All-Ttime Funniest Comment You've Gotten While Shooting

[chris jordan]

Following up Ellis' great thread about the worst advice ever, how about this: w hat's the funniest comment anyone's ever made to you while you were shooting?

I gave my all time favorite in the other thread, but here's a close second: I'm shooting on a cold rainy night in downtown Seattle a couple of years ago, and t his guy walks by and stops and looks for a minute and says "just a wild guess: y ou don't have a girlfriend, right?"

ha!! i had to admit at the time that i didn't...

~cj

[Steve Feldman]

OK, boys and girls. I can't wait to see/hear what this will bring. Very enjoyable thread from Ellis. Chris' new inquiry is the perfect follow-up.

Chris, may I assume that wedding photographers horror stories are out? Most of mine were awful at the time but funny in retrospect.

____________

OK, here's mine.

As a wedding photog I always got the qip, "Got film in there?" My answer, "Usually."

S.

[Steve Feldman]

that should be "quip"

not qip

[Erik Ryberg]

I was shooting pictures of Seattle's Kingdome before they blew it up and while I was waiting for a cloud to pass an extremely intoxicated homeless man staggered up and wanted to look at the groundglass on my Speed Graphic. He bent over, peered through it, then, shocked, stood up again and squinted at me and asked in a kind of pleading tone, "Is that upside down or something?" And then he fell over, dizzy. It was too much for him.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I had the ultralight aluminum 8x10" Gowland monorail pointed toward a regatta of tall ships headed up the Hudson (alas, they changed their route due to low water conditions, so no good shots to be had in the end). A guy comes up to me and says, "I bet that's the kind of camera they would have used in the days of those ships" (many of which predated the invention of photography, lightweight aluminum monorails aside).

Then there was the drunk who tapped me on the shoulder in Tampere and went into a long tirade in Finnish, occasionally making the motion of shooting a rifle with accompanying sound effects. In retrospect, I suppose it was funny.

[chris jordan]

Steve, if you have some wedding-related killers, i say tee 'em up.

~cj

[Rob Tucher]

I've got two. I was under my cloth (black on the inside, white out) focusing on a blown-out van amongst rubble in an awful, abandoned section of Jersey City, NJ. I was made aware somehow of a presence behind me. I dropped the cloth and spun around to see an African-American man standing 10 feet behind me. I nodded to him, and then he smiled and said, "This ain't no neighborhood to be hanging out under no white sheet." We both laughed at that.

Just after "Bridges of Madison County," came out as a movie I was shooting a truss bridge in Rockingham County, VA. I heard someone walking up to me on the gravel road. I turned and saw an old farmer-type watching me. I nodded hello, and he asked what I was doing. I told him that I was being paid to photograph old truss bridges throughout VA. He was silent for a beat and then he responded, "We don't need your kind around here," and walked away. I can only assume...

[Walter Glover]

Is it an indulgence to relate two episodes? I shall, anyway.

1. I was set up for a record cover pic of a somewhat 'celeb' rock singer beside an unusual structure in North Sydney. As the moment of capture drew ever nearer so did a middle-aged, mildly intoxicated street-dweller in an overcoat. He strode right up, peroused the Linhof Technika and queried the accessory spirit-level inserted into the shoe on top of the body. "What's that for?" he asked. "To make sure everything is level," was my reply to which he opened his overcoat and took out a builder's level and starting checking the nearby bus seat, power pole, garbage bin. "I'm always amazed how many things aren't level," he said as he sauntered off.

2. I was shooting a shopping complex in Darwin, a remote far-flung outpost of civilisation. I was annoyed at having missed a wonderful opportunity for a personal shot of a queue of barefooted Aboriginals lined up at an island stall for a shoe repair company when I had another encounter. As I flicked my darkcloth out to ready it for it's enshrouding task and very tall (6ft 3in) young man came over and in a brusque menacing manner enquired: "I suppose you think you're a magician?" to which I instantaneously responded, "You think I'm going to pull a rabbit out of a hat; I'm actually going to pull a hair (hare) out of my ass!" He shambled off. Next thing I was being abused by this aggressive, loud woman (musn't upset the patrons, must I?) She accused me of being rude to her 11 year old son. Mind you, he was beside her and her language was like Velvia compared to my subtle EPN remark.

That's it from me for now, cheers Chris - great topic.

