Curious people asking questions about equipment

Does anyone else have the problem of curious people asking questions

about your equipment while you are taking photographs? This seems to

happen most often when using I am using very large lenses, such as the

560 Telyt-R. It is very annoying, so I have now made it a policy not

to discuss my equipment with strangers anymore, and to say simply to

leave me alone. I am sick and tired of it. It distracts me from what I

am doing and draws too much attention to me, which I really do not

want. Anyone else have this problem?

 

Just Sunday I was out with the 560, and I was approached twice. A

beggar came up to me (always a pleasant experience), whom I rebuffed,

and a curious fellow tried to engage me in conversation about the

lens. I simply smiled and walked by without answering.

Tell them you're just doing photographic ART.

Hans,

 

You're a real pleasure! Just think, when you're on you deathbed you can think of all those interesting people you may have met while out shooting photos. I guess clutching your beloved 560 Telyt will have to do.

"This seems to happen most often when using I am using very large lenses, such as the 560 Telyt-R. It is very annoying, so I have now made it a policy not to discuss my equipment with strangers anymore, and to say simply to leave me alone."<p> Then use a digi-point-and-shoot, or better yet a disposable film camera. I'm sure people will leave you alone then...jeeezzz..

I remember a movie made locally by some film students "The Langley Bunch". Aliens have attacked the Earth. All is lost. One of the Aliens asks our hero about his car. The "Langley Bunch" talk non-stop about the car and the attackers die of boredom.

 

Ask me about 1950's RF gear.

Those of us who don't have the gift of being able to greak through to strangers so easily thank you for your suggestion of using a lens to instigate conversation to get people to pose.

Happens all the time. Matter of fact a few weeks ago I was photographing in downtown

Portland, OR. Lots of conversation with beggars, street people, you name it. Good

photographic opportunties arose. Hans, you'll find there's room for all of us.

 

I'd be curious about that 560 too as I have never seen one in person.

Really? get used to do real world conversations again ;-) In the end should be not much different conversations than here in this forum.

 

Or, look for other equipment, that attracts good-looking girls. If you still get annoyed, than really you shoud see a doctor ;-)

Would you be more willing to talk to them if you were using a Nikon or Canon 300mm f/2.8, or is it strictly related to the fact that you use an elite brand of equipement such as Leica?

 

Maybe a bright red jacket with "Please leave me alone, it's a Leica" blazing on the back would help.

Man, I am pretty sick and tired of this talk on this forum already. :-)

 

Relax, Hans. You would ask the same question if you see something that is not familiar to you.

Hey Hans...hopefully someday you won't walk up to someone in the throes of a heart attack, gasping for help and have them tell you to screw off...they're too busy.

Bob, man that's too funny.

One method, once advocated here, is to bludgeon them with a Gitzo tripod. It seems to scatter the gypsies in Paris. I'm sure it will work wherever you are.

Something's wrong with someone who comes to an internet forum and gets on a cyber-soapbox (like we all do here)saying he doesn't like people asking him about his gear. Sounds like a crock of bullsh*t to me. Unless of course these are other knowlegeable photographers asking rhetorical questions about your Telyt with the clear implication that you must have escaped from a lunatic asylum to be using such a huge, archaic piece of estoterica with a paltry f/6.8 aperture when there are so many better options. Then I can understand your wanting to tell them to f*ck off.

i think hans is just in a bad mood -- give him a break. he recently endured a good ol' fashioned mule skinning over on the film processing forum courtesy of DB Mark and friends.

I was asking if anyone else has the same problem. I have already told you my policy, which I have come to reluctantly, is not to talk to strangers about my equipment. I used to do it, but no more. I simply do not care to discuss these things with strangers whil I am trying to concentrate on my photography. The possibility always exists with beggars that they will try to rob you. So, on Sunday I told that beggar to 'get away from me'.

Humans are by nature curious, so I think expecting them to pay no mind to an

expensive piece of machinery is a bit silly. I don't think I've ever been out shooting

with a long lense and not had a least a comment like "that's a big lense (usually they

say big camera referring the lense" my way. While it may in fact be none of their

business what you are doing, some people, beleive it or not, are social!!!! I might not

be the first person to go up to a stranger and ask them a question, but at least when

confronted by a stranger I'm at least polite about it. By carrying that lense around you

essenitally have "look at me" tattooed on your forhead. Take it. Or you could polish

up the Leica, put in in a display case, and buy a Holga or a disposable and go out and

shoot. Or do you have a policy against that too?

Who would expect you to be less obnoxious away from the keyboard than you are in front of it?

Erik L. , feb 17, 2004; 12:39 p.m.

<i>Would you be more willing to talk to them if you were using a Nikon or Canon 300mm f/2.8, or is it strictly related to the fact that you use an elite brand of equipement such as Leica?

 

Maybe a bright red jacket with "Please leave me alone, it's a Leica" blazing on the back would help.'</i>

 

<p>

 

As a matter of fact, there was another fellow walking around taking photographs too. He had Nikons, I believe. As I walked by, I said 'mine is bigger than yours'....in jest, of course. He laughed. We left each other alone, just as we should have.

Jay:

 

That lens absolutely glows. It is a delight to use, I assure you.

Most of the time people who see what I'm doing will go out of their way to avoid interfering with the pictures, but when they start asking questions I find it best to be polite and courteous. It paid off when someone asked me "Are you taking pictures?" while I had my face to the camera's viewfinder:

<CENTER>

<A HREF="http://www.wildlightphoto.com" target="_blank">

<IMG SRC="http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/awpe0.jpg">

</A>

<BR>

American White Pelican</B> - West Sacramento, California<BR>

<I>Leicaflex SL, 560mm f/6.8 Telyt</I>

</CENTER>

It turned out the fellow was the West Sacramento head of Parks and Recreation, and he bought a print of this photo for each member of the Parks & Recreation board of directors.

Jared and the others:

 

Who said anything about being obnoxious? I just smile and keep walking, or politely decline to talk about it, or say 'excuse me' or something along those lines and move away.

 

What I am curious about is whether anyone else has the problem.

<<"We left each other alone, just as we should have.">>

 

let's not reopen the sexual preference thread; i thought that was finally, ahem, behind us.

 

as for your problem hans, maybe you are emitting alluring pheromones of some kind.

 

on the other hand, the "beggar" may just be a leica-paid marketing researcher. i think you are the only person ever to purchase the 560. they probably want to study you to figure out how to sell another.

Roger:

 

The sold this lens for 25 years (1970-1995), so I doubt that would be the case. I saw the beggar stop and ask several people for money as he was walking down the street. I was simply being cautious by telling him to go away.

I think the question isn't if anyone else has this "problem." I would guess everyone

here at some point has people ask questions or make comments to them regarding

equipment. The question is, is that really such a "problem?" It's life.