# Funny Comments you get when you have your "big" camera



## DeepSpring

It will be fun to hear everyones stories 



This is the best comment I've ever gotten. It was 4th of july and I was on the Pier with my gf waiting for the fireworks. I had my rebel xt w/ grip and 70-200 f4 L mounted on a tripod. This girl maybe around 20 walks up to me

her - I have a quick question to ask if you don't mind (I smile) When I shoot the fireworks (holds up tiny point n shoot) should I be using flash?

me - nope it won't do anything

her - You sure?

me - Yes, that flash could never reach that far and anyways if it could the fireworks are muuuuuch brighter than your flash could ever be.

her - You sure? They're not going to come out blurry?

me - nope. ( I didn't feel like trying to explain to her they would be blurry because of the long shutter speeds that would be used)

her - Are you a professional?

me - No, I'm only 17

her - Oh......... (walks away)


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## WDodd

I got a bunch of looks too when I did my fireworks at the beach, no one came up to me to ask questions though.


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## Mike_E

Hey, ummm DS, after you've bedazzled her with your brilliance you are supposed to ask if she wants to model for you.  

mike-I'm just sayin'


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## John_05

the funny thing ive noticed is if i have the 50mm lens on my XT,  the only thing people ask is, "is that film or digital?"

but....

if i have the 70-300mm lens on my camera,  people always ask "what kind of video camera is that?"


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## doenoe

i was walking around with my camera on my tripod today (was shooting IR) and all of a sudden everybody thought i was filming for the news. Kids drawing attention all of a sudden, people honking their horns.....weird.


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## silver163

Yeah I got looks also when I went downtown to take photos (i forgot to set the correct settings so they didnt come out) but some kid started saying some stupid things about me, gave him a smack in the mouth


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## DeepSpring

John_05 said:


> the funny thing ive noticed is if i have the 50mm lens on my XT,  the only thing people ask is, "is that film or digital?"



Whenever I'm shooting my digital I get the "WOW That thing is digital?!?!?" when I go to show someone the pic I just took of them.

however......


When I'm shooting film people are amazed It's not digital and try to tell me how I should look into digital.


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## blackdoglab

> When I'm shooting film people are amazed It's not digital and try to tell me how I should look into digital.


I was shooting with my yaschica down by Lake Michigan a few months ago when a kid came up to me...

"are you from the newspaper?"

no one yet has asked me about shooting film.  maybe i should start carrying a roll in each hand to spark conversation and debate


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## jstuedle

I was in the park shooting a young red tailed hawk with my DSLR and a 400mm f/3.5. This fella about 50 walks quickly, almost running up to Cathy and I and asks "Is that a Cannon?". No, just my heavy artillery. (I shoot Nikon)


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## DeepSpring

jstuedle said:


> "Is that a Cannon?".




My friend joked one day when he saw my 70 - 200 "Man that thing's a cannon"

It is (points to canon logo) and everyone cracks up


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## Remi M.

I don't get any comments about the camera.  Seems like allot of people are carrying SLR's lately.
However when I have the camera on the tripod, people take it as a invitation to come up and chat.


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## RedDevilUK

I was on a nature reserve shooting some pics next to a guy with a point and shoot... i saw a pelican come out from the trees and onto the lake.

i started taking pictures... so did he, then he looks at his LCD... turns to me and says..
"your wasting your time mate... too far away" and turn his camera round showing me the little speck of a bird on the photo he just took

i said "mines looking fine!" then turned my camera round to the full screen full detail version on my photo

i wont repeat what he said, but it began with "F" 

i was using the 300mm.... i think he was impressed LOL


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## shorty6049

i need to get a better zoom lens... everyones got those dang white canon monsters lately.... too bad i shoot sony


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## Alpha

I'm an instant pro when I shoot 4x5 in public. I regularly get comments about my MF, too.


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## Garbz

her - "That's a big camera"
me - "Yep"

Story over LOL. If they are worth chatting up or it is someone with something more interesting to say then "that's a big camera" then the conversation will be much longer and may go somewhere. But it's surprising the number of people who walk past and just need to point out the most obvious thing that everyone in the vicinity can already see. I have a big camera, get over it folks!

There's also been some dirtier comments when using a telephoto lens like (minors skip over the next 2 lines):
her - "Does it get bigger"
me - "if it did you wouldn't be able to handle it"


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## WDodd

DeepSpring said:


> It will be fun to hear everyones stories
> 
> 
> 
> This is the best comment I've ever gotten. It was 4th of july and I was on the Pier with my gf waiting for the fireworks. I had my rebel xt w/ grip and 70-200 f4 L mounted on a tripod. This girl maybe around 20 walks up to me
> 
> her - I have a quick question to ask if you don't mind (I smile) When I shoot the fireworks (holds up tiny point n shoot) should I be using flash?
> 
> me - nope it won't do anything
> 
> her - You sure?
> 
> me - Yes, that flash could never reach that far and anyways if it could the fireworks are muuuuuch brighter than your flash could ever be.
> 
> her - You sure? They're not going to come out blurry?
> 
> me - nope. ( I didn't feel like trying to explain to her they would be blurry because of the long shutter speeds that would be used)
> 
> her - Are you a professional?
> 
> me - No, I'm only 17
> 
> her - Oh......... (walks away)



So you aren't suggesting this as a way to pick up chicks?


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## Iron Flatline

Some of you may get this: Went to see Lou Reed the other night, and brought my Leica M8 with a 35mm Summilux. "Is that an SLR?" the burly door guy asked. "Nope, it's a Rangefinder." "As long as it's not an SLR, we don't allow good cameras."


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## Alpha

lol


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## DeepSpring

Iron Flatline said:


> Some of you may get this: Went to see Lou Reed the other night, and brought my Leica M8 with a 35mm Summilux. "Is that an SLR?" the burly door guy asked. "Nope, it's a Rangefinder." "As long as it's not an SLR, we don't allow good cameras."



:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

You should get one of those good cameras.... psssshh what's this leica junk?
Incase you can't see my sarcasm over the internet please don't explode. I know a leicas good stuff.





I seriously need to get a life... I've been on this thing all day.... ahh no more replying to this thread for me....... at least until the morning....


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## Chris of Arabia

DeepSpring said:


> I seriously need to get a life...


 
It's overrated IMHO...


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## darich

I've had comments such as "nice camera" but only when the white lens is on.

I've had this happen regularly:
When taking shots somewhere busy, especially with the white lens on, but it often happens with a "normal" lens too, everyone is taking shots of whatever catches their eye.
When people see the white lens they almost always look to see what i'm taking photos of and more often than not, will then start taking pictures of that too.
It happened in San Francisco on a boat trip to do whale watching. During a lull in activity i took some shots of the water being broken by the boat as i moved through the water - the spray and sunlight was forming mini rainbows and at least one other person started copying me.
Same trip - I was shooting the seagulls (not with a gun!) and a few people stopped what they were doing to see what i was shooting.

is it just me or do any of you guys almost get embarrassed or feel more like a tourist when using a compact? Maybe I'm just more comfortable with my SLR!


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## morydd

Actually, the accessory that gets me the most questions is my wife. She seems to like to play "photographer's assistant" so when I go to switch lenses, she'll grab them and put caps on and stuff for me. Makes me look like a "pro" I guess. When we're at the zoo we get lots of "Are you with a magazine?" remarks.


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## tempra

shorty6049 said:


> i need to get a better zoom lens... everyones got those dang white canon monsters lately.... too bad i shoot sony



This should help!


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## Alex_B

darich said:


> When people see the white lens they almost always look to see what i'm taking photos of and more often than not, will then start taking pictures of that too.




oh, very common experience with me  I shoot things, investing some minutes or even half an hour for the scene... and more and more people who are deperately looking for something to shoot just point their cameras in the direction mine points and try to copy what I do.. just for them it only takes a second (not sure about the outcome though  ) ... some feel guilty, like stealing my scene, you can see it how embarrassed they look back when I look at them  Like I caught them 

oh, these copy cat snapshooters use not just point and shoot cameras but also DSLRs these days


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## Alex_B

doenoe said:


> i was walking around with my camera on my tripod today (was shooting IR) and all of a sudden everybody thought i was filming for the news. Kids drawing attention all of a sudden, people honking their horns.....weird.



common experience! especially in cities, when I use my tripod many people think I was filming 



DeepSpring said:


> me - No, I'm only 17
> 
> her - Oh......... (walks away)



from that moment on she probably thought what you told her was rubbish


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## Alex_B

oh, and some more:

*At some ancient temple in Egypt:*

dSLR-photographer: "You waste your time waiting for those people leaving the scene!"

me: "But I don't want them in my composition."

dSLR-photographer: "Just clone them out afterwards in Photoshop!"

me: "I'm currently shooting slide film."

dSLR-photographer: *totally freaks out, stares at me in amazement* "You mean real film, like in the old days?" *comes closer to see my camera and then quickly leaves the scene, scared apparently*

*Somewhere in town:* 

stranger: "Wow, is that a digital camera?"

me: "Yes, it is ..." (was shooting a DSLR that day)

stranger: "But the clicking noise sounds so real!"

me: "It is real." .. I then walked away since I would not kow how to do more conversation here 

*Somewhere in town:*

Stranger without camera: "Is that a Nikon?"

me: "No."

Stranger without camera: "You should get a Nikon!"

me: "Why?"

Stranger without camera: "Nikons are real cameras."

me: "OK." 

I continue adjusting my tripod ... stranger leaves me alone 
... but comes back 20 minutes later:

Stranger without camera: "I have a Nikon at home, it is much better!"

me: "OK, but why don't you take pictures then?"

Stranger walks away confused and never comes back


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## DeepSpring

Alex_B said:


> oh, and some more:
> 
> 
> *Somewhere in town:*
> 
> stranger: "Wow, is that a digital camera?"
> 
> me: "Yes, it is ..." (was shooting a DSLR that day)
> 
> stranger: "But the clicking noise sounds so real!"
> 
> me: "It is real." .. I then walked away since I would not kow how to do more conversation here



One of my friends one day spent a good 5 minutes during class trying to explain to me how you can turn the shutter sound off. 


Heres another one. 
I was at a store around town and they make u check ur bags in. I had my camera on my monopod so I popped it off and handed the guy behind teh counter the monopod as well as my backpack. When I come back after I look around to pick up  my stuff the guy hesitates in handing my stuff back and asks

him - ..... Are you ummm.... a.... Photographer.....?

me - Oh no I just like carrying all this stuff around with me 

He gave me a really confused look and handed me my stuff.


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## sabbath999

Ok, I have a totally opposite experience.

I was doing a day at the zoo with my point & shoot, specifically to show a few friends that you CAN take pictures with a moderate zoom lens P&S that costs about $200 if you know what you are doing...

I was a lovely Saturday, and the zoo was absolutely PACKED with people. I was in the herp building, and I saw a guy wandering around with a 4X6 view camera on a tripod. I went up to him and said "OK, I gotta admit I have never seen anybody using a view camera at a zoo before..." 

He grinned at me and said (with a kind of rueful smile) "yeah, well as crowded as this place is today, you are getting better pictures with that (points to my P&S) than I am with this."

I wanted to tell him "Hey, you should see some of my OTHER cameras... I have 3 big fancy DSLR's with all kinds of lenses and flashes and all the cool toys" but instead I just looked at my little $239 Powershot A710 IS, and I realized that he was right. While his camera was MUCH cooler and more fun, I was going to have a lot more good pictures at the end of the day than he was... especially in that crowded place.

BTW, the P&S's zoo pictures can be seen Here (clicky).


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## Nekoism

Nice... I shoot a lot of elementary, middle and high schools for my company and I always get called a paparazzi by the kids.

I was shooting a high school out in Corona, CA and school had just let out for the day. I was out in front shooting a scoreboard I designed for the school and some kid comes up and said to me: "hey paparazzi who are you shooting?" I replied "no one, there's no one famous out here..." The kid just hung his head down and walked away. I usually always have to ignore the students at all costs.

Edit: should clarifty that when I carry my D70s I don't get any comments, but when I use the company D2Xs it's when I get the paparazzi comments...


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## JC1220

Happens on occasion, then again how often do you see this:







My 12x20 Korona.