Walter Glover

[Fred De Van]

I was deep in the most rural areas of Haiti, and shot a photo of a striking elderly lady in front of her mud and thatch home and had given her a Polaroid as a thank you. She looked up with piercing brown eyes and quietly said: (in creole)

"Your machine speaks the truth too quickly!"

[Ellis Vener]

From another photographer on this forum who insisted that while the image on thegroundglass was reversed top to bottom it wasn't reversed left to right.

[Fred De Van]

Ellis,

If you have read some of the stuff on here, you should accept that to him, it was not reversed. Quit while you are ahead.

[Kevin Crisp]

I had someone tell me that the thing they always liked about photography was the wonderful math of exposure. How one f stop was exactly the same as two shutter speeds. I said I thought the proper ratio was more like 1:1 on those, and the indignant person got out his OM camera (see? now this? see?) and proved to me that he was right and that I didn't know what I was talking about. I've always wondered how he did that. Must have something to do with the rule of thirds.

[heidis]

Perfect timing for this thread, since my "all time funniest" just happened 5 days ago...

I was out shooting spring landscapes with my Fuji GX680 (OK, not large format but the next closest thing) at Potato Creek State Park in N. Indiana. I was crouched along a trail, tripod-mounted camera pointed low to the ground at an interestingly textured rotting stump, cable release at the ready. Two hikers walked by, and in all seriousness asked me the one-word question "Birdwatching?"

[Edsel Adams]

I was killing time in a small upstate NY town.A train horn sounded in the distance,so I walked to the RR tracks with my 4x5 camera on its tripod.I snapped the train as it passed,and walked back to my car.Several minutes later,a woman drove up & asked,"why were you taking a picture of those kids on the corner?.They think you are a pedophile!!!!!!!!!!"(At this point,if I speak,Im guilty!!How does one respond to such an accusation?)I then explained that I had taken a pix of the passing train,and hadnt noticed the kids on the corner.In a prosecutorial tone she suggested she was going to call the police.I said"go ahead & call the police,Im thinking of charging you with harrassment"!I then turned to her & said:if those teenagers were home studying & doing their homework,and not loitering on a street corner,they wouldnt have to worry about being molested by me or anyone!And maybe you should get back in your car and mind your own G- d damned business?I then drove off into the sunset.Since this day,I think about what am doing,and what some moron watching,thinks Im doing.Pretty scary!

[Tom Hieb]

A while back I was hiking along the top of a canyon with my wife when we came across an abandoned stream gage mounted on a platform that was hung from the side of a cliff and accessed by an old metal ladder. Thinking that the platform might be an interesting perspective for a picture down the canyon, I cautiously went over the side of the cliff and down the ladder. My wife, who complains often that I have my camera set up too close to cliff faces, would not even go near the cliff, but she stayed up top with my camera equipment while I checked things out. (No use hauling down all the LF gear before scoping things out.) The ladder and platform turned out to be surprisingly sturdy for as old as they looked. When I got down to the platform I noticed a large rock sitting on the edge of it. Thinking to have a little fun with my wife, I pushed the rock off into the water while simultaneously doing my best impression of the cartoon-like falling off the cliff voice. Oh noooooo......splash! The rock made, what seemed to me, just about a man-sized splash when it hit the water. There was a brief moment of silence from above and then I heard my wife say " well, if you're going to go swimming, you might as well take your cameras." This was followed shortly by what seemed to me to be a backpack-sized splash. I took me a moment, while I checked to make sure my cameras were not floating downstream, before this struck me as funny.

[Ellis Vener]

"If you have read some of the stuff on here, you should accept that to him, it was not reversed. "

And he would still be wrong.

[Ross Schuler]

I had a lady at work ask me how do you know how much powder to use on the flash.

[Anthony J. Kohler]

Actually, I've been looking for an excuse to relate this here, so this thread is very welcome.

It wasn't actually WHILE I was shooting, but . . .

We were staying at a veyr nice B&B outside of Ghent, Belgium, last year, and across the street was a very nice, pretty pond. I went out one morning, set up the camera by the street and shot the picture of the pond as I saw it. Heard the next morning from Ingrid, who ran the B&B, that her next-door neighbor, a lady who was, shall we say, not entirely right in the head, had called her father, absolutely indignant that this %^&*( MAN was out in the street, photographing her through her window! Her father (who lived in the next house down) looked out his window at me, and came back to his phone to tell his daughter (rather dryly, as we heard it) that the camera was pointed the other way.

