anitasanger
Well-known
Greetings:
While in NYC earlier this month, I witnessed a rather strange human taking street photographs in a peculiar manner. With it being Christmas season, the 5th Ave shopping district was teeming with people. The fabled hustle and bustle was so fast paced and chaotic, it was near maddening.
While holding my M6 and taking an occasional photograph of this or that, i noticed a guy in his late 30s, maybe 40s zoom past me with at least one (perhaps 2) Leica Ms hanging around his neck. He was frantically scanning the throngs of people, walking fast and abruptly changing the direction he was walking. He was obviously looking for good photo opportunities, but definitely not going about it in a casual manner. He seemed very aggressive.
I hoped to stop him and have a discussion on photography, but he was just so fast and never made eye contact with me. Throughout the day, I saw him several times weaving in and out of the crowd in a manic fashion. The last time I saw him was what made him seem peculiar. I watched him sprint up to a homeless man holding some type of flash bulb in his palm. He held the flash directly in front of the homeless man's face and as if gave off a blinding flash, he also held up the Leica and snapped a photo. He then sprinted off in another direction and i never saw him again.
Anyway, i was wondering if any New Yorkers have ever seen this guy. Or even better, does anyone have a clue what he is doing? Could such a detached, handheld flash be rigged up to a Leica? If so, why? Anyway, his techniques were very invasive and I can't envision these tactics yielding compelling results. Anyway, I just thought this Leica shooter was a bit out of the norm. He did anything but disappear into the background.
I saw 2 more Leica's the whole time I was in the city. They were unobtrusive observer types standing up against brick walls and watching. Waiting. 3 people recognized my black-taped M6 and stopped me to talk about it, to which I happily obliged them. They were all 3 Europeans!
While in NYC earlier this month, I witnessed a rather strange human taking street photographs in a peculiar manner. With it being Christmas season, the 5th Ave shopping district was teeming with people. The fabled hustle and bustle was so fast paced and chaotic, it was near maddening.
While holding my M6 and taking an occasional photograph of this or that, i noticed a guy in his late 30s, maybe 40s zoom past me with at least one (perhaps 2) Leica Ms hanging around his neck. He was frantically scanning the throngs of people, walking fast and abruptly changing the direction he was walking. He was obviously looking for good photo opportunities, but definitely not going about it in a casual manner. He seemed very aggressive.
I hoped to stop him and have a discussion on photography, but he was just so fast and never made eye contact with me. Throughout the day, I saw him several times weaving in and out of the crowd in a manic fashion. The last time I saw him was what made him seem peculiar. I watched him sprint up to a homeless man holding some type of flash bulb in his palm. He held the flash directly in front of the homeless man's face and as if gave off a blinding flash, he also held up the Leica and snapped a photo. He then sprinted off in another direction and i never saw him again.
Anyway, i was wondering if any New Yorkers have ever seen this guy. Or even better, does anyone have a clue what he is doing? Could such a detached, handheld flash be rigged up to a Leica? If so, why? Anyway, his techniques were very invasive and I can't envision these tactics yielding compelling results. Anyway, I just thought this Leica shooter was a bit out of the norm. He did anything but disappear into the background.
I saw 2 more Leica's the whole time I was in the city. They were unobtrusive observer types standing up against brick walls and watching. Waiting. 3 people recognized my black-taped M6 and stopped me to talk about it, to which I happily obliged them. They were all 3 Europeans!