Had someone ask me once if it was digital


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## sabbath999

JC1220 said:


> Happens on occasion, then again how often do you see this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My 12x20 Korona.
> 
> Had someone ask me once if it was digital



Well, is it?


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## JC1220

It was that day!


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## Mike_E

I did a test once when I was single.  I walked up and down Daytona Beach one day with a Nikon and a 50mm and didn't get a date.  Went back to my car and got an 80-200 f2.8 zoom and had a date before I got back to the waters edge.  Go figure.


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## S2K1

One of Scott Kelby's books points out that if you have a big lens, people assume you're a professional, sounds like people here have the same experience. I've only had my 30D with grip and 70-200 for a few months, so no comments yet, but my family said how nice my camera was numerous times at a family outing, but my brother in law with a D70s and an 18-55 got no comments.


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## sabbath999

Mike_E said:


> I did a test once when I was single.  I walked up and down Daytona Beach one day with a Nikon and a 50mm and didn't get a date.  Went back to my car and got an 80-200 f2.8 zoom and had a date before I got back to the waters edge.  Go figure.



I guess size DOES matter.


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## ksmattfish

doenoe said:


> ...everybody thought i was filming for the news.



I get this when I'm out with my 4x5 cameras.  I don't know why people think it's a motion picture camera.  Has anyone ever seen a movie camera with bellows?  My field cameras and monrail don't look anything like any video camera I've ever seen.

When I'm out with my vintage cameras I've had groups of old guys follow me around reminiscing about cameras that they or their father used.

Back when I shot weddings with film I had a videographer approach me and ask if I was using a Canon.  "Nope, " I told him, "this is a Hasselblad."  He muttered something about "real pros use Canon", and wandered away.  Ignorance is bliss, so they say.


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## DeepSpring

If you guys really want to get a date you gotta strap on the 70-200, flash unit, and lumiquest flash softbox 
http://www.lumiquest.com/lq925.htm


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## Garbz

Actually this thread reminds me of another situation at uni. A few friends and I were walking around and saw someone who was clearly a tourist holding 2 cameras. One of my friends muttered your camera is better, I doubt he'd get any good shots of this court with that small thing. I just nodded.

The tourist in question was holding a Leica M5 in one hand and some brand unknown to me purpose built panoramic cameras with a vertical slit shutter.

Also whenever I take my camera out to crowded places people want me to take photos of them "for the front page" lol


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## smyth

DeepSpring said:


> If you guys really want to get a date you gotta strap on the 70-200, flash unit, and lumiquest flash softbox
> http://www.lumiquest.com/lq925.htm


 

Don't forget the lens hood


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## Jon, The Elder

I shoot horse shows.  I've got Grey hair, wear a brimmed hat, 511 SWAT pants with pockets full of stuff, wild shirts, 6'-2", and carry my 30D/70-200 W/hood on a hand strap.

I come out of the arena, and swear to God, the woman says "are you THE photographer".

Depending on their age and looks, I have some fun with them.


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## Iron Flatline

Garbz said:


> The tourist in question was holding a Leica M5 in one hand and some brand unknown to me purpose built panoramic cameras with a vertical slit shutter.


Mmmmm.... tasty. Hasselblad X-Pan.


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## S2K1

DeepSpring said:


> If you guys really want to get a date you gotta strap on the 70-200, flash unit, and lumiquest flash softbox
> http://www.lumiquest.com/lq925.htm


This happened yesterday, went to a local ski resort and after getting to the top of the mountain, I saw a lady carrying her Canon 5D with a wide-angle, lens hood, and a big softbox on top of it. I was looking for someone to take a picture of my fiance and I, she made herself aware she was capable of using my 30D.


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## ANDS!

Her:  "Is that the only thing big on you?"
Me: (slight pause) "Yes."


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## DSLR noob

At a Mazda meet a few days ago I got a lot of "do you shoot professionally?" One guy who said he was ok with me being an amature said he will pay me to give his Miata a photoshoot.

I get a lot of "is that film or digital" with my "EOS DIGITAL" camera strap attached.

I've had people say "your camera is huge!" and then watch their mouths drop when I tell them it is like... one of the smallest DSLRs made. I can't wait till I finish saving for a 70-200 f/4 L then see what comments I get.


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## Chas

Mike_E said:


> I did a test once when I was single. I walked up and down Daytona Beach one day with a Nikon and a 50mm and didn't get a date. Went back to my car and got an 80-200 f2.8 zoom and had a date before I got back to the waters edge. Go figure.


OMG. This is bad, very bad. If I hadn't left my Super-Takumar 200 in the back of a cab that fine day on my sister's wedding day circa 1971, my whole life might have been different ..... *_sobs uncontrollably_*


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## Sw1tchFX

hmm, The only people that come up to me are bums. They tell me not to take their picture. The last one went somethign like this:

Me: (sitting on the pier with my camera on tripod, shooting up the sound)
bum: "hey you!"
me: (turns around)
bum: "now don't you take my picture, if you do i'll gut you like a fish!"
me: (nods in agreement) 

the bum walked off.

Another told me his life story and about how he lost his ear from skin cancer (he showed me too, it was disgusting), and how he moved from tampa bay over to Seattle. He still wouldn't let me take his picture. 

I was just minding my own buisness!


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## Alex_B

S2K1 said:


> This happened yesterday, went to a local ski resort and after getting to the top of the mountain, I saw a lady carrying her Canon 5D with a wide-angle, lens hood, and a big softbox on top of it. I was looking for someone to take a picture of my fiance and I, she made herself aware she was capable of using my 30D.



Oh, actually, I am very often in that situations that I always have to take pictures of couples (or single Indians for some reason). They see my camera and think, wow, he will make us look good on the photo. Sometimes I feel like I take more pictures with other people's p&s cameras than with my own gear 

I am never sure how those images come out in the end though... guess they are all very disappointed in the end


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## Alex_B

Sw1tchFX said:


> bum: "now don't you take my picture, if you do i'll gut you like a fish!"



wow, Seattle seems to be a nice place! 

Would be very hard for me to stay calm if approached that insulting way.


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## Nein-reis

I was shooting with my XT and battery grip with my 100-400 f/4 L IS lens at a local pond with some neat birds.  
An older man came up to me and said:  "Your never gonna get good photos with that old thing, they fit all that into a little bugger that fits in your pocket now-a-days... And they take fantastic pictures!"  Then he went on to tell me how much they cost, where to buy them, and what a megapixel was.  I let him finish then I replied: "This is digital."  The man laughed thinking it was a joke, and walked away.

Also a lady approached me last week while I was doing an engagement shots for a customer and asked if she could borrow my camera for an hour to shoot her sons baseball game.  

Ive also been asked:
If I was making a movie
If I worked for the news
If I was hired by a wife to spy on a man
If I worked for the CSI

I think thats it, I must just get all the wackos....


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## Alex_B

Nein-reis said:


> I think thats it, I must just get all the wackos....



yours are just great 

It would be fun to see the faces belonging to all those stories. We should all take pictures of everyone asking us a stupid question or making a stupid comment and post them here.


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## Nein-reis

Alex_B said:


> yours are just great
> 
> It would be fun to see the faces belonging to all those stories. We should all take pictures of everyone asking us a stupid question or making a stupid comment and post them here.



:hail:
HA HA HA, I'm so going to start doing this!  I'm going to carry my camera with me EVERYWHERE just trolling for stupid comments/questions.  

And after the question or comment I will stare at them for a second then take a picture of them really quick... ha ha! :lmao:


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## Alex_B

Nein-reis said:


> And after the question or comment I will stare at them for a second then take a picture of them really quick... ha ha! :lmao:



And after that, if in Seattle, RUN!


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## Nein-reis

Alex_B said:


> And after that, if in Seattle, RUN!



ROFL... I live in Utah, the passive state.  They will probably write me a letter. :er:


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## Chas

Wow, you guys lead such interesting and varied professional lives! Most of us can only dream .... 
Don't y'all be forgetting that. 
*_returns to Excel file ....*_


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## Alex_B

Chas said:


> Wow, you guys lead such interesting and varied professional lives! Most of us can only dream ....
> Don't y'all be forgetting that.
> *_returns to Excel file ....*_



hey, this all is not an attack on beginners in photography  just on totally ignorant people 

and who said we are all having interesting an professional lives anyway?


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## Sw1tchFX

Alex_B said:


> wow, Seattle seems to be a nice place!
> 
> Would be very hard for me to stay calm if approached that insulting way.


 
It's usaully all talk and no show, someting similar happened outside my work before I left and we had to call the cops because he was just camping outside our front door, and we didnt' want anyone to leave while he's still out there.


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## Alex_B

Sw1tchFX said:


> It's usaully all talk and no show, someting similar happened outside my work before I left and we had to call the cops because he was just camping outside our front door, and we didnt' want anyone to leave while he's still out there.



My most interesting experience of that kind was a "white trash guy" (so my Canadian friends called him afterwards) at a Toronto petrol station.

When my friends where inside the satation he approached me and literally said " I do not like people like you." .. I asked very friendly what his problem was. and he started shouting at me, trying many ways to insult me .. he was a bit confused by my English accent and politeness though. We ended up by him asking if I wanna play a game and he took his shirt of ready to start a fight. I calmly replied that when I play it is never games, but the real thing. So he kept approaching and stepping back, whereas I stayed in my position, trying not to look intimidated at all  (ok, inside i was quite nervous  ) .. all the time his hysterical GF or wife in his car was screaming he should stay out of trouble.

Because I stayed polite but very definitive and European, you could see he got very confused and did not know what to do ... well then my friends came back and dragged me into the car and he walked away as well. So that was one of my first experiences on your continent


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## Nein-reis

Alex_B said:


> So that was one of my first experiences on your continent



So he didn't like foriegn people?  Welcome to USA mother f*cker!  I bet he voted Bush too. :roll:


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## Alex_B

Nein-reis said:


> So he didn't like foriegn people?  Welcome to USA mother f*cker!  I bet he voted Bush too. :roll:



oh boy, guess you are in trouble now .. assuming Toronto to be USA territory 

Anyway, he did not know I was not Canadian first, and I think it did not matter to him. Although when he realised I was not from his continent, he tried to insult me for that.


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## Nein-reis

Alex_B said:


> oh boy, guess you are in trouble now .. assuming Toronto to be USA territory
> 
> Anyway, he did not know I was not Canadian first, and I think it did not matter to him. Although when he realised I was not from his continent, he tried to insult me for that.



I promise not all Americans are ignorant redneck assholes....  but we do have our fair share.


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## Alex_B

Nein-reis said:


> I promise not all Americans are ignorant redneck assholes....  but we do have our fair share.



every country has its share of them .. but in the US they are just quite ... prominent and visible ... I agree.


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## avcabob

I feel left out as no one has come up to me. Mostly I get family and friends telling me what I should be taking pictures of.


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## notelliot

okay, so i have one.. from tonight haha. doesnt have anything to do with the size of my camera..

but, i was just out for a walk with my camera, which i had on my tripod, and a backpack full of gear, and on the way to a nearby park, this crackhead came up to me and asked me if i had nothing better to do than take pictures of crackheads. so i slowed down a bit, and told him no, i had better plans for tonight. at that point, he got a little upset and started jabbering, so i turned and started walking away.. the jabbering got a bit more hostile and i heard him start to come up on me. so i turned, and told him to calm down a little. he tried to pick a fight, but when i told him that my tripod swung a lot heavier than your average baseball bat (especially with my camera mounted on it hahaha) he eased off enough, and headed the other way. 

sure am glad i didn't need to sacrifice my camera like that!


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## blackdoglab

you guys have all the fun


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## Aquarium Dreams

Not many comments on my cameras, but I get a lot of ridicule for my subject matter.  I've had cars pull up next to me and people yell out the windows, "What are you taking a picture of?"  I finally decided that the best response was a simple noun (that window, fence, puddle, etc.) followed by a serene smile in response to their snickering, accompanied by a nod in response to anything else they say.  Whatever it takes to regain my solitude.  

Also, I find it suspect that it's always a male asking me what I'm shooting.:er:   My boyfriend suggested this script:

Random dude: What are you takin' a picture of?

Me:  Jesus.  He's in everything.  Do you know Jesus?

(Accompanied by my signature "cult" smile and creepy eye contact.)