Tony

[Pat Kearns]

This isn't a funny comment, but, I have to say that about 20 years ago, I shot a wedding for someone that worked at a bank. I was impressed by the very large photo order she placed. Then about 3 months afterwards I found out she was arrested for embezzelment...

[Jean-Marie Solichon]

About two years ago, I was shooting in the mountains at medium elevation in a place much frequented by hikers. The picture I was trying to capture was a succession of backlightened mountains outlines. I was turning my back on another possible shot of alpine scenary not well lightened at that time of the day in my feeling. Then a couple of hikers stopped close to me and the man whispered in his wife's ear: "What a large camera (Toyo 45)he has, it must be an Hasselblad...at least!" But the woman evidently wanted to have the last word. She told me loudly and with quite a bit of anger: "Why do you shoot this direction? the opposite direction is much nicer!"

[Hagai Kaufman]

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!!"

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

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?"

[Paul Mongillo]

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.

[Kevin M Bourque]

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?"

[Bruce Wehman]

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?.

[Sandy Sorlien]

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.

[William A. Johnson]

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.

[Steve Feldman]

To: Kevin B.

Reminds me of the "Here's your sign" routine.

S.

[Steve Feldman]

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?

[chris jordan]

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

[Clay Martin]

I was at Arches National Park taking pictures along the Devil's Garden Trail (a very popular spot), when a whole busload of retired folks from a tour bus came up the path. One elderly man paused to watch me focus and meter, then stepped up and said "You must take very beautiful pictures, since you have such wonderful equipment!"

Ah, if only it were true...

[Ted Brownlee`]

When I'm out in public, I'm always asked my some young couple, "can you take our picture?" while I was out with my wife for an anniversary dinner, I mentioned to her, "Gee, no camera. I won't be asked to take anyone's picture." To our amazement, about 5 minutes later, an asian couple handed me their point & shoot and asked the classic question.

Even without a camera, I must have the look of a photographer about me:

At a trip to the local waterpark with my family, I was standing in the middle of a pool of water with my older daughter (no cmaera in hand). A woman waded up to us, handed me her disposable waterproof camera & asked me to take a picture of her & her child.

It's a family joke now, whose going to ask Daddy to take their picture? (Just for reference, I don't wear camera logo clothing.)

[David Grandy]

I was shooting a hockey game for a daily newspaper. It was something like Junior B and I arrived with a few seconds left in the first period so I got to chill my bones through the intermission.

A spectator came over and asked. "Are your pictures going in the [cities other daily newspaper and my competitor]?" "No, sorry but I'm with [my paper]." "Well is one of their photographer's here?" "Nope, sorry I don't see anyone."

So then this guy just starts to chew ME out. "Why the hell aren't they covering this?" I kept saying, "It isn't US. It's THEM" but he kept on insisting that we all worked for the same paper. It was kind of fun since he was getting more and more pissed off and he never could get his head around all of this! I can only imagine what he yelled at the refs!

[John Hicks]

Non-photographer pokes his head up under the darkcloth to see what I'm up to.... "It's in color!!"

[James Webb]

I was in New Orleans carrying my 35mm camera, making pictures of people in a square. There was a gang of children running around and they began pleading with me to let them make some pictures. I figured ?why not??, and started passing the camera around to the kids. Some didn?t look through the viewfinder, didn?t focus or compose, just started clicking and pointing the camera at their friends. They were smiling, happy to have the opportunity to try something new. When they finished making their pictures they allowed me to make some photographs of them.

When I returned to Chicago I developed the film and was surprised to see that that the pictures they had made were far more interesting and creative than my own efforts. I guess the lesson for me is to try not to think so much while making a photograph, have a lot of fun, and keep a smile on my face.

If you want to see an example of one of the kid?s photographs, I posted it at :

http://www.prairienet.org/~jwebb66/jackson.htm

[Jon_2416]

Not to break up the flow of funny comments, but in case you all haven't checked out Chris Jordan's web site, here it is:

http://www.chrisjordanphoto.com/

I lived in the Pacific North West for several years and "Seattle street studies" is just stunning.

