Hi! Is that a Hasselblad?" I was a little Pi$$ed when I turned around to look at this young guy with his girlfriend both looking at what I was doing rather earnestly. "Sorry to bother you, but that is a Hasselblad isn't it?"
They were both so eager to see my camera, I let them. They asked me a few questions, questions I would have asked 40 years ago. I liked them.
This was the point I decided that from now on, when someone comes up to me and wants to know about the camera, or wants to say something about the camera (even something stupid) I'll do my best to engage them in a conversation. Perhaps encourage them to take up film photography. Be a film evangelist.
It isn't as though our ranks are growing so fast we can afford to be abrupt or unpleasant.