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## Nein-reis

Aquarium Dreams said:


> My boyfriend suggested this script:
> 
> Random dude: What are you takin' a picture of?
> 
> Me:  Jesus.  He's in everything.  Do you know Jesus?
> 
> (Accompanied by my signature "cult" smile and creepy eye contact.)



Yep that would be enough to make just about anyone walk away... funny, I'll have to try that.


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## Garbz

Iron Flatline said:


> Mmmmm.... tasty. Hasselblad X-Pan.


If only. No it looked more like this: http://www.cosmonet.org/camera/horizo_e.htm



Alex_B said:


> Because I stayed polite but very definitive and European, you could see he got very confused and did not know what to do ... well then my friends came back and dragged me into the car and he walked away as well. So that was one of my first experiences on your continent


The old European shield. Had some local guys look like they were about to get rough because they thought I was from New Zealand with my accent. I mean what? South African is the closest most people ever get. They start abusing me, and I replied "huh? I'm from Austria". They are all confused and such and ask me to "speak some Austrian". Seeing how I'm a scrawny little man I saw it fit not to correct them and abused the heck out of them in German for a little while till they were satisfied that I wasn't from NZ and left. I blame it all on the Trinations Rugby game on that night, and I don't even like the sport.


----------



## Aquarium Dreams

Nein-reis said:


> Yep that would be enough to make just about anyone walk away... funny, I'll have to try that.




When random dudes chat up girls on the street, conversations about religion occur right after the "Girl, you fine," and "So what do you do for fun?" portion, but before the "There's a party at my buddy's house tonight" part.  Disrupting this socially accepted order in the pick up ritual results in an outcome similar to rejection for the male, who, to save his pride, must walk away and tell his friends that the female is "crazy."


----------



## jstuedle

Nein-reis said:


> So he didn't like foriegn people?  Welcome to USA mother f*cker!  I bet he voted Bush too. :roll:



Not all of us that voted for Bush (twice) are rude jerks. I know very few who are. But that is getting into politics, so we won't go there.


----------



## shorty6049

thank god!, every time i hear the word "bush" i just know theres going to be some politics..


----------



## DeepSpring

This isn't really about cameras but since it has drifted a bit about guys picking up girls....

My photography myspace usually has a picture of one of my female models as a default. I get at least 2 messages from these "gangsta" guys trying to hit on my model, who they think is me. I usually reply with "So you like dudes?" and they usually reply with something like "WTF YOUR A GUY?!?!?! Why do you have a picture of a girl??!?!?!?!"


----------



## Aquarium Dreams

DeepSpring said:


> This isn't really about cameras but since it has drifted a bit about guys picking up girls....




These two topics are not unrelated.  Photography and mating have always been bosom buddies.  Your story demonstrates this point in more than one way.  So do many of these stories, in fact.  Hm..


----------



## DeepSpring

If anyone else here listens to "Mark and Brian" on KLOS you would know they have a lot of polls and things like that they read from time to time. One of them was sexiest professions. Photographers where a 9 outa 10 if I remember correctly, right up there with musicians.


----------



## hudsonp

the setup: 
a few nights ago i was at a park where there is a duck pond, lady with kids running around walks up to me and strikes up a convo

the conversation:

Her: wow, thats a nice camera 
me: thank you
Her: is that digital
me: yes, Canon Digital Rebel XTi
Her: oh, i really like the sony cameras, you should try them out
Me: oh, ok (said while not looking at her)
Her: you taking pictures of the ducks for a magazine or something - points to my backpack
me: not really, more for my personal use
her: oh, 'cause i was going to say, this place isn't that great, you wont get many good pictures here
me: oh, thanks
her: yeah, well i've brought my camera lots of times and i never get a good picture at all
me: yeah, thats too bad - pretends that blackberry is ringing and walks away



it impresses me with how bold some people can be


----------



## Alex_B

hudsonp said:


> it impresses me with how bold some people can be



Well, this sounds like she was just seeking conversation with you, no matter about what. It is called "chatting up" 

Or she was just about to tell you her secret places to get good images of ducks. You never know.


----------



## notelliot

Alex_B said:


> Well, this sounds like she was just seeking conversation with you, no matter about what. It is called "chatting up"
> 
> Or she was just about to tell you her secret places to get good images of ducks. You never know.



i agree with this. you have to stay fairly objective and open-minded when someone approaches you when you're out with your gear. not all confrontations are intended to be negative, some people are just trying to help out. i've had more people try to give me advice than bash what i'm shooting at/with.


----------



## Chas

blackdoglab said:


> you guys have all the fun


Sure, but some of them just don't realise it ......(what a waste!) 

*_thinks_* I could get me a beaten-up old 1000 mm lens (screw mount, broken ring), stick it on my old Spotmatic, stick that on top of my old Gitso, hang the old Goosen off my neck (if _that_ doesn't look professional I don't know what does ...) and park myself near the beach at Del Mar, say. 

Sounds like a winning strategy.  I daresay it's been employed before. 

Which begs the question, how can you tell that the shooter is the real thing and not some imposter like me? .....


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## theusher

Personally when I shoot my wife and niece "modeling" we always hear the same comments. "Oh, look, professional models!" Now is it my camera or my wife...I don't know.  



Nein-reis said:


> Also a lady approached me last week while I was doing an engagement shots for a customer and asked if she could borrow my camera for an hour to shoot her sons baseball game.



HAHAAHAHA! That is great. Did you have a witty reply, or simply walk away?


----------



## elsaspet

We have a Mark D3 with a grip on a Custom Bracket, with a flash on top of the Custom Bracket.  My husband uses this camera as I could never hold something so heavy.
What we hear all the time is, "DAMN" lol


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## Nein-reis

theusher said:


> HAHAAHAHA! That is great. Did you have a witty reply, or simply walk away?



I told her I was almost finished, then I gave her my rates.  She seemed confused that I would charge her and she left mutturing something about it not even being a video camera.


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## theusher

LOL, funny stuff Nein...


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## JimmyJaceyMom

Mostly I just notice when I have my camera with the big lens on it people like DIVE out of the way like it's a gun or something and they're afraid to get in front of it!  haha.

And I LOVE when I show someone the book of pictures I have of images that are the better of the ones I have andthe person looking says _ I have to get a camera like that!


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## Jae

DeepSpring said:


> her - Are you a professional?
> 
> me - No, I'm only 17
> 
> her - Oh......... (walks away)




haha brilliant!


----------



## David Goodier

When in London, and especially Trafalgar Square, I find that people often hand me their cameras for me to take their photo - but only when I have my D2x with me - perhaps they're thinking "That thing's so big & heavy he can't run off with mine too"

I also find people like to stand near and see what I'm shooting, then they don't believe me when I say they are in the shot and could they move - seems Johnny Public has no idea what wide-angle means!


----------



## hawee99

I was filming a wedding yesterday and at the reception this drunk lady came up to me and asked if I was a official part of the professional photography crew.  I said no I'm the videographer.  She got real happy and said "Sweet can you take my picture with my husband before we change clothes?"  I laughed and said yea let me find a photographer for you.  She was dumbfounded hahahahahaha


----------



## StreetShark

Well I Haven't got any comments while shooting but the other day I was pricing and looking at Digital SLR's (buying the canon XT on thursday) and I asked one of the guys if they had the kit that doesn't come with the kit lens (Have a lens that came with my k2) and one of my friends that was there tryed to tell me all camera's had lenses so then I picked up one of the SLRs they had on display there and clearly showed him that a lens can be taken off and what a camera looked like without one. I don't think the store liked the fact that I done that though cus the people working there were stairing at me.


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## hudsonp

Alex_B said:


> Well, this sounds like she was just seeking conversation with you, no matter about what. It is called "chatting up"
> 
> Or she was just about to tell you her secret places to get good images of ducks. You never know.



true, i call it bold because i generally dont like to talk to people too much


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## NJMAN

JimmyJaceyMom said:


> And I LOVE when I show someone the book of pictures I have of images that are the better of the ones I have andthe person looking says _ I have to get a camera like that!


 
What they really mean is they need to get a photographer with a camera like that to take pictures like that...meaning they need to hire you!  ;-)


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## Mike_E

NJMAN said:


> What they really mean is they need to get a photographer with a camera like that to take pictures like that...meaning they need to hire you!  ;-)



Which is why you should always carry a business card with you.


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## rmh159

Here's my story to add to the thread...

I've had it happen 3 times where I have a prime lens on my camera and someone asks me about it.  I explain that it's a prime lens and doesn't zoom but that inconvenience is made up for in better picture quality.  The person then picks up the camera and turns the focusing ring (even if it's on auto-focus) and comments on how they see what I mean about it not zooming.


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## Garbz

And if they ask what do you do when you need to zoom. Hold your camera up to them and then take a step closer


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## DeepSpring

ahhhhhhhhhh I hate when people try to focus when its on auto!!! Especially with my 50mm cause my focus is a tad messed up. That creeking grinding sound kills me every time.

"How do you zoom"
"I walk"
"Oh....... well mine has 3x zoom "


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## rmh159

DeepSpring said:


> That creeking grinding sound kills me every time.


 
LOL I know what you mean.  Just reading that post made me tense up like I do when someone zooms my prime.  I need to start freaking out more on people that do that. :banghead:


----------



## DSLR noob

Three words "full time manual" I love Canon USM motors.... I just need to get a lens with one haha.


----------



## -spam-

Wow, how did I miss this thread? Thanks to Garbz for letting me know about it.

Ok, Ive got a few.

*Walking around town with my Yashica

*Her: Wow, that thing looks really old.

Me: yeah, it is I guess

Her: Can I have a look at it?

Me: Sure _(I pop the viewfinder hood open and hand her the camera)

(She then turns it sideways and puts her eye to the sports viewfinder thing.)

_Her: I think its broken, I cant see anything.

Ok, so that wasnt really a comment about me with the camera. But i thought it was amusing at the time.

*Walking around with my dads 70-200 f4L on my old 400D

*Her: _(looking at the white lens)_ Are you a pro photographer?

Me: No, its my dads lens

Her: Oh ok, is your dad a pro photographer?

*On a recent flickr meet outside a supermarket

*_(Girl from the supermarket comes out saying something about how we arent supposed to be taking photos of the store)

_Her: Although, when i saw your big cameras.... well lets just say, its not like i wasnt impressed. Because i sure was.

We thought that was pretty funny.


----------



## Garbz

Oh snap. Now I'm annoyed that I left early. I would have loved as I usually do to let her know about our rights to photograph something which is visible by the public. If she was impressed did you chat her up


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## -spam-

Garbz said:


> If she was impressed did you chat her up



I wanted to  but a little birdy in my head told me that wouldnt be such a good idea.  But she did look alright and was around my age 

Funny thing was, we were standing on the footpath, not even in the store.


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## Garbz

Now if paying attention to the little birdy wasn't a sign of crazyness


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## THORHAMMER

I just keep getting honks by cars when I am out with the tripod day or night. I am thinking about wearing more official looking clothing so I can sort of eminate a government official kind of look. That plus a name tag holder around my neck with a business card, and Ill bet the cops would let me in the station to shoot !!!! 

Seriously though I get a lot of jerks who just come up to me to ask me to NOT take their picture, or that I should not be taking pictures there. 
So, usually I take their picture before they leave my sight. 

ALso, I keep thinking I will have a horrible expirience with a security guard, but I keep shooting even inside retail stores and to this day not even been asked to stop. Only once inside a book store with my family. Go figure..


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## Alex_B

THORHAMMER said:


> jerks who just come up to me to ask me to NOT take their picture,



hmm, that seems to be a US-kind of thing? It hardly ever happened to me ...


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## avcabob

I didn't think of this before as it was with a video camera, and not even a big one at that, and nothing was really said, but me and some friends put a rubber ducky in the middle of the road and tried to video tape cars running over it, but instead, they would slow down and at one point there was even a line of about 4 or 5 cars just stopped as if they thought we were filming something important and didn't want to get in the way. The best part is me and my friends were about 13 or 14 at the time.


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## THORHAMMER

its always wanna be gangster types... and yes we are overridden with the wanna be's....or over zealous vigilante types, also too many of them. 

I've come to the conclusion that lots of people are just stupid.


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## Sw1tchFX

THORHAMMER said:


> Seriously though I get a lot of jerks who just come up to me to ask me to NOT take their picture, or that I should not be taking pictures there.


