Can you take a picture please?

[robwilson]

I am working on a new photographic formula, and I think I shall call it 'Wilson's Rule' just to be egotistical about it ;).

 

I've noticed that ever since I've been relatively serious about taking pictures and had a decent camera I've been

regulared asked to take someone's snap for them. I always oblige, take their point and shoot, snap a couple of

shots and do my best to take a good picture for them. I've always wondered if they recognise (or mistake?) me for a

talent photographer?!

(I've only nearly told someone 'no' once, at Machu Picchu at dawn. Unfortunately, my sense of decency didn't allow

me to do that and I ended up taking someone's picture and missing the best light on a once in a lifetime visit... Oh

dear).

During my trip to Peru, my E510 broke and I was cameraless of the rest of the trip. My fiance on the other hand was

still strolling around with her D80 being constantly asked to take someone's picture.

Now I've upgraded to an E3 with a vertical control grip I am asked all the time - often by people who don't speak

English who just hand the camera over and smile.

 

So, from this research here is 'Wilson's Formula':-

 

The amount of times you will be asked to take a person's picture for them is directly proportional to the size of your

camera.

 

 

Does anyone concur with this piece of splendidly unacademic research?

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[leicaglow]

I've been asked a lot lately to take people's picture for some reason, and I've never had a camera with me (unusual). I always get a kick out of people who want to give you a photo lesson. BTW, I think there should be something about the size of the cameras getting smaller or something. I can't believe how tiny these digitals are in real-life. I refuse to take the picture on a cell phone though.

[Matt Laur]

You've left out some variables. I use this formula:

<br><br>

  F_a = (S_c + S_L) / S_p

<br><Br>

So, you've got the Frequency of being asked being equal to the Size of your camera plus the Size of your lens,

divided

by the apparent Surliness of the photographer. Since I have an almost perpetually surly face in public (says my

wife), that large number greatly reduces the impact of camera and lens size on tourist snapshot request frequency.

<br><Br>

See? And people say you never use alegbra when you grow up.

[lex_jenkins]

I'm always tickled to oblige requests and even demands to be photographed, with my camera or their's. Offhand I

can't think of any specific connection between the size and type of camera I was carrying at the time, tho'.

I've been asked to photograph people when I was carrying various Nikons, TLRs, an old Agfa folder, others.

 

Oddly, it's not always someone handing their camera to me with confidence that I could take a better photo of

their group that they can take home and enjoy. In several cases, people asked me to photograph them using my own

cameras, with no expectations that they'd ever see the photos. It's happened when I've been doing street photos

of festivals using handheld 35mm and digital cameras and even when lugging a TLR on a tripod. People of all

types just impulsively have asked me to photograph them: a panhandler told me about his days in Chicago running

with gangs, drugs, etc., and asked me to photograph him while I was doing nighttime architectural photography in

downtown Fort Worth using a tripod-mounted F3HP (he didn't even ask me for money); a pair of cute young gals

asked me to photograph them while I was doing another architectural shoot using a tripod mounted Rollei TLR; a

middle-aged couple canoodling outside a restaurant wanted me to photograph them while I was carrying a handheld

Yashica TLR; kids have literally jumped in front of my camera while I was carrying a funny looking Agfa Isolette

folder, dancing around insistently until I snapped a photo. And I've lost track of the number of times folks

just wanted me to snap 'em using their own cameras.

 

Goes with the territory. It should always be so easy to get folks to relax in front of a camera.

[azlatic]

I used to get asked all the time (and was admittedly a little surly about it)...the only reason I don't any more is because I offer before they can ask.

 

I offer now because I became a mother, and started noticing all the other mothers out there taking pictures of their family. I realized that I'm not in most of the images of my family, and they probably aren't in most of theirs. So I do 'em (and their kids) a favor by marching right up and saying, "Would you like me to take a picture so you can be in it with your family?" I've never been turned down, and the looks of gratitude are more than enough compensation, plus the knowledge that I've done my good deed for the day.

 

Just did it last week at the pumpkin patch (and even though I got a little "tip" from the other mom in return - "it's really cute when you hold a big pumpkin over their heads!" - it was still worth it).

 

Little bit of pay it forward, I guess. Maybe one or two of those moms will see another mother taking pictures of her family and jump in to help someone else.

 

(Same goes for dads, too, of course!)

 

You know, the funny thing is, all those people I stop to help, never offer in return. They eye up my camera and get a bit freaked, I think. No worries...I put it on P and hand it to Dad every once in awhile.

[tomwatt]

I will usually offer, especially when I see a member of a group break off to take the picture, to take the shot so they can be in it as well. And when traveling with my 24-70L on my 5D (with battery grip), I often get comments on the size of my camera. Maybe due to me making the offer first, I don't get that many requests to take the pic. It's actually enjoyable for me... since I get a kick out of watching families interact, but mostly because I'm usually a fairly solitary sort. I shouldda been a monk!

[fullmetalphotograper]

If they have dead presidents or are cute I have no problem taking their photo. ;)

[maris_rusis]

I tend to get a reverse Wilson's Rule.

 

People want to take pictures of me taking photographs. The shot they seem to want most often is me under the

focussing cloth while looking at the ground glass of my Tachihara 8x10. I wonder what commentary they add to the

picture when they show it to their friends.

 

Or maybe it is best that I don't know.

[spanky]

I'll never forget the time I took a few candid pics of a couple on 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica some time ago. Just as I was about to move on suddenly one of them asked me if I would take their picture and held out a disposable camera to me. Of course I obliged while thinking "If they only knew...."

