Ever get mistaken for...

[JonWNC]

I was at a car show today, walking around in fields that have received a lot of rain over the past week, so they were very muddy. A friend of mine spotted a small Brownie box camera on a table and jokingly asked if I was interested in it. I said no, for a variety of reasons.
The seller and one of his friends then bombarded me with questions about the Brownie. "What's it worth, I really don't know, can you tell me?" "Is it old?" "Can you still get film for it?" "Are you sure you're not interested in it?" "Can you tell me anything about it?", etc, etc etc.
I was polite in trying to answer honestly, and decline the repeated "you need to buy that" comments from my friend.
Then the seller's friend looked at me and said something to the effect of "Now there's a man who knows what he's talking about and looks like a real camera guy. He looks like well educated man, with his nice rain jacket, and like he is really into cameras."
Now please be aware that I haven't shaved in a few days, was wearing completely mud splattered wet boots and pants, a ratty baseball hat, with my Nikkormat hanging around my neck in a nice brown case. My rain jacket is a nice Marmot jacket, but nothing I'd call fancy. Maybe I should call myself a 'professional' next time. 🙂

 

[koven]

What about the people who WANT to be taken for pros?

I saw a guy with a D600, battery pack and flash-on-bracket, walking about in Prague, on the Charles bridge, in full, intense daylight, actually taking photographs with that rig. It must have weighed half a ton.

Me? I had my own Fuji X100 around the neck. Never got mistaken for a pro with it. 🙂

i take pictures with flash in the middle of the day.

 

[Boris Stupak]

So I was walking a little North of Union Square Park in Manhattan more than 10 years ago.

There was a young foreign couple, not speaking English. They were diddling around with the latest whiz-bang digital camera of the day.

They stop a sort of elegant/shabbily dressed guy with thick glasses and greyish hair; "Please take our picture, Mister?"

"My pleasure", he says.

The foreign guy elaborately explains to the man with glasses how to push the shutter, how to frame a picture, how to make sure it's in focus, etc etc, in schoolbook English. "Keep the sun behind you, look through here."

The guy pressed into taking the photo smiles, nods his head sagely when instructed how to take a photo.

The couple stands back, the guy moves the camera around a bit, takes four or five snaps with the digital camera.

"Thank you, mister, thank you very much!" says the beaming couple.

Richard Avedon hands the camera back to them, says "you're welcome", and continues strolling uptown and turns the corner, disapearing out of sight........

 

[Greyscale]

When you go around like I do taking photos with ancient cameras like the Yashica J rangefinder and the Bilora Bella 66, you get a lot of "wazzat?" questions. At least they know it's not a digital.

I stopped in the local pharmacy to drop off a roll of film with my Canon IVF around my neck, and while the cashier recognized it as a nice camera, he did ask me how many megapixels it was.

 

[Boris Stupak]

Do all you guys with film, old cameras or rangefinder cameras somehow feel smug and superior to all the clueless doofi with DSLRs and big lenses?

Why? Are they all ignorant, non-artistic fools, unlike spiritually minded sincere auteurs such as yourselves?

 

[koven]

Do all you guys with film, old cameras or rangefinder cameras somehow feel smug and superior to all the clueless doofi with DSLRs and big lenses?

Oh please don't be THAT guy.

I never felt any smugness while reading the thread.

 

[Bob T]

No, not really but I get asked quite a bit to take pictures of people with their own cameras (or cell phones)...

Plus 1 on that.

 

[mfunnell]

No, not really but I get asked quite a bit to take pictures of people with their own cameras (or cell phones)...

When I was in Tokyo some years ago I made a point of asking people to take photos of me. It seemed only fair, given the number of photos I've taken for tourists in my country over the years...

...Mike

 

[gb hill]

Do all you guys with film, old cameras or rangefinder cameras somehow feel smug and superior to all the clueless doofi with DSLRs and big lenses?

Why? Are they all ignorant, non-artistic fools, unlike spiritually minded sincere auteurs such as yourselves?

I was among cell phone & dslr shooters with my Bessa R & L at the Heavy Rebel Car Show today & no one felt superior to anyone. I was asked by a young girl, 20 something about my Bessa L. We all had a good time.

 

[farlymac]

I used to get the occasional "You work for the paper" Now, especially when I'm waiting for trains while standing on the Center St. bridge sidewalk. "Ummm might be a terrorist"😀 Got stopped by police 3 weeks ago.


BTW your package is being wrapped (by wife) & hopefully sent out Monday.🙂

Well, thanks, Greg.