 
Pretty much.


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## DSLR noob

Today someone told me that I should've used my video feature to capture the moment instead of pictures. I told them my Rebel XT doesn't have video. They said "wow.....(pause for looking over the camera)..... what an obsolete camera, we have to get you up to date, I bet it only has like 2 megapixels"
 Luckily one of my friends who had heard about the camera from me before went "It's pretty advanced but it's optimized for still photos, not video, trust me, it looks better this way." I was happy because my friend spared both me and the other person a long lecture on SLRs.


----------



## Garbz

Alex_B said:


> hmm, that seems to be a US-kind of thing? It hardly ever happened to me ...



Yeah this clearly must be. In Australia it's pretty much the opposite. With -spam- in Bulimba the other day we walked past and stopped at a construction site and one of the workers saw us, leant on his shed and said, "What aren't you going to take a picture of me?". Or at the labour day much "Common mate get one of us we're front page material." Or at southbank after I overheard some girl talking about our cameras and I said "Want your picture taken?", she ran off and came back a minute later and said "Uh actually yeah".


----------



## -spam-

Garbz said:


> With -spam- in Bulimba the other day we walked past and stopped at a construction site and one of the workers saw us, leant on his shed and said, "What aren't you going to take a picture of me?".



Thats right, the "worlds worst construction site" guy. He was classic


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## lifeafter2am

THORHAMMER said:


> I've come to the conclusion that lots of people are just stupid.



Unfortunately you are so very right!


----------



## jstuedle

I forgot about this one. Cathy and I were on a spur of the moment road trip. We live in Indiana and were in Alabama headed for Mississippi. We stopped by a joint that one of the bands I shoot was supposed to play at when on the road this summer. It was mid-day in the middle of the week and the place was empty. A pickup truck drives through the lot to get to the bar around back. Just for grins I took a couple shots of the place to email the band, and the driver of the truck come strolling up to me. He states he can't let me take pix of him or his truck. The first thing I thought of was he didn't want his boss or wife to know he was at the bar. Then this guy goes into a long and protracted story about how he is on the wittiness protection program and can't let his I.D. be revealed. Right, I vote for the wife theory.


----------



## michaelk

Much of this reminds me of one of the reasons I like to photograph in the middle of nowhere if possible. However, I shoot 4x5 and every once in a while someone will come up to me who is genuinely interested in my camera, etc. Sometimes I will let them look through the ground glass and they are usually a bit amazed.
  Then they ask where the batteries and memory card go and ruin the whole thing.....


----------



## Sw1tchFX

michaelk said:


> Much of this reminds me of one of the reasons I like to photograph in the middle of nowhere if possible. However, I shoot 4x5 and every once in a while someone will come up to me who is genuinely interested in my camera, etc. Sometimes I will let them look through the ground glass and they are usually a bit amazed.
> Then they ask where the batteries and memory card go and ruin the whole thing.....


 
I LOVE looking through 4x5 gournd glass on location, if it's dark enough outside and you can see through the glass without a cloth over your head, it's just amazing, like everything moves smoother through the lens.


----------



## Becky

I was wandering along by the river thames today with the slr over my shoulder when I walked past a soup stand giving out cups of soup to homeless people... one of the men shouted "ere love can I borrow your camera for ten minutes? I'll bring it back!" ... and then they (and I) all proceeded to fall about laughing...


----------



## jon_k

Was taking a picture on vacation on the top of a huge hill in which an interstate runs through it. This is the hill country between AUSTIN TX and San Antonio. Real small town.

I'm framing my shot and a SUV starts coming down the hill. I thought "This is great! I'll get the car in the shot too!"

The car just halts in the middle of the road. I take my shots and I start to wonder why they halted, not just for me did they?

I put my camera back down and the car slowly comes up the hill and then when she gets by me she stops and rolls her window down. She looks embarrassed and says

"Geez, I thought you were holding a gun! I'm sorry!"
I said "Nah, not a gun. But I did shoot you!"
She said "Well we just moved here, we come from Houston and we're still trying to get out of that city mode."
I'm like "Ahh, I'm from Dallas on vacation here!"
she said "Well have a great time here!" and drove off.

Was just using my 14-45mm too. I thought it was funny.


----------



## DSLR noob

Haha, I don't see how people are confusing cameras for guns.......


----------



## Garbz

Only when you have a 9mm fisheye mounted


----------



## snaremop

Nein-reis said:


> Also a lady approached me last week while I was doing an engagement shots for a customer and asked if she could borrow my camera for an hour to shoot her sons baseball game.



How the hell did you tell her no?


----------



## DeepSpring

I'm lovin all these stories. Good stuff


----------



## William

As I was snapping off pictures for a panorama of the montreal skyline, I heard a guy next to me whisper to his partner "I think he wants to get a 360 degree view."

One time I was waiting in a car for someone and I was taking pictures of an old clock tower in Toronto and a guy right next to me in his car said to the other person in the car (where he meant for me to hear it) "If that kid takes my picture I'll break his f**king neck"


----------



## DSLR noob

William said:


> As I was snapping off pictures for a panorama of the montreal skyline, I heard a guy next to me whisper to his partner "I think he wants to get a 360 degree view."
> 
> One time I was waiting in a car for someone and I was taking pictures of an old clock tower in Toronto and a guy right next to me in his car said to the other person in the car (where he meant for me to hear it) "If that kid takes my picture I'll break his f**king neck"


 so that's when you turn your flash to it's highest setting turn to him and say "Waht Kid?" as you snap off his mugg shot.


----------



## LokiZ

hawee99 said:


> I was filming a wedding yesterday and at the reception this drunk lady came up to me and asked if I was a official part of the professional photography crew.  I said no I'm the videographer.  She got real happy and said &quot;Sweet can you take my picture with my husband before we change clothes?&quot;  I laughed and said yea let me find a photographer for you.  She was dumbfounded hahahahahaha



LOL I do video to...so I see your point fully.  When I bought my DCR-VX2100 I was not the least bit turned off that still capture was toy quality at best. 

On the photo side of things my favorite for DSLR's is (You mean it can't record video?) followed by a disgusted (What kind of digital camera is that?)

 It's amazing how many people think that the two fields should mix, and do so well.


----------



## newrmdmike

" so that's when you turn your flash to it's highest setting turn to him and say "Waht Kid?" as you snap off his mugg shot."

hehe . . . yes . . . . sounds like something i might would do


----------



## newrmdmike

lokiz - that new "red" camera is making it happen . . . photography is going to be taking a odd turn over the next 20 years, i can feel it.

more and more people will be snagging stills from video for sports, weddings pj work etc.


----------



## LokiZ

rmh159 said:


> LOL I know what you mean.  Just reading that post made me tense up like I do when someone zooms my prime.  I need to start freaking out more on people that do that. :banghead:



For those of you into archery it's the feeling you get when some dry fires your bow. Ewwww   horrible!


----------



## LokiZ

newrmdmike said:


> lokiz - that new &quot;red&quot; camera is making it happen . . . photography is going to be taking a odd turn over the next 20 years, i can feel it.
> 
> more and more people will be snagging stills from video for sports, weddings pj work etc.



Mike I am sure you are correct, have not researched it, but the people who make these comments are usually not talking about the new technology but in comparison to their own cameras


----------



## DSLR noob

hey they gave the 1D MK II live view, it'll probably have video on the 1Ds (oh God I hope not) I mean it could be convenient, but........... no, just..... no.


----------



## Neuner

Great stories!  Since I'm new to SLR I get embarrassed.  Usually people will ask me technical questions that I either don't know, or don't know how to explain.  I'm only able to rattle off the technical specifications of the camera, but I am not one to give any composition, lighting or exposure advice.  They then look at me like I'm a total poser.

When I whip out my camera at a park or the zoo, people will step a side in order for me to take a 'professional' picture, which others begin to notice.  I then have a group of people standing around watching my every move and adjustment.  Since I'm not that great it gets intimidating. 

All of my family is known to take a lot of pictures, and they are alright in their own part.  When I show up with my setup they expect the pictures to look professional and amazing.  If the results don't look too hot or are practice shots, then they give me looks like, 'if you suck, then why did you waste a lot of money on a fancy camera?'.


----------



## megan044

Recently, I shot some promo pics for Cedar Point and while walking around the park all day with my 70-200 2.5 on my 30d with grip I got asked if I would trade cameras, how much my kit cost, if I was hired by CP, if I was a famous photgrapher, and my favorite comment of all: (first I have to point out that I'm a petite, 5"2 female) "That lens is bigger than YOU". 
I got so tired of the smart remarks. Everyone thinks they know about photography.


----------



## lifeafter2am

megan044 said:


> Recently, I shot some promo pics for Cedar Point and while walking around the park all day with my 70-200 2.5 on my 30d with grip I got asked if I would trade cameras, how much my kit cost, if I was hired by CP, if I was a famous photgrapher, and my favorite comment of all: (first I have to point out that I'm a petite, 5"2 female) "That lens is bigger than YOU".
> I got so tired of the smart remarks. *Everyone thinks they know about photography.*



You mean they dont?  LOL!!  Makes me think of all the soccer moms walking around with there Rebel's and kit lenses!  (nothing wrong with either, other than its a soccer mom who has NO CLUE how to use it!)

I never get comments like that.  People usually just stare at me as I rattle off shots at 5 frames per second.  Even the soccer moms!  :lmao:


----------



## Garbz

Yeah I unfortunately know a poor D200 which never found it's way out of ProgramAuto mode. I think every time someone clicks the shutter on that thing god kills a kitten.


----------



## cherrymoose

My dad's wedding was the first place in public I went with my DSLR.


Very Large British Guy With a Huge Mustache and a Nikon D200: _That's quite a camera.
_Me: _Oh! Thanks.
_Mustache Guy: _I do enjoy photography.
_Me: _Oh yeah, I do too.
_Mustache Guy: _You see, I have one house in Colorado Springs, and one in England.
_Me: _Really.
_Mustache Guy: _Yes, I mainly live on the English countryside. There's many sheep.
_Me: _Oh?
_Mustache Guy: _Sheep births. That's my favorite thing to photograph with this baby. *shakes his camera*_
Me: _Well, that's certainly interesting! 
_Mustache Guy: _So what do you take photos of?_
Me: _Oh, this and that.
_Mustache Guy: _Ah. Me too. *wanders off to frighten the bride's niece*


:raisedbrow:
_


----------



## neea

LokiZ said:


> For those of you into archery it's the feeling you get when some dry fires your bow. Ewwww horrible!


 
Ack!! This is why I'd never let anyone touch my equipment.
I got a Rebel XTi two weeks ago and my bf is so scared to touch it because he knows how mad I woud be if something happened. 
I've been trying for two weeks to get him to hold it.
Today was the first time I got him to take a picture using it. And that's only because 1. I ran his camera battery dead and forgot to charge it  and 2. He baught me a new toy and wanted to take pictures of me using it.

I've never had any weird comments when out taking pictures. I always get asked which newspaper I work for though and it makes me very proud to say that I don't (i used to. it was a bad bad horrible job).


----------



## lifeafter2am

Garbz said:


> Yeah I unfortunately know a poor D200 which never found it's way out of ProgramAuto mode. *I think every time someone clicks the shutter on that thing god kills a kitten.*



:lmao::lmao::lmao:


----------



## eravedesigns

Im shooting an air show and my dad is standing next to me. He looks over and says "hey when did you get that lens"...i had the lens for over a year but i had just put my lens hood on and he was more impressed.


----------



## Meysha

Garbz said:


> Yeah I unfortunately know a poor D200 which never found it's way out of ProgramAuto mode. I think every time someone clicks the shutter on that thing god kills a kitten.



hehehehe... I'll have to meet up with you and -spam- at some stage. You sound like great guys! 

*My best experience* was actually in a camera shop here called "Photo Continental". Ok, I love the place, they know me by name now in there... but... they are so hopeless.

I walked in there one day because my Mamiya C330 had it's back door jammed and I needed someone to help me open it. So I walked up to their service counter and this is what the girl said to me

her: "wow... is that a camera?"
me: (thinking she was joking) *laughs*
then I realise hang on, she wasn't joking. uh oh.... "um.. yeah it's a medium format camera"
her: ".... oh ... what's that?"
me: (realising there's no hope)... "umm... do you think there's someone around who could help me with this camera?"

oh dear... :-(

But then again, I usually get weird comments about my mamiya.

