Photography and Egos...

[ToddB]

I think the topic got a little abscured. I have no problem explaining to people with my Rollei's maybe I'm coverting people to come to the darkside. (pun). I just think it's funny with "Mine is better than your's'. attitude. It's so true about other Egos with other career fields.. I'm sure the lawyers are way up there and you could cut it with a knife. My aplogies too in posting in Medium format.. Thats what I shoot and should of posted in general comment section.

ToddB

 

[Alan Gales]

IDK about that. I was shooting Little League Baseball last weekend with a Hasselblad. Nobody paid any attentionto me until all of the sudden one of the Umps walked over and asked, "So, you're shooting with a Hasselblad today, eh?". He also mentioned that "way back when" he worked as a wedding photographer's assistant and loaded plenty of Hasselblad magazines. Since then we've been good buddies... all because of some random gear talk. What's so wrong with that?

Anything for the team, Brian. It never hurts to get the umps on your side!

Alan (former select fastpitch softball assistant manager) Gales

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

In the end, regardless of the field of endeavor, it all comes down to how you're using the tool you have. Are you using it to take advantage of its unique properties, or are you using it as compensation for personal inadequacy (or, as I like to refer to them (specifically sportscars), PCDs (Penis Compensation Devices))?

 

[mhcfires]

In the end, regardless of the field of endeavor, it all comes down to how you're using the tool you have. Are you using it to take advantage of its unique properties, or are you using it as compensation for personal inadequacy (or, as I like to refer to them (specifically sportscars), PCDs (Penis Compensation Devices))?

"Quick! Call the Doctor! It's been over FOUR Hours!" (for the PCD)

I enjoy going out with my Leica IIIa, I always get comments about film availability, and all that other crap. I am out to please ME! My GF can be a PITA because I don't want to take the Nikon, I bought it for her to use, keeps her off my back.

 

[mweintraub]

When I'm out with a view camera and someone asks questions about it I always go out of my way to engage with them, even though sometimes I don't feel like it. If people are excited by what is different for them then I think that's pretty cool.

Me too. I try to educate and show people film is still out there and going strong. I'm part of a "Instant Film Society" group and they had a spot on the local news and that got a lot of people interested and joined the next meeting. People think "instant film" is completely gone.

 

[edcculus]

I've run into a few Pro photographers while out shooting. The most recent was at a local farm. I was shooting my RB67. A guy walks out of a door and starts asking about my camera. Turns out hes a pro who shoots mostly sports and sports team portraits, but was there shooting some freelance stuff for a local kitchen tour. He started talking to me about how he remembered the "film days". In the end, he actually offered to sell me his old Bronica ETRS, 2 120 backs, a 75mm and 150mm lens and speed grip for $200! Thats at least $600 worth of equipment on the used market. He said he had held onto it hoping to shoot film more, but it just never happened. He would rather see it go to good use by someone still shooting film than have it just sit on his shelf.

Not all encounters with professionals are bad ones!

 

[JBrunner]

Well, I have everything from a Minox to an Ansco portrait camera on a crank stand. I seem to remember something about caring what other people thought, but its hazy now. is that ego? I have to admit I don't really get it.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

It is not their egos that are large, it is their insecurities that are huge.

To paraphrase Norma Desmond, "It's not their egos that are large, it's that the cameras got small".

 

[ambaker]

As one who shoots digital and analog, I have come to the point that if you think your equipment, process, or media makes you superior, then why do you really need to trip the shutter at all?

Dry plate isn't wet plate, sheet film isn't dry plate, medium format is not large format, roll film is not sheet film, 35mm is not medium format, 110 is not 35mm, full frame digital is not film, APS-C is not full frame.

So....?

I have 4x5, medium format (sheet and roll film), Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Contax, Canon, Aires, Graflex, Bush, Pentax, Mercury, Yashica, Lytro, and more...

Not a one of them makes me any better of a photographer. Some make it easier to do certain things. I love them for their strengths, and try to work around their weaknesses. Each has a place and a time. But absolutely none of them makes me any better.