[chris jordan]

Ha-- what a great bunch of anecdotes! My favorites were Walter's "spirit level" story and Rob's "Bridges of Madison County." What a hoot! Dang, this thread should be made into a magazine article or something. Or maybe a book, along with everyone's funniest photos.

Speaking of which, maybe that's a good new thread. My funniest was a self-portrait on a mountain summit in the Cascades with my Nikon. Timer set to 10 sec, I ran across a 30-foot section of icy snow to pose majestically with the sea-of-peaks behind me. As I sprinted toward my chosen spot, I slipped exactly as the shutter clicked. Photo: me flailingly suspended sideways in mid-air immediately prior to snowy face plant...

[Gary L. Quay]

I found this ancient thread, and thought I'd add to it.

While photographing Portland, Oregon from the Burnside Bridge with my 1939 Deardorff V8, a young man stopped to gawk and talk. It was two in the morning, and I was a little wary, but he turned out to be just someone on his way home. We talked about the camera, and about the film, and the lack of internal metering, but I could see that he was still a bit puzzled. Finally, he asked, "Where's the display?"

--Gary

[jnantz]

i was in france last summer ...
on a winding side streets leaning up against
the corner of an old building, and waiting for a college girl to
walk by so she wouldn't be in the view .
i pressed the shutter, and she came up to me ..
i said, no need to worry, you weren't in the picture
she looked at me with big eyes, and said
that's a camera ?! what a hallucination!

[Scott Davis]

I was out on the Antietam battlefield, setting up the Canham 5x7 to take a photo of a split-rail fence. A young family walked up, full of curiosity. I let everyone take a peek under the darkcloth. The mother of the brood turned and exclaimed to her husband, who had not yet looked, "It's like Hi-Def TV!"

[Ben Syverson]

It must be pretty common, but my favorite was when I was out on the street taking a 4x5. I came out from under the darkcloth, and someone passed by and said incredulously, "you can still get film for that?!"

No. No, I can't. I'm under the darkcloth when it's 15°F out "for old times' sake."

[Drew Wiley]

I had dayhiked up to Blue Lake above Sonora Pass one summer day and had the
8x10 set up. It's a beautiful spot at about 10,000 feet but only about three miles
from the road and about 2000 ft higher in elevation. In fact, you can look down and
see the road from there. Then a German hiker appeared stumbling around at random, constantly peering at his GPS to try and locate the lake, even though the
lake was right in front of him in plain sight. He was wearing leather shorts, red suspenders, a funny little alpine hat with a feather in it - the whole Bavarian stereotype. Suddenly he almost trips over a rock and falls into the water. He looks
up from his fancy GPS and realizes he's located the lake. Then he sees me. "Vas are
you tooing?! Vie can you do such hooorible tings to nature vith that huge thinnng?
You are deseceratting nature!". I gave him a sideways glance and gently replies,
"Nice GPS; is that the same kind John Muir used?"

[Drew Wiley]

OK, I'll admist the last post wasn't my funniest incident, just a warmup. Out here on
the coast there's some old WWII gunnery installations with very dark tunnels. I found a rusting old fuse box on the wall that had some real possibility, so I set up
the 8x10. It was very dark but there was a bright shaft of light coming from behind
along with a slight breeze. I had a particularly large darkcloth that day, white on the
outside, which virtually covered both me and the tripod. Off to the side there is
another tunnel with a little tiny entrance. Then I head echoing footprints as someone
entered that side tunnel and approached through another little crawl hole into the room I was photographing. I didn't break my concentration to see who was coming because I was focussing or something. Then I heard a loud shriek right next to me and the sound of someone leaping through the side opening onto the ground outside, "thump". So I got out from under my darkcloth and took a look outside. There's a
middle age man laying there gasping for breath utterly terrified. "Was that you
in there?" I thought I saw a ghost!".

[argos33]

Once while walking up to a popular waterfall in Boulder canyon with an 8x10 cambo monorail in one hand and very large tripod in another, a young woman asks me - "Are you with MTV?"

[Brian Ellis]

Well-meaning people often see me photographing and stop to tell me about something they saw nearby that I might want to photograph, usually something in which I have no interest or that would be totally impractical to photograph with a LF camea. My favorite was the lady who saw me with my 8x10 Deardorff and told me I should be photographing the beautiful butterly she saw flitting around a nearby bush.

