A few years ago, I went with my photography class to one of the most religious Jewish settlements in the West Bank, near Bethlehem, called Bat Ayin. It's a remote, mountainous settlement in the judean hills near Jerusalem, with an exraordinary view of the hills. I was making a photograph of that view, when a settler came next to me on a donkey and said: "You should have been here yesterday. The sky was cloudy and then the sun broke through them and we were sure that the Mesiah had arrived!!"
In 1991 I was traveling with a 4x5 field camera in the Jordanian desert, not too far from Petra. I trying to photograph a dry 'wadi', a deep seasonal river valle y cut deep into the earth, from above, and was having some problems with focus. My set-up had attracted the attention of a group of nomads (Bedouin), particularly the children. Who insisted that I have tea before continuing. I had tea and coffee and a banal conversation with the father. His oldest (?) son, who appeared to want to join the coversation, but was too bashful, finally burst in, "why don't you tilt the lens 10 degrees down?"
This is not a funy comment but perhaps a funny story. My girlfriend and I were wandering around the alleys of Varinasi, India a couple of years ago. I stopped to photograph some pilars and the usual crowd gathered. This is good, because my girlfriend enjoyes shooting people. Anyway, I got all my stuff out and began the long process of taking the photo. As we all do when in crowds, I was trying to keep very good track of all my stuff. Suddenly I could not find my Pentax digital spot. I stood straight up and said to my girlfriend in a very concerned manner that I could not find my spot meter. No one but us spoke English, but they all obviously became very concerned and actually began looking around the area as we did, even though they had no idea what we were looking for. I found the meter under some stuff in my tripod apron in a minute or two and held it up and smiled. Everyone smiled and cheered. What wonderful people.
I was set up with a 4x5 on a downtown street with a huge bag of stuff, llght meter around my neck, the whole shebang. A woman asked me, "Are you a photographer"?
I looked at all the stuff, looked puzzled for a minute and said, "What gave me away?"
I was photographing some water pockets on the Navajo reservation, when some kids came over and started splashing around right in front of me. Realizing, of course, that it was their water pocket and I was a guest on their land, I very tactfully asked them to kindly get their butts out of the way so I could shoot. So, what do they do? They line up and strike a pose and started insisting that I take their picture. So I did the old ?click the shutter without pulling the dark slide? trick and said ok now clear out, whereupon the older one of the group looks up and says: ?Lets see the Polaroid?.
I had the Arca pointed into an abandoned storefront on Main Street, Phoenixville, PA. A well-dressed businessman-type walked briskly by. He glanced into the storefront and then at me, calling out rather loudly, "What could you POSSIBLY see there to photograph?"
I said, "If you can't see it, I can't explain it to you." He nodded as if that made perfect sense, and walked on.
In 1983 I was photographing a railroad station with an 8x10 positioned on the commuter waiting platform well in the clear of the tracks. (This was in Merion, PA, west of Philadelphia on a 4-track commuting rail line.)
Under the dark cloth I heard a car drive up behind me, lock the brakes, and skid on the gravel. Turning to see if I was about to be struck, I saw that it was a police cruiser and the officer jumping out, running toward me.
"Alright buddy, just what the h*** do you think you are doing??!!", he shouted. "Taking photographs of the station" I stuttered, partly in shock from this unbelievable intrusion. "Oh yeah, with what??", he screamed. By now he was standing on one side of the camera, I'm on the other side. "This", as I pointed to the camera in front of him. "That's a camera?", he growled in disbelief. "Yes sir", I confirmed. "Well,...don't get on the tracks!!", he grunted, and then stomped off to his cruiser and pulled away.
To this day, I can only imagine that someone saw my setup on the platform, thought it was some kind of weapon (machine gun, rifle, etc.), saw me "aiming" at the tracks from under the cloth (perhaps waiting to blast the next train), and called the police. And this was long before September 11, 2001.
To: Kevin B.
Reminds me of the "Here's your sign" routine.
S.
OK Chris - here goes:
There was the wedding that I assisted on the hottest day of the year. 117 degrees in the San Fernando Valley, CA. Had 2 Hassy bodies break down. Finished the day on a Yashicamat Twin and a Mamiya 645 (5x7 proofs trimmed to 5x5). No one could tell the difference.
Then there was the wedding where the proofs came back and the couple were already separated.
Then there was the wedding where on arrival to the reception site I found the cake in a beautiful garden setting. Made several creative and straight shots of it. About 30 min. later a loud crash was heard. Cake bumped by a busboy. The father of the bride wanted to know if I had taken the shot earlier. Since I had, he was at least relieved. The bride never saw her cake until she saw the proofs.
Then there was the wedding where when the bride saw the proofs about 3 weeks after the wedding, called and yelled at me that my pictures were evil and had ghosts in them. She wouldn't buy a finished album from me and refused to pay the balance on her contract. Found out the next day from the bride's mother that the bride was very superstitious. A few of my "make-up mirror" shots had two sets of faint shadows behind her image. The result of using a two flash system (main high on camera, fill slave held by assistant).
Then there was the wedding where . . . .
Any wonder why I shoot mountains, rivers, snow, trees and butterflies now?
another good one came to mind: i was shooting a closeup of a manhole cover in the middle of a busy street in downtown seattle one rainy night. i had to wait until 2:00 a.m. when there was less traffic, but there were still a few cars around, making the shot somewhat dicey. i was squatting there with my camera in the middle of the avenue, tripod legs splayed out with the camera right down at street level, and a cop pulls up, gets out and asks what the heck i'm doing in a hard-ass tone of voice. i showed him the wet manhole cover (which was reflecting wild colors from a nearby neon sign), and got him to look under the darkcloth at the ground glass. he looked silently for a few seconds, then went back to his car, turned on the flashing lights, turned the car sideways and blocked off the whole street so i could finish my shot!!
~cj
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