*2nd funny comment*
I went out with my boyfriend, 350D, Polaroid Sx-70, and tripod in hand to some cliffs on the river to get some nice Night time city shots over the river, and then to get some photos of the cliffs at night with abseilers on them. It was really gorgeous.

There was also a small group of young twenty somethings having a bbq there.
One of them also had a 350D or similar and was trying to take a photo of their group, while I was sort of near them taking photos of the city lights. 

Anyway, we heard them laughing because I didn't have a flash. 

hmm ok. So then I stuck the Sx-70 on the tripod and moved over to the cliffs.
Seriously, everyone was watching me. Partly because I was trying to hold my polarizing filter infront of the lens so it didn't over expose. 

One guy came up to me and said, "Nice Camera".
me, "thanks"
him, "so why are you putting that stuff in front of it" (stuff is polarizing filter and black card to reduce exposure)
me, "to make sure the film doesn't over expose"
him, "over expose?"
me, thinking: oh god... I really don't want to explain all of this. so I figure I'll just freak him out and keep talking for ages until he thinks I'm weird and leaves me along, "it's a special film camera made in the 70s and they used to make this special film for it but they don't make the film for it anymore, so I have to use a different sort of film now..... blah blah blah.
him, "can I have a look at some pictures?"
me, thinking: go away! but because they're right there in my hand I can't really say that, so I said: "ok" 

he looks at them... and says.. "oh they're not very good are they, your old camera must be broken"

I then realise he's looking at a picture I literally just took and it's only just started developing... hehehe... it was all grey and horrible and he thought I was so proud of that! :mrgreen:


----------



## Garbz

hahahahah that is golden. Even my mother knows how a polaroids work. Honestly where would we be without stupid people in the world. We'd get bored to death. Really.

The other day, me sitting in an Irish pub with some mates, and the bartender comes over and says what I can only assume to be his best entry in the first annual international most oblivious awards, "hey that's a big camera" and walks off, thus ending the most pointless waste of breath I have ever seen a living being take.


----------



## DeadEye

Iron Flatline said:


> Some of you may get this: Went to see Lou Reed the other night, and brought my Leica M8 with a 35mm Summilux. "Is that an SLR?" the burly door guy asked. "Nope, it's a Rangefinder." "As long as it's not an SLR, we don't allow good cameras."


 

Good One to tell an old photo journalist..  hehe


----------



## wesd

Mike_E said:


> Hey, ummm DS, after you've bedazzled her with your brilliance you are supposed to ask if she wants to model for you.
> 
> mike-I'm just sayin'


lmao
Wes


----------



## DeepSpring

Garbz said:


> The other day, me sitting in an Irish pub with some mates, and the bartender comes over and says what I can only assume to be his best entry in the first annual international most oblivious awards, "hey that's a big camera" and walks off, thus ending the most pointless waste of breath I have ever seen a living being take.




Seriously????? It's big????? I didn't notice I carry around a 10 pound bag everywhere...... Thanks for pointing it out


----------



## DSLR noob

neea said:


> He baught me a new toy and wanted to take pictures of me using it.



Am I the only one that caught this? I'm really hoping this doesn't mean what I think it does.


----------



## lifeafter2am

DSLR noob said:


> Am I the only one that caught this? I'm really hoping this doesn't mean what I think it does.



WOW!!  I can't believe that I missed that!  That is just awesome!!

:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:


----------



## DeepSpring

DSLR noob said:


> Am I the only one that caught this? I'm really hoping this doesn't mean what I think it does.





ahahahahahahahah

Hold what exactly................................ his long lens? ok that's where I stop:taped sh:


----------



## chrisgillett

Well, I have nothing really out of the ordinary to contribute since I'm pretty new but what the hey.

I'm down by this lake in town shooting ducks and pigeons when out of nowhere this german or polish guy walks up to me and starts up a convo.

Guy: You shooting the birds?
Me: Yep, I just got here.
Guy: I take my camera with me all the time, I like to take pictures.
(pulls out his D80)
Me: Oh, a D80. I've got a D40, it's not quite as nice as...
Guy: Oh no?! Let me see yours
(I hand it to him)
Guy: Oh, what was dee price on this camera?
Me: Well it retails for $699 here.
Guy: Well I like my camera. Do you know there is a competition going around for photographers? You submit best picture, you can win prize. Picture for phonebook cover, through NorthernTel.
Me: Oh... hmm.. well that's something to check out then.
Guy: Yes, well have fun!

I guess I find it funny when another photographer engages in convo with you, it's like you've been friends for your whole life. They just seem so friendly. I'm not sure the conversation would have carried on like that if he had a P&S though. :lmao:

I also find it funny when you are taking a picture and people practically dive out of the way so they're not in your shot. Women will scream at their kids to get out of the "photographer's" shot, like we have more power than the Pope.


----------



## Apex

haha, that happened to me last night. I was getting a shot of some deer in a field off to the right of the road so I pulled over and a car on the complete other side of the road stopped so I could take a picture... they dont make lenses _that_ wide:mrgreen:


----------



## -spam-

Garbz said:


> The other day, me sitting in an Irish pub with some mates, and the bartender comes over and says what I can only assume to be his best entry in the first annual international most oblivious awards, "hey that's a big camera" and walks off, thus ending the most pointless waste of breath I have ever seen a living being take.



Haha. I used to get that from complete strangers about my old gripless 400D and 50mm 1.8


----------



## Garbz

That almost qualifies as a point and shoot :lmao:


----------



## DeepSpring

So last yesterday I was standing at a corner waiting for  a band to show up for a shoot. I had my backpack on with a tipd on oneside and lightstand on the other xt/grip and 70-200 f/4 around my neck photo vest on and on the floor a little case with weights an umbrella. This guy walks by and says

Him -"Hard day at the office?"
Me - Gives a little smile
Him - "Well go get 'em tiger"


----------



## Zoso

I guess I am quite little so the camera looks quite big on me, especially since I take it everywhere festivals, the pub what not and bring it out, some people get a bit of a shock


----------



## Davehimself

this is more of a scary story then a happy one... so about  2 weeks ago i went at night to shoot our local lake, every week they hold a midnight fishing bash where people fish until midnight so the boats are all lit up and what not. so i get on the trail and head to the edge of the lake, there is a hill the leads down to a beach so i set up my tripod and start shooting, there happens to be a couple of guys on the beach below me fishing, im just mindin my own, when all of a sudden this guy who is walking on the trail behind me yells out something like "hey motherf*****" i just ignore him since he is still 100 or so feet behind me. so i look away and then he blurts out "hey son of a ***** coward", i was like he cant be talking to me, can he, he got closer and closer still blurting out random things directed towards me, i thought he was drunk or something, but he passed me up and took the stairs down to the beach, i was relived i was soo ready to grab my tripod and use it in defense, so i relaxed, but now i hear the guy telling his friends about me, i was in disbelief at this guy, then i finally hear him say "you wanna go get that coward" and his friend replied " ya lets go kick his A**" they start walking towards the stairs thats when i booked it out of there running with my tripod while my camera's shutter was still open, thank god the parking lot was only about 300 feet away, i only got 4 exposures that night. 

anybody else had there shooting experience ruined by total jerks ?( theres a worse word i want to say but dont want to get banned)


----------



## holga girl

DSLR noob said:


> Am I the only one that caught this? I'm really hoping this doesn't mean what I think it does.



oh no, i caught it too. that is why i didn't ask to see the pics.


----------



## DeepSpring

If you saw my thread about my first band promo this is one of the guys in the band. *


max0matosis* (4:49:22 PM): my friend wants to know what kind of camera you have
*ihavethebullets* (4:49:43 PM): canon rebel xt
*ihavethebullets* (4:49:51 PM): but tell them it isnt the camera that made the pics
*max0matosis* (4:50:22 PM): was it the light? (he was talking about my flash with umbrella)

*ihavethebullets* (4:50:31 PM): no it was me


----------



## DSLR noob

DeepSpring said:


> If you saw my thread about my first band promo this is one of the guys in the band. *
> 
> 
> max0matosis* (4:49:22 PM): my friend wants to know what kind of camera you have
> *ihavethebullets* (4:49:43 PM): canon rebel xt
> *ihavethebullets* (4:49:51 PM): but tell them it isnt the camera that made the pics
> *max0matosis* (4:50:22 PM): was it the light? (he was talking about my flash with umbrella)
> 
> *ihavethebullets* (4:50:31 PM): no it was me


hahaha yeah I wish that everyone I try to explain that to would set up this conversation so I could respond like that.


----------



## Felix 222

DeepSpring said:


> (points to canon logo)


that's the punch line, right? lol


----------



## DeepSpring

Felix 222 said:


> that's the punch line, right? lol



Yup 




ok ok So this one was great. I was assisting a photographer at a wedding the other day but he told me I can bring my own camera and try and get some stuff. We are doing the family portraits and I'm shooting my rebel xt with battery grip, 430ex off camera, and 70-200 f/4 L. The big fat uncle with his original rebel kit lens and camera flash popped up (who by the way was really annoying because he was trying to tell people how to pose and shooting every shot the photographer was so my boss had to tell him to leave) anyways he walks up to me an asks if that's the f/2.8 version or the f/4 version. Now if you know anything about the lenses its really easy to tell the difference... So I tell him it's the f/4 version and he gives me this disgraceful look like I should have the 2.8 and shakes his head. I'm thinkin I'm 17 and my "disgraceful" lens costs more then your whole set up...


----------



## Garbz

Turn and take a pic of him with a holga


----------



## nBenita

im having great time reading this thread! GJ guys!


----------



## Alex_B

Neuner said:


> If the results don't look too hot or are practice shots, [...]



Reminds me of my favourite quote "Just experimenting and doing a couple of test shots." ... I use that one all the time.


----------



## DeepSpring

Alex_B said:


> Reminds me of my favourite quote "Just experimenting and doing a couple of test shots." ... I use that one all the time.



Like when you review a few shots during a shoot and you realize you completely messed up the exposure so you tell the model "Can we try that again there was ummm.... someone in the background..."


----------



## iflynething

I read every single post........I'm really bored.......

I got alot of stares at a Thunderbirds airshow with a Sigma 50-500. That thing is about 2 feet out extended. I kept wacking the little dude beside me. I warned him to move, but he didn't. 


Second time really pisses me off:
I was at McAdenville, NC during Christmas. Guess what I was shooting. Yeah, the Christmas light. Tripod out. Oh yeah. Lady in a car with her husband come by....."What are you taking pictures of?" I was so dumbfounded by the comment I didn't have a comeback to that. I should have said some smart ass comment like oh.....the asphalt. I'm trying to get my black balance just right!

If I'm in downtown Charlotte, NC, I just walk about like I own the place and get alot of stares and people saying "Hey, take a picture of me!" I just say no and go about my business. 

I like it when people ask if I'm a professional or if it's a professional camera. I say "Nawh, this is a beginner camera." It's especially nice when I choose to carry around my flash bracket and have everything set up on it...

~Michael~


----------



## Cruisn

im bored to so I read through too... lol

nothing from me exciting so far. lol. only had the camera 2 weeks though.


----------



## bradsperry

i was shooting at a golf course last year with a canon rebel w/ grip and 75-300 when this punk kid yelled at me from the other side of the fairway..... "hey, when you catch up to this mellinium and buy a new camera, give me a call .......... i need an anchor for my boat".


----------



## Chiller

The funniest comment I have had....

"are you are professional"?

Then at a homeless protest..
"what newspaper are you from"?
I made up a name, and they let me do anything , go anywhere I wanted, even up on the stage. :lmao:


----------



## Overread

Two things that always get mentioned for me are firstly people actually think I know what I am doing with the camera- they think I get good shots - and that is without seeing any of the results!

The other thing (that even other photographers) comment on is not the 70-200mm f2.8 but the softbox on the flash - passers by wonder just what the heck its for and other photographers wonder why its so much bigger than a Stofen


----------



## photographyprogess

Well, I have to comments that could be seen as funny.

1. 
I got a JVC GYHD200UP, and once I was out filming for a documentary I am making ... this guy comes over and tells me: "You really should get a Nikon. That's a professional camera."