[bvstaples]

OK, a couple not that funny, but odd anyways...

First one's about a lady who came up to me while I was shooting some bay scenes in downtown. She asked me if I was filming a movie. I told her no, that I was shooting large format and will produce still B&Ws. She then asked me what studio I worked for. I don't work for a studio I shoot large format B&Ws. What's the name of the movie I'm shooting? That must be a pretty expensive movie camera. Who's starring in it? Though she apparently listened intently to every word I said, she didn't hear a thing. She went on an on with who's the director, it is digital, when will it be released, etc. I offered to show her the view through the ground glass, upon which she determined (from the view I presume) that I was not filming a movie, but rather a TV show!!! What TV show? Who's the star? When will this episode be on? I finally had to ignore her until she went away.

Many years back, I was out on the street of a local beach community shooting, when a grizzled (homeless???) man came up to me. He questioned me about what I was doing, what I was shooting, etc. He was very interested in my camera and my shooting. After hanging out for about 15 minutes, he went on his merry way. I saw this man again about a month later in the same location, and we went through the same conversation. For a homeless guy (I later found out he wasn't homeless, he just kind of looked that way; he looked more like the typical Southern California beach bum), he seemed to grasp an awful lot about LF photography.

I saw him a third time several months later, and this time he started talking about his exploits with Graphic View cameras and the like. Seems he was a photographer in the 50s and 60s on. Now it sort of came together why this "old beach bum" knew so much about and was interested in my LF shooting.

I saw him one more time, almost a year later, and he introduced himself—Bill Jay. Duh!!! I had seen pictures of him, but only in academic settings, not in his beach attire. We briefly talked further, and he then excused himself. Though I looked for him after that anytime I was in the area, I never saw him again.


Brian

[Robert Oliver]

"i bet you can see all the way to the moon with that thing!"

[Mark Stahlke]

I had the Tachihara set up deep in a forest when a companion asked if I was shooting the trees or the forest.

If I had been quick witted I would have quipped that I was trying to shoot the forest but couldn't see it for the trees. But I wasn't quick witted so I said "Yes".

Cheers,
Mark Stahlke

[William McEwen]

A while back I was hiking along the top of a canyon with my wife when we came across an abandoned stream gage mounted on a platform that was hung from the side of a cliff and accessed by an old metal ladder. Thinking that the platform might be an interesting perspective for a picture down the canyon, I cautiously went over the side of the cliff and down the ladder. My wife, who complains often that I have my camera set up too close to cliff faces, would not even go near the cliff, but she stayed up top with my camera equipment while I checked things out. (No use hauling down all the LF gear before scoping things out.) The ladder and platform turned out to be surprisingly sturdy for as old as they looked. When I got down to the platform I noticed a large rock sitting on the edge of it. Thinking to have a little fun with my wife, I pushed the rock off into the water while simultaneously doing my best impression of the cartoon-like falling off the cliff voice. Oh noooooo......splash! The rock made, what seemed to me, just about a man-sized splash when it hit the water. There was a brief moment of silence from above and then I heard my wife say " well, if you're going to go swimming, you might as well take your cameras." This was followed shortly by what seemed to me to be a backpack-sized splash. I took me a moment, while I checked to make sure my cameras were not floating downstream, before this struck me as funny.

LOL

You and your wife sound like a lot of fun!

[William McEwen]

Photographing a violinist...

With hand on cable release, I squeeze, and the shutter fires. I think the speed was probably a quarter second.

After the shutter opens and closes, she remarks, "Oh, THAT'S how you wind the film!"

[Gary L. Quay]

It must be pretty common, but my favorite was when I was out on the street taking a 4x5. I came out from under the darkcloth, and someone passed by and said incredulously, "you can still get film for that?!"

No. No, I can't. I'm under the darkcloth when it's 15°F out "for old times' sake."

Yes. The person who couldn't find the LCD display then asked if they still made film for it. I was standing there with the film holder in my hands.

--Gary

[Joakim Ahnfelt]

One with out words
When I was setting up to shoot a landscape in Isle of Skye I heard/felt some movement under the dark cloth and in surprise turned my head only to be face to face with some sort of black and white sheep dog under the dark cloth with me. We looked at each other a second or two, then he looked at the ground glass for a while, checking the composition I presume, before he got out. Funny thing was I didn't get scared. If it had been a fellow human I probably would have screamed my head off.