[bangengeman]

Just today, I was asked... twice... FWIW, it's a 450D/XSi. With a kit lens. And there were two other girls with a

40D/30D(? -- couldn't see the exact model) and L lenses. It's either Matt's formula is off or I look like a kind

soul who would be nice enough to oblige. I hope it's the latter.

[robwilson]

Anyway I think we should name the formula the Wilson-Laur rule. Matt and I will be presenting a paper to the Royal Photographic Society shortly!

 

:)

[bernie moore]

Vincent Versace, renowned celebrity portraitist and natural light photographer, during a lecture I attended, related a story where he was setting up one of his exquisite Golden Gate photos. A young couple asked him to snap a shot of them with the bridge in the background, with their camera which he obligingly did. "If they only know what they were getting", he quipped. I guess no one is immune to hand offs. Sorry yon lost the perfect light, and I hope the good deed was sufficient compensation. As for my own bumbling self, I enjoy being asked as long as they don't give instruction on how to trigger the shutter.

[david_henderson]

I get asked a lot I guess because I travel a lot. Most of the time I happily say yes. Sometimes I have to say that I'm sorry, but I'm busy; or ask if they can wait a few minutes till I'm done (few bother). Sometimes if my wife's around, she'll step in at that point and help out. What I have noticed however is this. There are people who will ask even when the photographer is clearly busy or overtly preoccuppied. Filters flying everywhere, lenses popping on and off every few seconds, metering checks every minute and so on. Thats when their desire for an available photographer gets selfish and its hard to respond politely. I've had people tap me on the shoulder when I've been looking through the viewfinder. I've had a mother with her son on the beach in Oregon who yelled at me to "come and take pictures of my son" when I've been running back and forward with the waves along the waterline, big camera on tripod.

 

As I say, most of the time I'm pleased to help, but the nature and timing of the approach makes a big difference. And I'm afraid it wouldn't have been me that missed the best light at Machu Picchu- well not for that reason anyway.

[chris_waller]

You're right. When I'm carrying my F1, particularly when I have the motor-drive attached, I get numerous requests to take someone's picture. The embarrassment comes when I have to ask them which button to press on their P&S! They're too simple - I need masses of knobs and dials before I know what I'm doing.

[aplumpton]

I always agree, and with pleasure, and remember the moments when with friends I would have loved to have someone

nearby who would do the same for us. In most of my photos of friends I am the invisible person with the gawky

expression, just to the left of the pretty lady.

[sarah_fox]

Lex wrote: "I'm always tickled to oblige requests and even demands to be photographed, with my camera or their's."

 

Sometimes you get some interesting shots when that happens! This guy wouldn't leave me alone until I snapped his picture...<div></div>

[starvy]

one of these days i shall acquire a folder! no requests so far although i have had people come up and talk to me about my bessa r. the 35mm color skopar lens has a fake leica sumicron hood. so it stands out a bit more. when i walked around with my battered om4 people stared and some even came and talked to me. since i don't do tripods or try my best not to stand out, it would be difficult to pin me down with requests.

[rodalanwildeman]

I use the request "to snap a picture" as a marketing ploy. I snap the picture with the point and shoot that is given to me and

I give a business card. It does not always work but I did book 2 appointments out of 18 requests this year. It was worth

my time and effort. I just had to push a button. If I use my camera I just sell the print. It works.

[ilkka]

I usually take a picture with my own camera as well. In this case, I was in Japan in an area with a lot of waterfalls. I used a tripod and slow shutter speeds. This couple asked me to take their picture using their small point and shoot. I took the camera, then asked them to look at the waterfall while I took my own picture. Then I replaced their camera on my tripod and took a picture of them sitting and smiling to the camera, with a slow shutter speed. I hope they like their image. I think this one is better for having the two people in it than without them, which I also have of course.<div></div>

[Brian]

<P><I>...I often get comments on the size of my camera...</I> There is definitely an undercurrent in this thread that size matters. Get over it boys. The size of your camera is of no significance whatsoever.</P>

[ted_marcus1]

I get this request with some frequency. When I'm traveling alone (which is most of the time) in the United States, the requests come exclusively from foreign couples who apparently aren't aware that a solo male in the United States is something to be feared and avoided. When I'm with a friend I do get requests from American couples.

 

In either case I ask them how to turn on the flash, explaining that even on a bright sunny day pictures of people turn out better with fill flash. Most of the time they have no idea how to turn on the flash. If I can figure it out I do it myself. Otherwise I try to pose them so the light is on their faces. I hope I've given them good pictures that will be cherished memories, but I have no way of knowing.

 

Most of the time the cameras I'm handed are compact digicams, with the occasional disposable. But once, in Las Vegas in December 2005, a Japanese man handed me a (then-new) Canon 5D with a (then-new) 24-105L lens and a large flash, estimated value around $5000. After I did the appointed task, I asked him what he thought of the camera. He explained that he had walked into a Tokyo camera shop and asked the clerk for the "best camera." Since this kit was Canon's latest high-end model, it presumably filled the bill. I guess if you can afford to do that, you can afford to replace it if the stranger you hand it to absconds with it.

[jpo3136b]

I have only been asked once in the last five years. I was carrying a Yashicamat 124G at the time. They handed me

their point and shoot camera. I didn't know how to operate it. I use manual film cameras mostly. I kept squeezing the

shutter button like a trigger, and the thing wouldn't take.

 

They had a conversation in Spanish that amounted to, I can't believe he doesn't know how to use this. They had to

show me. I took their picture. The young men looked proud. The mother smiled. The kid didn't want to hold still. It

was probably a good picture, full of personality, thanks to the people in it.

 

I must be on the surly side because people I don't know don't bother me when I'm with my camera.