If I'm carrying one of the Hasselbads, and I see you with a 110, I'll not feel better than you. Most likely I'll enjoy taking a look at it and talking shop. If anything I may ask you to take a shot or two with my camera. Why? I get to see a little bit of how you see the world. Isn't that why we look at each others images in the first place?

And if I'm really lucky, you will let me take a shot two with yours. (Try that with a penis.. )
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Alan Gales]

To paraphrase Norma Desmond, "It's not their egos that are large, it's that the cameras got small".

That's funny!

 

[Truzi]

I've not really traveled in photography circles; basically just take snapshots and pick stuff up from camera stores.
To me, it seems the egos have dropped a bit in the consumer area since the digital camera phase gave way to the smart phone phase. The latest camera is no longer something to brag about - it's become saturated and yesterday's news.
When I run around with my film camera no one tells me how great their digital camera is anymore. Either we go on about our business with a nod, or they actually ask me about the camera, with genuine interest. If someone pulls out a flip-phone, though, it can get ugly.

As for people with Pro rigs (film or digital), I'd rarely bumped into the egos. Usually they are too focused on setting up a shot to really notice small cameras, tourists, or natural disasters unrelated to their subject. I find an higher percentage of egos among car enthusiasts.

We did call my brother's wedding photographer the "camera nazi," but it wasn't ego so much as being a control freak, and not in the least bit personable.

 

[cepwin]

Interesting thread. What I've always heard is a good photographer can make a good image with whatever camera they have handy.

I've gotten mostly positive reactions when I break out the older cameras. In some ways it's like classic cars....part of the fun is when others enjoy seeing the old gear
I do believe it is the tool for the job. If I want to be 100% sure I'm going to capture something I'll bring the digital since I can seen on the spot that I've got something. I'd also bring the Big film camera to hopefully get the image quality you can only get from MF or LF film.

 

[Vaughn]

I had a blast setting up the 11x14 in a fern covered canyon earlier this week. Before I moved the camera into position, one dad hiked by with a couple on small kids and he lifted them up to see the GG as I walked in front of the camera so they could see me upside down. I let several other folks look thru the camera before moving the whole rig into position in the creek. No worries about anyone bothering me once I was in the creek!

But I agree that inflated ego are in all fields. But I go with the theory that there are just a four different types of personalities that people are born with (and most of us are mixes of those four). But some are very strong in the type who believe innately that they are right...always right. And the only reason you would disagree with them is 1) because you are stupid or 2) you are purposefully disagreeing with them to bug them, to get to them. And the more you try to make your point clear, the stupider they think you are. It is not an ego thing, it is a basic personality trait. I was married to one of these personality types...it was not fun.

 

[AndreasT]

Why would you want to marry one of those?
Seriously, do we not all have an ego. In some way or another, I dare to say in younger years it may be more pronounced, since we have to get humbled.
To succumb to a kind of ego thing is sweet and easy, just like eating the apple. I believe it is a driving force in humans in some way. The search for love or recognition. We need to learn how to go about it.
Come on when walking down the street with a camera ( dare I mention a Leica M without getting spat on) and a young woman calls "Sexy, M6, sexy".
That made me feel like a god, and it went down like warm oil.

 

[flatulent1]

The only time I ever run into chest-thumping is on forums.* Out in the real world, my encounters with other photographers are few, and distant. Once recently I was shooting in a foggy park overlooking the city; another guy had an MF camera of some kind on a tripod, setting up a shot. Several minutes later I was examining the scene through the viewfinder; the guy wandered down the hill in the direction I was aiming and said "Let me know if I'm in your way".

* One notable exception: A former coworker, new to photography, had been quizzing me for several weeks about the effects of aperture and shutter speed on an image. I told him much of my photography was taken in manual mode, using a handheld meter. He had just recently bought a brand-spanking-new 5D2 and a bagful of L primes, then a 1DS3 came a month or so later. He complained to me that his images were coming out so dark there wasn't any image to see. I suggested he switch to Aperture priority. That, apparently, did the trick. In spite of that, he was constantly deriding me for choosing to use film.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

I had a blast setting up the 11x14 in a fern covered canyon earlier this week. Before I moved the camera into position, one dad hiked by with a couple on small kids and he lifted them up to see the GG as I walked in front of the camera so they could see me upside down. I let several other folks look thru the camera before moving the whole rig into position in the creek. No worries about anyone bothering me once I was in the creek!