[Diane Maher]

I was out on the Antietam battlefield, setting up the Canham 5x7 to take a photo of a split-rail fence. A young family walked up, full of curiosity. I let everyone take a peek under the darkcloth. The mother of the brood turned and exclaimed to her husband, who had not yet looked, "It's like Hi-Def TV!"

Imagine what she would have thought if you'd been shooting with your 5x12! :D

[SamReeves]

Santa Cruz last month…

"Does that camera still work?"

Well it wouldn't be if it weren't on the tripod. http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-laughing014.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

[Diane Maher]

With an 8x10 camera on the tripod, I have gotten two things fairly often. See below.

Person: "Is that digital?"
Me: "No."
Person: "Can you still get film for that?"
Me: "Yes."

or

Person: "Wow, what a big camera."
Me: "Um, yes."
Person: "I'll bet that's expensive."
Me: "Um, no." (whether it is or not, I figure that it's none of their business and I'm better off if they think it is a cheap thing).

[Gary L. Quay]

Person: "Wow, what a big camera."
Me: "Um, yes."
Person: "I'll bet that's expensive."
Me: "Um, no." (whether it is or not, I figure that it's none of their business and I'm better off if they think it is a cheap thing).

I do lots of night photography in a major city. Admitting to owning an expensive camera to a stranger could be my last mistake.

--Gary

[Diane Maher]

I have to make sure that my non-LF shooting friends don't open their mouths and say something about how expensive my camera is. I've explained why since I don't want any trouble. Although I don't shoot in the cities alone (you just don't do that here unless you're a man), I do have a few places that I do go alone to do my photographing. It doesn't matter what time of day I'm out shooting, I don't need any trouble.

[tmastran]

Newfound Gap At Dawn
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
4x5 mounted on tripod in back of pickup truck
Temperature 32F

Park Ranger eyeing me suspiciously: "That's not an instatmatic, is it?"
Me: "Noop."

[tmastran]

Downtown Hanyeville, AL
4x5 setup in town park square
Daisy resting near by.

Bum: "Does that dog bite?"
Me: No response. Situation controlled.

[seabird]

Newfound Gap At Dawn
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
4x5 mounted on tripod in back of pickup truck
Temperature 32F

Park Ranger eyeing me suspiciously: "That's not an instatmatic, is it?"


And they say Americans dont do irony ! :D

Great story !

[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).:p

[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. :D

[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/Images/Dick_Phillips_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

[RmFrase]

While at Oak Alley, in Vacherie, Louisiana. A young boy with his parents walked up to me and looked puzzled at my 4x5 Camera. I offered to have him look at the under the hood in order to see the image I was about to take when he stated "It's upside down... why would anyone want to see your picture if it's upside down....?"

(sigh...)

[RmFrase]

Non-photographer pokes his head up under the darkcloth to see what I'm up to.... "It's in color!!"


hahaha Love it!

[Anders_HK]

Hi,

I am new to large format (film + digital), but it is simple and enjoyable really... except;

When for first time test shooting my custom made digital panoramic adapter on my Shen-Hao non folder in Shanghai last month, a young man with a DSLR around his neck walked up to me, asking politely "Is that a camera???".

Well, what can one say??? :D

Regards
Anders

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Last October I was set up on the Skunk trail in the Humboldt redwoods with the 8x10. I had my Seneca Improved out almost all the way and was focused on a small group of mushrooms. I noticed a couple coming up the trail and prepared myself. All of a sudden the woman runs up to me with an excited look on her face and in all seriousness says to me "Are you someone famous?" I could not resist. I turned and in a very serious way said to her that I was Ansel Adams grandson! I thought the woman was going to faint. Her and her husband to this day think that Jim Fitzgerald is Ansel Adams grandson! What fun!

Jim

[Robert Hall]

Dakotah, what the hec were ya doing in Grouse Creek?!

[Steve M Hostetter]

I can never forget that time,,, Hey boy! :eek: You gotta mighty purdy mouth on you boy! :eek: Can you squeal like a pig..?:eek: huh boy.?:eek:

[Acheron Photography]

While shooting on the street in Manchester (UK) - 'Who do you think you are, David Bellamy?' (Bellamy, being a UK TV presenter of nature programmes - I rather think the guy meant David Bailey.)