I asked a junk yard owner one day if I could photograph his lot (which stretches back about a half mile), and he immediately said yes. Then he had second thoughts. He cocked his head a little sideways, and asked "You work for the county?"

PF

 

[DougFord]

Some young girls that were sitting on a bench wanted someone to take their picture. The girl that handed me the camera said, 'you look like a professional'.
As I walked away I thought to myself...a professional what??

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Interesting comments about lens hoods some posts back.

I've often mentioned that I like putting together outfits from the cameras period and it's blindingly obvious that lens hoods were not seen as important. Well, not important enough to fit into a (say) Leitz fitted case (ETTRE?). If you look at them there's space for extra lenses, extra cassettes, an arsenal of filters, even the right handed view finder but nowhere to fit a lens hood.

And look at the adverts for Leica from the 20's and 30's and, again, you'll find the lens hoods get left out of the package the shops are trying to push. Mostly the package is the camera, a cassette and a pack of 3 films with the ERC. Go for something more and they'll suggest a couple of extra cassettes.

Ditto in the 50's when the cameras were shown without lens hoods. I wonder if it's to draw attention to the lens and the name on the lens ring...

Anyway, I don't blame the users for not thinking about lens hoods.

BTW, when I wander around with the pre-war Leicas I get lots of smiles from people and one or two chat. And people sometimes offer me their old film cameras.

Regards, David

 

[Richard G]

When I was in Tokyo some years ago I made a point of asking people to take photos of me. It seemed only fair, given the number of photos I've taken for tourists in my country over the years...

...Mike

I love obscure one man crusades with an audience of one. Barry Humphries would be proud of you.

 

[Addy101]

Do all you guys with film, old cameras or rangefinder cameras somehow feel smug and superior to all the clueless doofi with DSLRs and big lenses?

Why? Are they all ignorant, non-artistic fools, unlike spiritually minded sincere auteurs such as yourselves?

I feel superior to all clueless doofi, whatever camera they use 🙄

A few years ago I was in Utrecht with my Minolta XD-5 and MC 50/1.4 and walking around was a couple with big Canon 1-series with L-lenses. I didn't think they were clueless, they obviously knew how to use their gear. However, I could feel THEY were uneasy and self-aware seeing me with my little film set-up......

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Do all you guys with film, old cameras or rangefinder cameras somehow feel smug and superior to all the clueless doofi with DSLRs and big lenses?

I did, and then wondered about it. It was disappointing, because I never saw myself as a snob, but I must admit that this time, seeing a large bunch of tourists taking photos with phones and very small P&S cameras and then immediatey chimping, made me feel a bit... above them.

Again, I was disappointed at myself. I don't like acting in ways I don't like in others.

Then, I was carrying a 1971 film camera with a 1997 lens, or a 2011 digital P&S that shows the photos I took in the VF, so I don't need to chimp. 🙂 How "superior" can I be?

Oh, well...

 

[thegman]

I've never been mistaken for a professional, and my photos certainly haven't.

 

[Godfrey]

I feel best when nobody notices I'm making photographs, for the most part, but I like to engage my subjects. Some of them are fascinated by whatever camera I'm using because cameras are indeed fascinating pieces of machinery.

Many have asked if I am a "pro", almost regardless of what kind of camera I'm using, to which I answer, "Well, what does being a pro mean to you?" Which heads the conversation down an interesting path more times than not.

I act with professional intent and rigor in my attitude when I am making photographs. But that doesn't mean I'm a "pro" or that all proficient photographers are "pros". To me, a pro is quite specifically someone who does and sells photography for a living. When I've done that, I've been a pro. But when I do something else for my living (I'm a technical writer these days), I'm doing photography as my means of artistic expression and for the love of it, which fits very nicely with the roots of the word "amateur." 🙂

Godfrey

 

[Photo_Smith]

Do all you guys with film, old cameras or rangefinder cameras somehow feel smug and superior to all the clueless doofi with DSLRs and big lenses?

Why? Are they all ignorant, non-artistic fools, unlike spiritually minded sincere auteurs such as yourselves?

I had it the other way round today, stopped by a DSLR user "Wow you use film?
Are you nuts?

Me 'Yes'

But on the whole, yes I do feel slightly superior to a clueless 'doofi' (is that doofuses) I'm not sure, put me down as clueless on that account...

 

[kendo1]

I get mistaken for Charles Manson...

 

[sar-photo]

In 2005 I was in France near Mont St Michel. I was taking pictures with my Speed Graphic and somebody asked if I was a press photographer!