Bruce Davidson On Picking Up Girls With A Leica

furcafe

furcafe

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"Q. When you were young, what were you looking for? You were looking for Cartier-Bresson?

A. In ‘52, when I was in college at R.I.T. photography school, that’s when I first saw a Cartier-Bresson photograph. It was with one of the two girls in our class, Joan. I was courting her a little bit and we were sitting in a girl’s dorm and she had brought out “The Decisive Moment.” I laughed. She was pointing out the pictures that really moved her and said that Cartier-Bresson was her true love. So I went out and I bought a little Leica, a used Leica, and started to imitate his images in some way. What I did was photograph the Lighthouse Mission, which was all drunks. They gave them a sermon and a bologna sandwich and a cup of coffee. And when they left, they’d pull out the bottle again. But those pictures, were a little Cartier-Bressonish.


Q. Most importantly: did it work with her?


A. No. What happened is she ran off with an English professor. He was an older man. I was left with Cartier-Bresson, which was good enough."

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/showcase-177/
 
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I was at the Shwedegan Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar using one of my Leicas and I heard some people speaking Thai behind me, I turned around to see who it was and I saw a lovely Thai girl with a Leica mp, a Leicavit and a Leica lens (I can't remember what lens it was but it was an older, vintage lens)...I started speaking to them in Thai and it was a pleasant conversation.....She told me that she lives in Bangkok and we talked a litte....nothing about cameras....just random stuff.....about 30 minutes after we said good-bye I started to question myself on why I didn't ask her for her email......

I have a feeling that we will run into each other one day here in this city.....cheers, michael
 
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furcafe - LOL, great story

dmr - thanks for the link to Bruce's photos - left me wanting to see more! (any more links??)

michaelbialecki - you two will connect again, I am sure.

hmmm - photography has ended some relationships and started others. On "Picking Up Girls with a Leica" - not sure, but met some nice friends this way ~😉 Let's just say, a Leica can't hurt...
 
Nobody would believe what I've scored (as a younger single man) over the years when a Leica served an unintended role as an ice breaker. Success of failure was never becasue of a camera but it allowed conversations and relationships to blossom.

(And absolutely more than any sexy sportscar ever started. In retrospect the sportscars had a negative effect even including current one.)

Something else to smile about when I'm rocking in the chair on the veranda a few years hence.
 
On drawing a Rolleicord from my camera bag an American girl exclaimed "What the *@#% is that!?". I guess both my cameras and I don't score very high with the ladies 😀

A masseuse did say she thought my Epson R-D1 looked 'cool'.

An elderly lady in a souvenir shop in Dingle started telling me about her father and his love for photography when she saw my Leica III.


...so...errr yes.. they can be quite the ice-breaker
 
ederek said:
dmr - thanks for the link to Bruce's photos - left me wanting to see more! (any more links??)
Click to expand...

I *SWEAR* the entire Subway book used to be on line, but Google does not return an obvious link to what I remember. Here are a few shots from the book:

http://www.edelmangallery.com/davidsonshow5.htm

Google mostly returned links to vendors offering the book for sale, some at what I would call obscene prices! I also swear I've seen it in recent years on the shelves of places like "Barnes And Borders" and such at regular prices.

Most any library should have it.

Update: I just found the original link from an old item here, but the link is now dead. 🙁 Thread that discussed the photos is here:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68447

There was also some discussion a while back (either here or on APUG) about one particular rather disturbing photo in the book, the one where one man is holding a gun to the head of another. Almost like an in-real-life rendition to that classic Seinfeld ending scene, but far more earthy.

Two others I might recommend of his are Circus, which is more recent and should be on the shelves in most libes and bookstores, and Gangs Of Brooklyn (title may not be exact) a very gritty American Pie-ish collection done in the 1950s.

I must admit this has been an interesting thread. 🙂
 
I saw this girl yesterday. Left side of frame. Set up a tripod and point her camera at the bridge. I just stood there behind her for about a minute. Waiting for a good photograph. To get an image of people about their day enjoying the park and the various activities they engage in in their own little world.

girl1.jpg


She turned around suddenly and she looked me in the eye, then at my camera, then back at me and turned around.

There's something attractive about female photographers. I guess it's more to do with the shared interest. I think female pilots are sexy too.

I happen to have the biggest crush on my editor. She's been giving me steady work for two years. And I've since moved on to a larger paper. Now that I no longer "need" her for the sake of having a paycheck, I've gotten around to pursuing her. We're having lunch next week.
 
jasonhupe said:
I went to RIT as well, that story was basically the story of every male there, lol.
Click to expand...

Well didn't go to RIT, but one of my students ran off with me (or was it the other way around?) when I taught photography at a school for occupational therapists. We dated for about 6 months and went our separate ways. 10 years later we met in a parking lot and I was invited for coffee - I went and I stayed - we have lived together for 15 years now

(I wonder: Does that make me a D.O.M.?😀)

Never owned a Leica, but an old fashioned darkroom does provide quite an intimate atmosphere - nothing initmate about a computer screen. Boy do I miss my darkroom 🙂
 
Four or five years ago,back when I was in my early 70's, I was wandering around the U.S. arboretum in Washington DC. As I walked up to the columns (See my gallery) I interupted a well groomed young black man taking photos of a beautiful young lady.

He and I had passed some casual comments when the young lovely, from 20 feet away, said "Oh, isn't that a Leica? I just love Leicas."

I acknowledged and departed after complimenting her acuity, but could feel the young dude with the big-ass SLR staring daggers at this old man as I left.
 
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There was probably a copyright issue w/reproducing the entire book online.

Re: the photo of the 1 guy holding a gun on the other. I recall that discussion as well. IIRC, Davidson explained that the man holding the gun was an undercover cop in the process of apprehending a suspect.

dmr said:
I *SWEAR* the entire Subway book used to be on line, but Google does not return an obvious link to what I remember. Here are a few shots from the book:

http://www.edelmangallery.com/davidsonshow5.htm

Google mostly returned links to vendors offering the book for sale, some at what I would call obscene prices! I also swear I've seen it in recent years on the shelves of places like "Barnes And Borders" and such at regular prices.

Most any library should have it.

Update: I just found the original link from an old item here, but the link is now dead. 🙁 Thread that discussed the photos is here:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68447

There was also some discussion a while back (either here or on APUG) about one particular rather disturbing photo in the book, the one where one man is holding a gun to the head of another. Almost like an in-real-life rendition to that classic Seinfeld ending scene, but far more earthy.

Two others I might recommend of his are Circus, which is more recent and should be on the shelves in most libes and bookstores, and Gangs Of Brooklyn (title may not be exact) a very gritty American Pie-ish collection done in the 1950s.

I must admit this has been an interesting thread. 🙂
Click to expand...
 
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