But I agree that inflated ego are in all fields. But I go with the theory that there are just a four different types of personalities that people are born with (and most of us are mixes of those four). But some are very strong in the type who believe innately that they are right...always right. And the only reason you would disagree with them is 1) because you are stupid or 2) you are purposefully disagreeing with them to bug them, to get to them. And the more you try to make your point clear, the stupider they think you are. It is not an ego thing, it is a basic personality trait. I was married to one of these personality types...it was not fun.

Vaughan, that's not a trait, it's a disorder. Could be one of two or three.

 

[benjiboy]

The only time I ever run into chest-thumping is on forums.* Out in the real world, my encounters with other photographers are few, and distant. Once recently I was shooting in a foggy park overlooking the city; another guy had an MF camera of some kind on a tripod, setting up a shot. Several minutes later I was examining the scene through the viewfinder; the guy wandered down the hill in the direction I was aiming and said "Let me know if I'm in your way".

* One notable exception: A former coworker, new to photography, had been quizzing me for several weeks about the effects of aperture and shutter speed on an image. I told him much of my photography was taken in manual mode, using a handheld meter. He had just recently bought a brand-spanking-new 5D2 and a bagful of L primes, then a 1DS3 came a month or so later. He complained to me that his images were coming out so dark there wasn't any image to see. I suggested he switch to Aperture priority. That, apparently, did the trick. In spite of that, he was constantly deriding me for choosing to use film.

Most beginers believe as I did over fifty years ago when I started that photography is a problem that can be solved by throwing money at it.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I took the 14x17 out this weekend to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. I got a lot of inquiries, and for the most part significant respect for shooting it. I did still get folks giving me crap about using film though, although when I told them to do the math on pixel equivalent, that shut them up... roughly 1.3 Gigapixels at 2400ppi, or 4+ Gigapixels from a drum scan. The biggest hassle was folks so lost in their own little worlds they couldn't be bothered to either not block hallways or to look before walking through the middle of a scene. Fortunately, reciprocity failure works on my behalf when I'm doing a 3-minute exposure and unless they parked themselves in the middle of a shot for the better part of 2 minutes, they weren't going to record anyway.

 

[Bill Burk]

Told you I was good. I just have to be very specific.

Best daughter's first snow angel on 4x5 TMY-2 (contact print) on Galerie 2.

Now you don't have to one-up me. My ego can share the spotlight if someone here has done better.

 

[mhcfires]

Told you I was good. I just have to be very specific.

Best daughter's first snow angel on 4x5 TMY-2 (contact print) on Galerie 2.

Now you don't have to one-up me. My ego can share the spotlight if someone here has done better.

Fantastic!

 

[k_jupiter]

The V8 is an intermediate size. The V5 is the smallblock, the V11 the bigblock. The V5 with a 4x5 back is sort of comparable to a 327 with a 283 crank.

And my V8 with a 4x5 back is a Chevy Chevette with a 350 in it. Only better built.

I do get more weird remarks when I am out with my rb67 though. people don't recognize it anymore. They think it's a movie camera.

tim in san jose

 

[lxdude]

a Chevy Chevette with a 350 in it.

That's a frightening thought.

 

[Truzi]

a Chevy Chevette with a 350 in it.

That's a frightening thought.

I saw one once at a drag strip. Full roll cage, tubbed, etc. - an all-out dragster (actually, it may have been larger than 350 c.i./5.7L). My friend and I just shook our heads when we were checking it out because the wheelbase was too small (though we did like it).
On the car's first test run, the driver had to shut it down halfway down the track because it was all over the place (due to the short wheelbase). He still pulled low 12s.

 

[tron_]

You guys are doing it wrong (98 ci engine here + 21psi of boost on a T3/T04E turbo)

Just kidding, I'm in the process of putting an LS1 into a 240sx so I know the appeal of a v8 too.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I think there's a huge difference between ego and someone that's confident about their skills. It's not necessarily the size of your camera, but the pictures you take. Some lacking skills might compensate by using a larger camera. That way that can Extenze their bellows.