2. 
Last year I was out shooting with my D300 and Nikon 70-200 in Bergen ... and yes, it's big and heavy ... and this you guy crack the following joke: "So, your d*ck is small?"

My main problem with people can be said to be my heavy usage of irony and sarcasm, which isn't necessarily that wrong among people who know you, but among the public might not be the smartest thing. So with my mouth think faster than my brain, I make the following comment: "Hey, I didn't recognize you with your clothes on. We sure had a good time at **** (the name of a well know gay bar) tonight." And no, I'm not gay.

Suddenly I got a fist into my face. 


I guess he thought it was funny at first, but maybe not the rest?


----------



## skieur

shorty6049 said:


> i need to get a better zoom lens... everyones got those dang white canon monsters lately.... too bad i shoot sony


 
You could always get a white Minolta or Sony G lens.

skieur


----------



## jstuedle

It seems people have gotten a little more ignorant in there comments of late as has been shown by this thread. I often wear a lanyard with my ID, credentials and a small LED flashlight around my neck when out shooting. I think I am going to add another card to it, something like "I see stupid people". Instead of responding verbally, I can just flash them the badge and keep on working. Then again, I suspect many of them can't read.


----------



## Battou

The stupidest thing I have ever gotten is "What are you doing?" followed closely in stupidity is "Are you looking for something?" as I am walking down the road looking to the trees and the river....


The funniest thing is a rentacop asking if I've photographed any aliens and/or spacecraft with it.


----------



## Patrick

DeepSpring said:


> If you guys really want to get a date you gotta strap on the 70-200, flash unit, and lumiquest flash softbox
> LumiQuest® Photographic Accessories | Softbox



LOL reminds me of comments I get when I have Gary's Whale tail attached to my Sb-800, "What the Hell is THAT?":lmao:


----------



## Battou

steez said:


> whenever people ask if im shooting film and i say yes [i shoot film 100% of the time, even in conjunction with digital commercial work] they always get really, really surprised. its sad.
> 
> people dont know film isnt dead.



Lol, I was snapping off some shots of a gull in a parking lot one day when a guy in a pickup truck hollers 

Guy: "is that digital?" 

Me: "Hell no"

Guy: "..."


----------



## Harmony

Was at a friend's house while we talked gear (it gets interesting since he's a Nikon user and I'm a Canon user). While we talked, another friend came up to us.

Non-photog guy: how many MP is that?
My friend: 10
Non-photog guy: Does it do video?
My friend: No.
Non-photog guy: Well that's stupid... why don't you buy a video camera and use the stills from that?
Me and my friend: ...


----------



## Cruisn

I had a rentacop ask me what I was doing last night... figured it was obvious.. standing behind a camera on a tripod... but hey. I guess I look like a bad ass lol


----------



## Kegger

I have people ask me the MP of my camera all the time, then go on about how their P&S is better because it has more. 

I just tell them, "okay, you just keep thinking that" and go about my day.


----------



## Josh66

jstuedle said:


> Then again, I suspect many of them can't read.



You may be right.  An article in USA Today (front page (bottom half) of the 09Jan09 paper) said that 1 in 7 adults in the US can not read.  I just can't even comprehend how that's possible...

(couldn't find a link to the article, but you can see a summary of it here.)


----------



## jstuedle

O|||||||O said:


> You may be right.  An article in USA Today (front page (bottom half) of the 09Jan09 paper) said that 1 in 7 adults in the US can not read.  I just can't even comprehend how that's possible...
> 
> (couldn't find a link to the article, but you can see a summary of it here.)



Not surprising, in many inner cities, high school graduation rates are around or under 50%, and the classroom chaos that is prevalent is simply not conducive to learning. And many of these brilliant minds will grow up to vote even though they can't read the ballot. I really worry about the country we are handing  to my grandchildren.


----------



## ianm

I certainly get odd looks off folks


----------



## Battou

I once had a guy look at my Canon EF with Vivitar 400mm on it and asked: 

Guy: "Getting pictures of Mars with that thing?"

Me: " ah...no, it's a long lens but it ain't that long"

Guy: "oh so it's for the nekid women in their apartments"

Me: ... takes print envelope from bag...pulls print 

Guy: Holy Sht!!


----------



## ianm

lols - they just have no clue


----------



## Battou

ianm said:


> lols - they just have no clue



Guy had to be about my age...Can't say I blame him for the nekid women comment  but the rest was just facepalm material.


----------



## ianm

it gets slightly annoying sometimes, but i suppose it's either educate them in what you are doing (which mostly i cant be bothered unless it's a nice young woman ) or just ignore their ignorance.


----------



## Chiller

I got this one Saturday night, when the temperature was -400 with the wind, and I was photographing some night scenes. 

"How much do you charge to do my wedding"?    Almost spit up a snow cone.


----------



## ianm

and you didn't have a shot at a quote?


----------



## icassell

I am constantly being asked to take pictures of couples at vacation spots. They assume, since I am carrying a dSLR with a long lens, that I know how to take pix.   How little they know ...


----------



## Chiller

ianm said:


> and you didn't have a shot at a quote?


 
Nah..I wouldnt touch a wedding with a professionals camera.  :lmao::lmao::lmao:  I was too cold to give a funny reply back.  Just told them, I dont do weddings. :er:


----------



## Rrr3319

i took some pictures at christmas and gave them to my grandma the other day.  my cousin looks though them and picks out one where the subject is clearly in focus and the background is (intentionally) not and says "jeez, with a camera that big, you'd think it wouldn't take blurry pictures." :er:


----------



## Village Idiot

We had a meetup at Patapsco state park in Baltimore with the local Strobist group. There were about 15 photographers in the tunnel shooting and a little girl that was on the path that passes the tunnel asked her parents something along the lines of, "Daddy, did some one die because there's a lot of news people there".


----------



## DSLR noob

Cruisn said:
			
		

> I had a rentacop ask me what I was doing last night... figured it was obvious.. standing behind a camera on a tripod... but hey. I guess I look like a bad ass lol











Kegger said:


> I have people ask me the MP of my camera all the time, then go on about how their P&S is better because it has more.
> 
> I just tell them, "okay, you just keep thinking that" and go about my day.


----------



## bhop

This was a while back, but it's probably the best story I have.  

I was standing on Hollywood Blvd. where all the tourists hang, leaning against a wall outside a store, waiting for a friend.  I had my black Nikon FE, with a 105mm f/2.5 attached.  I was just looking around for people to shoot, occasionally bringing the camera up to my eye to check framing or snap a shot.  Now, that lens is bigger than your standard 50mm, but it's not all that big, maybe the size of your average modern kit lens, and the FE is a pretty small camera, so you can imagine my surprise when some college age girl (wasn't hot) with a thick southern accent, comes up and asked if I was a Paparazzi.  I say 'no'.  She says 'oh...' and walks away.


----------



## mrodgers

Not something funny someone said to me (as I don't really have a big camera), a funny though that I had....

Background - I have a little Fuji S5700.  I spend quite a bit of time lying in the grass at home taking macro shots of the little flowers you see in the grass.  I've hunted out bugs in the grass.  I play around with the kid's toys in the house with the camera....

Now on to the funny.  We went out shopping as I needed some new work boots.  The kids and wife sat in the car while I was in the shop.  When I got out to the car, the kids are hanging out the windows watching people falling from the sky with bright colorful parachutes.  Of course, the rule states _"Take your camera everywhere you go."_  Well, I am a rule breaker and I did not have my camera.

Move on with the shopping.  We ran up the road, a bit closer to the airport where the jumpers were falling through the sky, to an outdoor mall.  There they were, every time I walked out of a store, they are falling through the sky.  Grrrr, I wish I had my camera.  The mall has these landscaped areas all over.  I spied a guy holding quite a camera with camera bags hanging over his shoulder.  I couldn't tell what he was shooting with.  But there he was standing in the middle of the landscaping with the camera pointed down to a clear spot where he looked like he was just shooting dirt.

I nudged my wife and motioned, "Look over there.  See, I'm not crazy like you say I am, there's someone taking pictures of dirt."

"No," she says, "Now there's just two people in this world who I think are crazy!"  

As for my thoughts, the only thing I could think of is to go tap the guy on the shoulder pointing to the sky and say, "Dude!  There's people falling from the sky everywhere right over there and you're taking pictures of DIRT!"

I didn't tap the guy on the shoulder, but I thought of doing it, hehe.


So..... were any of you up at the Prime Outlet mall in Grove City, PA taking pictures of dirt this summer?


----------



## dxqcanada

One question that my wife and I ALWAYS get from people ... whenever we have one of our longer telephoto lenses on the camera ... is:

"How far can you see?"

I aways answer:

[raising my hand to shade my eyes and looking into the horizon] "... I can see at least a couple of miles"


----------



## milavidal

I went to Chicago for a week with a couple of Friends, and I was walking around with my d80 and had my 50 mm..not a single comment..I slap out my 70-200, and people accidentally walking into my shot, just apologized, smiled and said: thats a nice camera!
Trying to make me a compliment, I know..but it just goes to show how people think the bigger the better!


----------



## JerryPH

My favorite... walking through a mall at Christmas with my D700, grip and SB-800 speedlight pointing straight up (ceilings are all white).

Hairspray sales man looks at me and says:
"nice camera, I know all about them... but your flash is pointing the wrong way for best effect, you have to point it AT the person you are shooting"

Me:
"No, I prefer to bounce the light off the white ceilings for more dispersed and even light, also, no red eye"

Him:
"No way, that never works... show me!

Me:
SNAP!
"Here, look at the LCD..."





Him:
"Oh, yes, I... ARGHHHHHHH!  What did that bitc* do to my hair?  Wait, take another pic, with me looking at you... fast, FAST!"

Me:
"Sure"
SNAP!





Him:
<looks at the picture>
<no scream, but squeals like a pig this time>
"No.. no way... THAT BIT*H! She had me looking like this in PUBLIC??? She is so FIRED!!!!!"

While he is in panic mode, I refrain from laughing and walk away.


----------



## Josh66

:lmao:


----------



## KvnO

One thing I hate is when someone tells me what I should photograph.  So when I took my camera to my brother's wedding, it was more to please my mother than anyone else.  However, as I am new to the photography scene, it did give me a decent excuse to pick up a new lens (just a 50mm f/1.8).

Because I was a groomsmen, my sister spent more time behind my camera than I.  I think she enjoyed it, but she kept asking, "Why doesn't this zoom?"  The church was actually incredibly tiny and almost too small for the lens.  

At the reception, I made my own little n00b comment.  The actual wedding photographer (whom I don't think was a pro, but a friend of the couple with an interest in photography) asked me what camera I was using.  

Not being in the best mood (as I wasn't really enjoying myself), all I said was, "it's a Canon..."  Then I thought, "wow, did I really just say that?"   

"I know, but what kind?"

"Oh, just a Rebel..."  Hopefully the lens choice helped show I had a little more interest in photography than most soccer moms.  

I guess I'm not used to folks asking me about my stuff yet.


----------



## Battou

ianm said:


> it gets slightly annoying sometimes, but i suppose it's either educate them in what you are doing (which mostly i cant be bothered unless it's a nice young woman ) or just ignore their ignorance.



Well, that particular inncodent I just happened to have the prints with me due to having just picked them up, other wize I just say I shoot wild life and leave it at that.



dxqcanada said:


> One question that my wife and I ALWAYS get from people ... whenever we have one of our longer telephoto lenses on the camera ... is:
> 
> "How far can you see?"



I get that all the time, One more notable inncodent was a police officer. I took my clients kids (I'm a child care provider) down to a city park to play and I threw a few lenses into my brief case and had the 400mm on the body and took them with me. We arrived at the park to find it full due to a church picnic. Lots of children playing in their sunday best and a handful of adults. I looked at the situation and thought to my self, "Well, something tells me the squirls are going to be avoiding the park today" I set down my briefcase and proceeded to change out my lens from the 400mm to an 85mm. After about half an hour of twenty questions and two lets be friends offerings from the church staff I decided to call the kids over and tell them "we where going to a different park, too many people". Now I could not carry the 400mm in the briefcase, so I put it back on the camera and as we where leaving a police car comes around the corner...some one called the police on me [facepalm]. After getting things all said and done the police officer sais to me

"How far can you see with that lens?"