And from my girlfriend, on seeing the inverted image on the ground glass - 'That one's broken. Send it back and get a decent one.' She was joking. I think.

David.

[FilmIsNotDead]

ME: [setting up an 8x10 monorail]
TOURIST COUPLE: "Excuse me, could you take a 'quick snapshot' of us?"
ME: "Sure. Where's your camera?"
TOURIST COUPLE: "Isn't that a camera?"

[dcypher]

my 7-y.o. daughter when she saw my "new" Speed Graphic: "woow! that's a camera like they use in Harry Potter!" followed by :"where is the thing that gives light?" (referring to the typical strobe).
My 12 y.o. son's comment: "is that thing working?", me "yes", he: "are you going to work with that in public?" me: "off course!" My son, very concerned: "you sure you are going to do that? ppl are going to laugh with you, dad"

[Terence McDonagh]

Not directly photography related, but . . .

About 12 years ago, a friend and I were on our way to photograph the defunct steel mill in Bethlehem, PA. On the way, we stopped to photograph an old bridge in Easton, PA. It was probably around 6 AM on a Saturday morning and the streets were empty. Walking back to our car, a huge (maybe 6'-5" and 300 lbs) homeless guy appears out of nowhere on the residential street and while walking right between my friend and I, says, "Don't worry guys. It only gets worse," and keeps walking. He never made eye contact or otherwise acknowledged our existence.

Spooked the hell out of us. I'm not religious, but I've always had the suspicion he was a prophet . . . 'cause he was right.

[seabird]

So here I am yesterday, Technika atop the tripod and pointed at a copper downpipe attached to the stone side-wall of St Mary's cathedral. The camera is sitting about 2m from the pipe and I'm using my 300 f/9 Nikkor-M so the bellows are fairly well racked out. Nothing in front of the camera except a flat expanse of stone relieved only by the single copper downpipe.

Passer-by asks: "So, what are you taking a photo of?"


??????????????????

:confused:

[jason1388]

shooting in suburbia and an empty lot was in the shot. car stops. "Hey you're a surveyor Im guessing? Whats going in the empty lot?"

[eddie]

Passer-by asks: "So, what are you taking a photo of?"


??????????????????

:confused:


yup! i get the same thing when i am shooting a brick facade or the like....make me wonder as well....

[J_Tardiff]

I had a pretty good one last week.

Set up with my 4x5 Chamonix on the side of the one-way circle road in Cades Cove (Great Smoky Mountains)-- late in the day, engrossed under the dark cloth trying to get a shot of a nearby fence post and some distant trees in some tricky light. All of a sudden I notice that I don't hear cars going by, come out and find a long row of stopped cars and a small crowd standing behind me with their point and shoots. I almost jumped out of my skin. Apparently they thought I had seen a bear and excitedly asked me where it was, I think they mistook the racked out 4x5 for some super telephoto.

And boy were they disgusted when I told them what I was shooting...

My husband was quite amused that I had caused my very own "bear-jam".

JT

[Brian Ellis]

ME: [setting up an 8x10 monorail]
TOURIST COUPLE: "Excuse me, could you take a 'quick snapshot' of us?"
ME: "Sure. Where's your camera?"
TOURIST COUPLE: "Isn't that a camera?"

A little OT but I was photographing with an 8x10 in Plant Park near the University of Tampa a few years ago. A couple came up and asked me about the camera and eventually asked me to take their picture. I thought it was kind of funny to ask someone to make their picture with an 8x10 camera but finally figured why not. So I posed them against a fountain and made a photograph. We chatted for a while, turned out they were honeymooning from Atlantic City where they worked in a casino. So I made a few more 8x10s for them in different poses around the grounds and made some nice contact prints, some in Amidol on Azo, some sepia toned, others normal silver prints, and mailed them off. They wrote back, thanked me profusely, said they were thrilled with the photographs and told me that if I came to Atlantic City they'd comp me for the hotel, meals, the works for as long as I wanted. I never did take them up on it but I thought it was a nice offer. Then again not too many couples have 8x10 contact prints for their honeymoon photographs.

[Eugene van der Merwe]

Last saturday i had the ebony out for an airing on the beach when a scrawny, digital compact toting individual saunters up behind me. He proceeds to watch me like a circus act for about ten minutes while i duck in and out of the dark cloth and and walk back and forth to the camera bag. Eventually he points to my camera and says "what's that?", when i reply " A camera." he asks " Does it take pictures?"

