Nearly hit by bottle while shooting...!?!

[Duane Polcou]

I was photographing once on a promontory about 1/4 mile into the Grand Canyon near Desert View. To access this spot (and return) you had to negotiate a narrow ledge
between a large boulder obstacle and thin air. Once set up, a trio of annoying Europeans showed up and intentionally stood in between my camera and the promontory edge, obviously to annoy me. Despite politely commenting "okay, jokes on me, could you please move?" they refused to even acknowledge my presence. I was invisible. I hastily broke down, packed up, and left. Upon their return, guess who was waiting for them at the narrow ledge? I told them if they could get by me, they could pass. I'm 6' 1", 210, with a menacing metal tripod. Suffice it to say, they were not. I made those son's a B's wait a full hour until total darkness before I left, with my flashlight. I think they had a lighter. Those anger management classes my ex wife made me spring for never really took hold.

[gregstidham]

I have found a lot of dumb people think you are shooting for television. Some of you may laugh, but I have spent a lot of time in recent years shooting video for television and the reaction is the same. Even as a newspaper photographer I was asked often "what station are you with"?

My solution - work fast and move on. If I have to shoot along the side of a road I try to position myself behind my vehicle while working.

[Per Madsen]

I have found a lot of dumb people think you are shooting for television. Some of you may laugh, but I have spent a lot of time in recent years shooting video for television and the reaction is the same. Even as a newspaper photographer I was asked often "what station are you with"?

Same for me. Some moron shows up and ask "What TV chanel are you from ?" or
"Can you record me for television ?" but at least they don't throw bottles or stones after me.

I have only had "the bottle experience" when I am using my 35 mm camera and usualy from drunks which can't hit anything from 10 meters in broad daylight.

[MIke Sherck]

I have found a lot of dumb people think you are shooting for television. Some of you may laugh, but I have spent a lot of time in recent years shooting video for television and the reaction is the same. Even as a newspaper photographer I was asked often "what station are you with"?

My solution - work fast and move on. If I have to shoot along the side of a road I try to position myself behind my vehicle while working.

Years ago I bought a large backpack from the local military surplus store. I needed something large enought to carry the B&J 5x7 tailboard I was using at the time and they had a nice large canvas pack which I thought I could modify to suit. I took it up to the old fellow at the counter (do you remember the movie "Porkies"? There was this scene in a deep-south bar where they had a guy up on a balcony sitting behind a machine gun, in case things got a little out of hand, I guess. That sort of a place.) Anyway, he asked what TV station I was with and I told him that I wasn't a television cameraman, just a dirty amateur photographer. "Oh," he said. "For you, $10. If you were one of those TV guys it would be $40."

Mike

[Brian Ellis]

My friend and I solved that problem by handcuffing the LF baby buggy to the ankle when under the dark cloth!

The idea being to provide them with the added thrill of getting you as well as your gear? : - )

[Daniel Grenier]

You guys down south get all the excitement! After 25 odd years of shooting LF all I ever got is the odd honker. How boring!

[Colin Graham]

Yeah, I don't set up much on road shoulders any more. A lot of chin music from sideview mirrors. I had one guy honk and buzz me with his pickup on a snowy morning, loose control and end up in a ditch 100 yards down the road. That was pretty sweet.

[Doug Dolde]

I was shooting up above Ojai a few years ago in the Sespe Wilderness area, I wasnt intruding on private property and was pretty close the road. I heard a shot and then the bullet breaking the air close enuff to hear. There were a few cabins nearby...and a target shooting range but the shooting range wasnt that close...

[Michael Alpert]

This thread is full of odd ethnic and racist slurs. Even the definition of a "normal" neighborhood seems off-base; then it gets worse. Read back through what has been written here. Some of you guys are in trouble, even without anyone throwing anything at you.

[Michael Kadillak]

> The moral of the story is, never photograph alone. Always have someone around to watch your back.

Not many of us have that luxury. What is grizzly bear pepper spray? The 45 is more familiar, living in a carry state. (But, so far, I have resisted the temptation to get a gun. Mostly I try to blend in and look like just another red neck.)

UDAP.com

They carry it in Glacier and Yellowstone as standard equipment for employees in the field.