I replyed
"From main street bridge, The Red Garter fills the frame nicely"

Now that I think about it I posted that one here before.....


----------



## elliott FTW

i was playing with slow shutter speeds in the dark with a friends lightsaber, and his sister who is about 14 comes up to me asks

: WTF is that?? its huge?
me: this is an SLR, its a real camera
her: its a piece of crap, i bet mines got more megapixels than that. its got 6
me: 8.
her: oh, ok... yea well im a better photographer than you.
me: yea? take a photo of your brother waving that light saber around using a slow shutter speed of 2 seconds, and a an f/point of ....
her: *takes a snapshot with a flash, shows it to me, laughs and walks off.*


----------



## shivaswrath

Iron Flatline said:


> Some of you may get this: Went to see Lou Reed the other night, and brought my Leica M8 with a 35mm Summilux. "Is that an SLR?" the burly door guy asked. "Nope, it's a Rangefinder." "As long as it's not an SLR, we don't allow good cameras."



yeah - that Leica is a POS in comparison to an SLR . . .haha, stupid people. . .


----------



## sarallyn

elliott FTW said:


> i was playing with slow shutter speeds in the dark with a friends lightsaber, and his sister who is about 14 comes up to me asks
> 
> : WTF is that?? its huge?
> me: this is an SLR, its a real camera
> her: its a piece of crap, i bet mines got more megapixels than that. its got 6
> me: 8.
> her: oh, ok... yea well im a better photographer than you.
> me: yea? take a photo of your brother waving that light saber around using a slow shutter speed of 2 seconds, and a an f/point of ....
> her: *takes a snapshot with a flash, shows it to me, laughs and walks off.*



i'm not sure i'm more surprised by the 14 your old or the fact that your friend has a lightsaber.


----------



## bwlergh

Random walking by: "why would you take pictures of dirt on the wall...."


----------



## iflynething

Went into a studio to try to get a job.

Was talking with the manager and one of the other photographers came over. Larger woman...not that that matters.

Looks down at the gripped D300 and SB-800. She looks at me and is like that is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen...it's so beautiful I'm shaking.

She then holds up her hand and........sure enough, it's shaking.

I couldn't believe it. I just turned back to the manager and carried on our conversation

~Michael~


----------



## Battou

I got a couple today wile at a tool auction.

Canon EF with Vivitar 400mm on it:

Kid (12/13 give or take): *Jumps out of skin just about* WHOAH Camera.

Bout an hour later (same kid)

Kid: Where'd you get that?
Me: Bought it...
Me: Different parts different places.
Kid: How far can you see?
Me: It goes to infinate at 300 feet
Kid: Can you take a close up picture of that airplaine? *point at a passenger liner passing over head at crusing altitude*
Me: Not at that distance.
the kid leaves and an adult listening to the conversation then continues it:
Man: Is that Digital
Me: No, it's film. I can't afford digital.
Man: Yeah.
Me: Long sphiel about price of comperable digital equivalent to the body and lens.
Man: Oh Yeah I know, my buddy just bought one.
Me: *Holds up camera* this is three hundred dollars worth of gear right here.
Man: :raisedbrow: With that lens.
Me: Yep.
Man: :shock: Holy Sht!!


*EDIT* Wow, that one does not translate to text very well...some of the facial expressions had me rollin though.


----------



## Hoser

I took my niece & nephew to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum yesterday. I brought along my stuff and gave my nephew (8 years old)  an old Canon P&S to play with. As I was setting up to take a shot of a Hawker Hurricane a father & son walk up and stand right beside me.........I'm talking shoulder to shoulder.  He starts asking me about the camera & how much like using it instead of a P&S. He actually started arguing with me saying that a P&S is better because you don't have to carry all kinds of lenses with you to get better shots. I tried to explain quickly about why people use different lenses with dSLR's, but he wouldn't listen. So I just told him to continue to take mediocre shots with his small camera while I take some fantastic shots with mine. I then told him to check out some photography sites on the internet (yes I mentioned TPF :thumbup and see how many prefer using P&S over dSLR's.


----------



## einzelganger

Wow, these are some really great comments here! I haven't been at this long enough to warrant similar situations but the minute I do, I'll be sure to post here.

People's ignorance regarding even the simplest of technology is a bewildering thing lol. Anyhow, once again this is such a great thread!

--Wolfie


----------



## Torus34

Whilst wandering about lower Manhattan with an old 35mm rig yesterday a passerby noted, "That camera's an antique, isn't it?"  My reply? "Yup, sure is.  Just like me."  We laughed -- and wished each other well for the day.


----------



## Jaszek

I was shooting at the aquarium back in December and the first five minutes that pass some guy comes up to me and asks me what camera that is
Me: Its a Canon XSI
Guy: How many megapixels?
Me: 12
Guyh...(points at my battery grip) IS that a film winder?
I'm thinking WTF you just asked how many MP it has and now you think it's film?
Couple of minutes later he tells me how his cousin or someone wants to buy an Olympus dSLR. I say sure what ever. Than he asks me if film is still expensive.


----------



## LaFoto

"Oh, she took my photo!  Will I be in the newspaper???"


----------



## timethief

Great thread. Great stories. I can't help myself but want to contribute.

So i am taking pictures at some location, with my D90 and the kit lens, hood is on. So it looks bigger than it actually is. 
This middle aged lady comes over to me (and i would urge you to try to imagine the most sophisticated and aristocratic way of speaking cause that's how she was)

her: we have a camera at home too. it is a minolta, it is really very nice. My husband    bought it in 63 from berlin.
me: im sure thats a nice camera. 
her: its not like the one you have, this is a real camera for artists. it takes ART pictures. 
me: (grin) nice where is it now ?
her: its at home. 
me: why dont you use it to take some art pictures?
her: (blink)(blink) 
me: i just couldnt hold myself guys i had to say it " its not the camera that makes the art, its the person taking the picture"


----------



## sauce839

Davehimself said:


> this is more of a scary story then a happy one... so about 2 weeks ago i went at night to shoot our local lake, every week they hold a midnight fishing bash where people fish until midnight so the boats are all lit up and what not. so i get on the trail and head to the edge of the lake, there is a hill the leads down to a beach so i set up my tripod and start shooting, there happens to be a couple of guys on the beach below me fishing, im just mindin my own, when all of a sudden this guy who is walking on the trail behind me yells out something like "hey motherf*****" i just ignore him since he is still 100 or so feet behind me. so i look away and then he blurts out "hey son of a ***** coward", i was like he cant be talking to me, can he, he got closer and closer still blurting out random things directed towards me, i thought he was drunk or something, but he passed me up and took the stairs down to the beach, i was relived i was soo ready to grab my tripod and use it in defense, so i relaxed, but now i hear the guy telling his friends about me, i was in disbelief at this guy, then i finally hear him say "you wanna go get that coward" and his friend replied " ya lets go kick his A**" they start walking towards the stairs thats when i booked it out of there running with my tripod while my camera's shutter was still open, thank god the parking lot was only about 300 feet away, i only got 4 exposures that night.
> 
> anybody else had there shooting experience ruined by total jerks ?( theres a worse word i want to say but dont want to get banned)


 
I guess thats one of the nice things about being bigger than most people. 6'4" 220lblayball:... I never get people cussing at me. Size can be a good thing. I mostly get people that are suprised that I would be into anything 'artistic'. I guess I should just fall into the same stereotype out there for people that are my size... manual labor.:er:

The best story I have is one weekend night I was out playing around with long exposures... didn't work out... but I was lying down on the sidewalk setting up for a ground level shot of a stone arch downtown. This was about 2am, and a couple walked by and saw me lying there... ran over and thought that I had been attacked. I just laughed and assured them I was fine. They ended up hanging around for a few minutes to 'chat'... other than that, I get people to asking me to take a picture of them and email it them. I'm not sure why, since they never give me their email address... so I have a bunch of decent photos of strangers.


----------



## Mike_E

It's _*HUGE!*_ 


There was a time...  :lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:


----------



## chadsdphoto

Well, that was a fun half-hour reading this thread! 

"Am I going to be on the news tonight?" is a common one even though I'm shooting with a Nikon.

Here's a long one - I stopped in a city park and started getting my gear out. I noticed a guy in a parked car a few spaces away was really paying attention to me. As I walked past his car with the tripod over my shoulder, I heard a police radio inside his car. I thought, "That's weird, I wonder what's up?"

As I set up and started taking pictures, a different guy wandered up to chat. A bunch of the usual questions - "Are you a professional? Who do you shoot for? What kind of camera is that?" I started thinking, "This is a cop, too." Then I noticed other people milling about the park with ear pieces in. I decided I must be in the middle of a drug bust or something and I packed up my stuff to get the heck out of there.

Just then a car comes screaming into the park with a police car with lights flashing right behind it. The car skids to a stop and two people jump out, running through the grass in the park. The cops I have identified all yell, "Freeze!" and other cops that I hadn't seen come out of the bushes and tackle the suspects. I stand there with my mouth open, not even thinking about taking a picture of the whole thing.

Then everyone gets up off the ground laughing. One of them turns to me and says, "Police training. We thought you might be the 'bad' guy."


----------



## SwitchFX

Garbz said:


> her - "That's a big camera"
> me - "Yep"
> 
> Story over LOL. If they are worth chatting up or it is someone with something more interesting to say then "that's a big camera" then the conversation will be much longer and may go somewhere. But it's surprising the number of people who walk past and just need to point out the most obvious thing that everyone in the vicinity can already see. I have a big camera, get over it folks!
> 
> There's also been some dirtier comments when using a telephoto lens like (minors skip over the next 2 lines):
> *her - "Does it get bigger"
> me - "if it did you wouldn't be able to handle it"*



ROFL!


----------



## KellyK126

I have to admit I've been on the other end of this scenerio.

me to random guy with big canon fabulousness... "OOOOOHHHHHHH *squeal of delight" an L, I'm so jealous!!!"


----------



## SwitchFX

neea said:


> Ack!! This is why I'd never let anyone touch my equipment.
> I got a Rebel XTi two weeks ago and my bf is so scared to touch it because he knows how mad I woud be if something happened.
> I've been trying for two weeks to get him to hold it.
> Today was the first time I got him to take a picture using it. And that's only because 1. I ran his camera battery dead and forgot to charge it  and 2. *He baught me a new toy and wanted to take pictures of me using it.*
> 
> I've never had any weird comments when out taking pictures. I always get asked which newspaper I work for though and it makes me very proud to say that I don't (i used to. it was a bad bad horrible job).



I'm sorry, what?


----------



## Pure

"ohhh, nice camera, how much did it cost?"

i hate that question.

my response: a lot.


----------



## MBasile

I was photographing a friends band playing in a bar and this guy comes up: 

Him:"Taking pictures?"
Me:".....yeah....."
Him:"Why?"
Me:"Because the drummer is a good friend of mine?"

I refrained from being a smartass because I had gone to high school with the guy, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he remembered! haha


----------



## dpolston

My "big camera" has gotten me press "access" numerous times. I've walked onto the field of all kinds of sporting events. One time I asked a police man if I could get onto the field of some football game and he said "Sure. It looks like you know what you're doing."


----------



## dpolston

Pure said:


> "ohhh, nice camera, how much did it cost?"
> 
> i hate that question.
> 
> my response: a lot.



I get that a lot too! I just smile.


----------



## table1349

MBasile said:


> I was photographing a friends band playing in a bar and this guy comes up:
> 
> Him:"Taking pictures?"
> Me:".....yeah....."
> Him:"Why?"
> Me:"Because the drummer is a good friend of mine?"
> 
> I refrained from being a smartass because I had gone to high school with the guy, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he remembered! haha



This would have been my response:

_Him:"Taking pictures?"
Me:".....yeah....."
Him:"Why?"
Me:*Because they're moving to fast for me to paint.....  Here's your sign! 


*_


----------



## Joves

Alex_B said:


> So that was one of my first experiences on your continent


 
Your story reminds me of when my uncle his freind Jonathan and, I were traveling to Florida. Jonathan is from London and, he was talking about something. We were in a gas station in some little Ville in Alabama and, the guy pumping the gas asked him where he was from. Jonathan told him England and, the guy asked him what language do you speak there?
 No on topic I live in the poorer side of town here and, what I hear most often is God I bet that cost alot!


