All-Ttime Funniest Comment You've Gotten While Shooting

[paulr]

I was photographing in Red Hook, Brooklyn, long before it became a stomping ground for rich hipsters. A group of little kids came over while I was setting up. The 8 year old boy asked what kind of camera I was using. His 10 year old sister, with a serious expresion, held him back. "It's an old fashioned camera," she said. "Don't touch it. It's VERY expensive."

[W K Longcor]

I may have told this story in another thread ( as I get older, I tend to repeat stuff). A number of years back, my family volunteered at a historic c. 1860's village -- part of a local park system. I was doing a talk about civil war era photgraphy. I had an 11x14 camera pointed out the window with the lens open, so folks could see the ground glass image. One fellow made it just inside the doorway to the room, turned and yelled very loudly to someone outside -- "Hey! get in here and see this! They got a real old television set in here!" (He probably thought the evening news reported on the battle of bull run).

[Jay M. Packer]

One of the attendees at a photography workshop I took in Death Valley was Dick Phillips, of R.H. Phillips & Sons fame. During a morning session in the narrows of Mosaic Canyon, Dr. Phillips was using one of his 8x10 Explorer cameras with a 120mm f8 Nikon lens. A young couple hiking through the canyon stepped around Dr. Phillips' tripod, and I overheard this exchange about 10 yards after they passed him:

Her: "What kind of camera was that?"

Him (with supreme confidence): "That's an 8x10 Nikon."

[Robert Hall]

Who says the photographic arts are not performance arts?

I was in Death Valley a couple years back early in the morning needing my image of Manly Beacon at Zabriskie Point.

It was early in the morning and as I arrived a few minutes before the sun had come up there were about a half dozen Europeans there waiting as well. Well, I grab my gear and start walking up the road way there and had a few folks looking on. I suppose they were wondering if I was going to setup camp with the 12x20 the gear could just be a small tent.

As I hit the rise and the small wall there, I walked around the wall and down the hill a bit as there was a bit of a breeze and just a little cover from the hill was required to keep the camera from being a complete main sail.

I found my spot and started breaking out the gear.

About the time I came out from under the dark cloth the fist time from getting an initial focus I was mildly startled that several of the once Manly Beacon on-lookers became interested in what I was doing. I turned around and saw 4 men behind me. In what to him was perfect English - him, being German thought that he spoke with no accent - asked what format to which I replied 12 bis 20 schwartz-weiss. That took them all back. It was apparent that they wanted to look through the glass.

The next one in line asked how I knew they were all German. I said - in German - Because you are all standing in a line! That almost knocked them off their feet and even a few of the Italians who were making their way down started to chuckle. I said in English if you folks were from Italy like these nice folks you would have surrounded me. (Now that I had an audience I felt the need to not only include others, but to make them laugh as well)

After a moment’s pause I locked the camera down and I had a good dozen people taking a look with the usual comments in different languages about the ground glass image being upside down.

From that point on and for the next couple hours, I had more assistants than one could imagine. I suppose this is what is meant by artist collaboration.

[Diane Maher]

Robert, that is so funny! Thanks for posting that story.

[Sal Santamaura]

One of the attendees at a photography workshop I took in Death Valley was Dick Phillips, of R.H. Phillips & Sons fame. During a morning session in the narrows of Mosaic Canyon, Dr. Phillips was using one of his 8x10 Explorer cameras with a 120mm f8 Nikon lens. A young couple hiking through the canyon stepped around Dr. Phillips' tripod, and I overheard this exchange about 10 yards after they passed him:

Her: "What kind of camera was that?"

Him (with supreme confidence): "That's an 8x10 Nikon."

Here's Dick with his "8x10 Nikon" as well as Jay and Phil Kember:

http://www.deathvalleyphoto.com/Imag...ps_Tribute.jpg

[Jehu]

I wasn't shooting but...
I was hanging around the dock of the MS Dixie sternwheeler in Tahoe one summer day with some friends when a group of about 50 Japanese tourists came by to board for the lunch cruise. Every one had a camera and every one went through about a roll of film just walking down the dock. (This was in the mid '80s) One nice Japanese couple that knew just a few words of english managed to ask me to take their picture for them. I complied but I noticed that every one of the tourists were wearing a fanny pack of the same design. It must've come with the tour package. Every one of them wore the fanny pack up front. It looked kind of funny to me. As I was handing the camera back, I tried to explain that a fanny pack went over the fanny. After my brief, goofy looking attempt at charades, they looked confused so I didn't think I got the point across and I didn't really care. About two hours later, the Dixie came back in. The Japanese tourists paraded back up the dock. Every one of them had their fanny packs on the back now. I guess I got my point across.

[Photojeep]

I have shot more commercial photos of the Las Vegas strip than I can count, mostly with 4x5, and two things have happened more often than I could have imagined:

1. Security folks freak out when they see me with my Sinar F2 shooting their property. Even if I'm on the "public sidewalk" they take personal offense and try to shoo me away. However, if I am at the very same location with my Wisner 4x5 on my Berlbach tripod, they still come around but only to see the "antique" camera, at which point they begin to tell me about how they once had a brownie camera when they were a kid. Aparently a wood camera means you're a "photo bug" and a metal one means you're a professional...almost 10 years of using the Wisner and I've never once been asked/told to leave. I don't mind their stories because they often keep people out of my shot, all on their own.

2. After the security folks leave, inevitably a tourist, or two, comes along and asks me if I'm shooting a commercial. After far too many attempts to explain the difference between still shooting and video, now I just tell them, "Yes. Shhhh! and we need it to be very quiet." Quiets them down every time. Seriously, every time! They sneak away like frightened children.

[eddie]

Tom Hieb and Rob Hall....thanks! i have not laughed so hard recently....

eddie

[Michael Wynd]

Jehu,
if they were in Australia, the original position of the fanny pack would have been the correct one.
Mike