[ImSoNegative]

this happend yesturday
a passer-by- "well, what have you got there?"
me-"an 8x10 camera"
passer-by-"8x10? I can get alot bigger pictures than that with my camera " referring to his nikon d40
me- "really?"
passerby-"yes, i have had 16x20's made, you should get one of these."
me-"I will have to look into that, thanks" he walked away as i dipped my head back under the dark cloth, laughing my ass off. : )

[goamules]

OK, I've got one.

I was at a scenic overlook at a southwestern "rocks" monument. Shooting wetplate, I had my camera, darkbox, water trays, chemical bottles, etc. all over the tailgate of my truck.

A trio, two women and a man in their 50s or 60s are walking by so I go under the bellows so I don't have to talk to them. Timing it a few minutes so they will be past and gone, I come out. The two women have continued on, but the man has stopped a few feet away.

Hands on his hips, disapproving smirk, and with a singsong, patronizing tone he says, "What'd you do?" It sounded like how I would talk to my dog if he had chewed something in the house. I just ignored him and didn't even stop what I was doing. He walked off.

[Eugene van der Merwe]

Ooh ooh, i've got another. My wife's cousin's "is that an LCD on the back of your camera?" was good for a few giggles.

[Robert Hall]

Ok, so one more story.

Reading the thread on the Harrison Changing Tent reminded me of this story...

It seems that whenever I want to speak German, I just have to go to Southern Utah in the summer.

I was out on an extended trip and happened to be at the Goosenecks State Park (Utah, USA). They call them that because if you look off at the formations left by erosion they leave 2 long formations that look like the necks and heads of Geese. If you've not been there it's worth a look if you get a chance.

It's a bit of a harsh environment and there is only one picnic table there as well as it's really the only one for miles. I have photographed there several times and find it one of the places that is more challenging technically to shoot. It has in interesting sense of light that fools one in to thinking it might be easier to shoot than what I see when I pull film out of the machine back in the darkroom and see the result.

I had just shot the last of my 8x10 film and needed a couple more shots and had other places to go before the light was lost and since the table has a cover I thought I could get out of the sun while changing the film. I had a good number of holders to change so I started my work.

There is a steady flow albeit few visitors that show up during the day and it takes me a while to change the film so I see people come and go with rarely a glance from them.

This time was a little different. The table has a nice view of canyon created by the San Juan river and as I sat there with my hands inside the tent I contemplated the itch on my nose. Funny how that seems to happen when you can't get a free hand to scratch, isn't it? I noticed a couple of young ladies in their early 20's speaking softly in German as they looked out over the cliffs edge.

Really I can see that there may be not much to see out there unless you are a photographer or artist type. Southern Utah and canyons are a little like white on rice. So as they discussed what they might do later in the afternoon and walking about they glanced at me as I was finishing up flipping the slides from exposed to unexposed. Not wanting to be rude they tried not to stare but I think the curiosity at that point started to build. As they walked a few feet and looked out, their attention became more and more focused on what I was doing and it made the path they followed more of a circle towards me. This continued for a few minutes. Finally they circled in close enough that they felt I was of little threat to perhaps inquire as to what I was doing. I was making friendly eye contact but needing to concentrate I didn't really say anything as they walked about the table. I knew that at some point one of them would simply have to ask what I was doing. The whole sight of some random guy in the middle of no where with his hands in a silver tent on a table was just too much for them. Just as one began to open her mouth and ask I said, "Ich massiere Meine Katz". (I'm massaging my cat).

It took only a moment to grasp that not only was this typical American speaking German, but showed that this guy really was doing something weird out in the middle of no where and in the next instant knew that I was pulling their collective legs. It hit us all so funny that I lost track of what I was doing and the girls collapsed to the ground laughing so hard one said, " Ich werde mich pinkeln!" (I'll let you figure out the translation on that).

At that point I had just finished my film change over and pulled my hands from the (very) hot tent and pulled the film holders out to dry out. We had a good chat about what I was there doing, what they had seen, and they offered kind words as to my questionable abilities to speak Swiss German. They young ladies were from Lausanne.

Like I always say, large format photography is a performing art.