----------



## PhilGarber

chrisgillett said:


> I also find it funny when you are taking a picture and people practically dive out of the way so they're not in your shot. Women will scream at their kids to get out of the "photographer's" shot, like we have more power than the Pope.


 

Hahah! Yeah, I get that a lot.

I don't get many 'Funny' comments. It always either "Nice camera" or "Wow..You wasted your birthday present on THAT?" (<--From my classesmates:er: 7/8 grade sucks).


----------



## Josh66

I don't really get any funny comments either.

Sometimes I get the "nice camera" type comments; I just agree - "Yeah, it's not too bad" or something like that.


----------



## smyth

I was out shooting on a street corner, and I take the camera away from my eye, and pick up my bag, and this guy is standing there and it goes like this:

guy: nice camera, what kind is it?
me: oh, just a Nikon D40 (I turn it so he can see the badge
guy: cool I have a Pentax *** (I don't remember what he said)

Guy walks off.

lol

I take a lot of photos on campus of events and what not, and I get the "what newspaper are you with" which is nice, because then I can just rattle off the name of the student newspaper lol


----------



## LuckySo-n-So

I actually made this comment when I was shooting a gymnastics meet with my D40 and 55-200mm kit lens.

Two girls from the student newspaper decided to sit in front of me.  One had a Canon Full Frame, the other had a Nikon D2.  Each had a 70-200 2.8.  

I got the girls' attention, showed them my camera and said_*,"This is the first time I've been intimidated by a girl whose equipment is bigger than mine..."*_


----------



## mrodgers

What's so funny about "Nice camera" comments?  If you have a nice camera, there's nothing funny about it.

I've had people tell me nice truck, nice car, nice bike, nice dog, nothing ever funny about it.  It's simply the truth.  If you have a dSLR from the D40 to the most expensive, it is only the truth if someone says, "nice camera."  I wouldn't exactly respond with "Nah, it's a D40, it's a piece of crap" because the D40 _is_ a nice camera.


----------



## epp_b

I'm at the park with my dog and camera one day when I cross paths with one of my mom's co-workers who is on her cell phone.  We do a casual "hi" and she mentions something to the person on the other end about my "mega-camera".

Apparently, the D40 and 55-200 VR is a "mega-camera"


----------



## Battou

epp_b said:


> I'm at the park with my dog and camera one day when I cross paths with one of my mom's co-workers who is on her cell phone.  We do a casual "hi" and she mentions something to the person on the other end about my "mega-camera".
> 
> Apparently, the D40 and 55-200 VR is a "mega-camera"



Ah that reminds me about a time before my GF and I got together and she was talking to one of her girlfriends and pointing at my "huge...THING" pointing towards my waist where my 400mm and camera rested. :mrgreen:


----------



## smyth

mrodgers said:


> What's so funny about "Nice camera" comments? If you have a nice camera, there's nothing funny about it.
> 
> I've had people tell me nice truck, nice car, nice bike, nice dog, nothing ever funny about it. It's simply the truth. If you have a dSLR from the D40 to the most expensive, it is only the truth if someone says, "nice camera." I wouldn't exactly respond with "Nah, it's a D40, it's a piece of crap" because the D40 _is_ a nice camera.


 
Well, if you referring to me, It's not like I was insinuating (sp?) that the D40 sucks. I love my D40. What I found funny was that he asked what kind of camera it is told me what kind of camera he has and walks away. It was awkward lol. I was expecting him to start talking about how he shoots architecture of landscapes or something (I was taking pictures of a building) but he just jaunted off.


----------



## epp_b

> My main problem with people can be said to be my heavy usage of irony and sarcasm, which isn't necessarily that wrong among people who know you, but among the public might not be the smartest thing. So with my mouth think faster than my brain, I make the following comment: "Hey, I didn't recognize you with your clothes on. We sure had a good time at **** (the name of a well know gay bar) tonight." And no, I'm not gay.
> 
> Suddenly I got a fist into my face.


Ah, violence.  The last resort of a limited mind.


----------



## Invictus

I was at a benefit in late march for my grandfather (donates abunch of money to charity each year) and i had my e-510 in tow with kit lens, just picked it up a few days prior, so i havent had a chance to purchase any lenses yet. anyways, one of the photographers that was hired for the benefit sees my camera on the table and starts going ON AND ON AND ON about how i need to buy more lenses, not just for the quality of the shots, but also to appeal to other people? i just thought wtf is this guy a phony or something? but he wouldnt leave me alone and that wrecked part of my night. anyways, that one isnt so funny, but this one kind of is.

I was in Japan a short while ago, and an american couple asked me to take their picture with their point and shoot. so i laughed and said "sure, i'll shoot you" and she hesitated before passing me her camera. then when they realized what i had said/meant, we had a short but good laugh, all the while hundres of japanese people are passing us with a wtf are they doing look.


----------



## Jaszek

Once in english class, I had my XSI with the 70-200 mounted. A friends asks me
"Whats that in your bag?"
Me:"It's a Canon"
Her:"What do you need it for?"
Me:"I shoot people and buildings and other stuff with it"
She turns away lol


----------



## Olcoot

I find that any time I am out with my Sigma 300-800mm on the D200 the Gitzo 5541 tripod that this combo is very large and always draws many strange looks and many people come up to get a better look and always have a comment. I think my favorite 2 were from a older gentlemen who said "I thought the Hubble was still in space" and a young lady who said with a smirk "Men, they are always trying to compensate for something else". LOL!


----------



## blash

Jaszek said:


> Once in english class, I had my XSI with the 70-200 mounted. A friends asks me
> "Whats that in your bag?"
> Me:"It's a Canon"
> Her:"What do you need it for?"
> Me:"I shoot people and buildings and other stuff with it"
> She turns away lol



only cause she didn't want to ask where the gunpowder was


----------



## Jaszek

lol


----------



## giorgio

Garbz said:


> Alex_B said:
> 
> 
> 
> hmm, that seems to be a US-kind of thing? It hardly ever happened to me ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah this clearly must be. In Australia it's pretty much the opposite. With -spam- in Bulimba the other day we walked past and stopped at a construction site and one of the workers saw us, leant on his shed and said, "What aren't you going to take a picture of me?". Or at the labour day much "Common mate get one of us we're front page material." Or at southbank after I overheard some girl talking about our cameras and I said "Want your picture taken?", she ran off and came back a minute later and said "Uh actually yeah".
Click to expand...


I went to take some pics of my truck to an industrial park(manufacturing and assembling plants) here in Mexico, of course the guards or cops in a Charger police car aproached and asked what we were doing? that we can't take pictures here because of the park's policy.

I told them that I understood and that's why I parked the truck against the open field(no buildings)...
They say "ok..., be careful"...

Minutes latter they passed by again and they kiddingly said out loud through their speaker "take one at this one too!", refering to the Charger.

Here's the patrol car when passing by







BTW, I'm a beginner, and at that time(like 8months ago) I didn't know how to shoot manually yet, so I was on "auto", latter I read and read and read until finally, I stumble upon "understanding exporsure" and in the second page it said... "set your dial in the "M", aim at subject, by seeing in the viewfinder turn the aperture wheel to 4.5 and then the shutter wheel until you see the light metering centered at cero, shoot a way!, you just took your first well exposed picture"...., ha ha ha... I said like YEaahhh!!! eacesign: and felt ridiculous at the same time :banghead: :gah: when seeing how easy it is and how hard was to find it, because, actually, I didn't even imagine there were such thing as manual mode or half pressing etc. I just wanted to learn how to use the DSLR. All books and tutorials explained exporsure, iso's, apertures, circumstances, and a lot of great things..., but then realized I wasn't able to apply it in the camera, but I kept reading and studying because it was interesting.


----------



## Buckster

People get all kinds of weirded out when they see me walking around with this:











For some reason though, they never ask me to point it at them!


----------



## Derrel

Buckster said:


> "Is that a ray gun?"


----------



## Buckster

Derrel said:


> "Is that a ray gun?"


lol.  I should mount a laser scope to it...


----------



## giorgio

Derrel said:


> Buckster said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Is that a ray gun?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's a transformer!!.
Click to expand...


----------



## Actor

lifeafter2am said:


> THORHAMMER said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've come to the conclusion that lots of people are just stupid.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately you are so very right!
Click to expand...

Even more unfortunately the stupidity rate among politicians is higher than the general population.


----------



## Actor

Garbz said:


> Yeah I unfortunately know a poor D200 which never found it's way out of ProgramAuto mode. *I think every time someone clicks the shutter on that thing god kills a kitten.*



All cats go to heaven!


----------



## Actor

jstuedle said:


> Then again, I suspect many of them can't read.


Statistics say 12% of them and that number is growing.


----------



## the Virginian

When people see my 4X5 field camera, they ask if it will shoot color.


----------



## ottor

Buckster said:


> People get all kinds of weirded out when they see me walking around with this:


 
Do you have any idea how cool that would look if you put a "Glock" front sight on that thing ??? 

Don't remember anything really out of the ordinary, but there was this fellow ..... I was walking around downtown with my 300mm with the lens hood attached and he turned around and asked me .... "Damn, Dude - how fast have you had that thing up to ??" I just chucked, but he stood there looking at me - serious look - like he was expecting an answer... I said "Well past the limit!!" - He said ....... "Cool"

OK ..........  He smelled like a walking canabis bud ...


----------



## Dusty Miller

shorty6049 said:


> i need to get a better zoom lens... everyones got those dang white canon monsters lately.... too bad i shoot sony


 
Yeah, get yourself some decent gear man, you'll take MUCH better pictures!


----------



## redtippmann

I always like it when people ask me whose equipment I'm borrowing, and I just say its mine. Then they look at me like I'm crazy for spending $2000 on a camera. 

Oh and when I tell them that my D2H with my 80-200 only has 4.1 MP and there P&S has like 12MP's and then they say I should get there camera.


----------



## RauschPhotography

My father-in-law: "Well, I'm glad SOMEONE knows how to use a camera around here!" (to my mother-in-law) :razz:


----------



## epp_b

I get people who clearly have never seen or experienced anything other than cheap compacts tell me, "boy, that looks like a great camera!", Me: "eh, it's alright".

I have D40 :roll:


----------



## KmH

I love it when the sharp tacks ask, "What's the camera for?"


----------



## Josh66

I almost never get comments on my gear.  (Which is fine with me.)

Occasionally someone will ask how much 'all that' costs...  Some people are pretty shocked when they learn that the contents of my camera bag represent a larger investment than their car...

Another, unrelated, comment that I hear a lot is how disposible cameras "take the best pictures".  I suspect it's only because they have no settings to mess up.  People that think something you throw away when you're done with it "takes the best pictures" probably wouldn't know what to do with options like shutter speed or aperture...


----------



## TJ K

O|||||||O said:


> I almost never get comments on my gear.  (Which is fine with me.)
> 
> Occasionally someone will ask how much 'all that' costs...  Some people are pretty shocked when they learn that the contents of my camera bag represent a larger investment than their car...
> 
> Another, unrelated, comment that I hear a lot is how disposible cameras "take the best pictures".  I suspect it's only because they have no settings to mess up.  People that think something you throw away when you're done with it "takes the best pictures" probably wouldn't know what to do with options like shutter speed or aperture...



Imagine them seeing the image on the back of the camera. They would freak :lmao:


----------



## BAmereihn

i was at my brother in-laws wedding, went to the bar for a beer and got a funny look then she asked another person behind the bar, comes back and says we dont serve to the photographers, i had a d40x with an 18-55 and an sb600.....i told them not a photog just a guest taking pics


----------



## Battou

I got one a couple of days ago. 


I was attending my fiancée's uncles 50th birthday. Having been asked to do a family photo I took my camera and my fiancée's cameras and a couple of extra lenses. During the festivities my nephiew (3) comes up and asks if he "can look at the pieces of my camera" referring to the lenses. That's not the funny part, I've worked with this little one on a few occations and even allowed him to carry my primary camera and shoot it so I was not too worried and said "sure" I proceded  to name off all the lenses I brought "Canon 35mm 3.5, canon 28mm 2.8, Canon 50mm 1.4, Canon 85mm 1.8" I then asked him if he wanted to see what each of the pieces did on the camera? He replied with an exuberant yes, so I literally handed him my fiancée's SLR with the 35mm on it and asked him if he could see how much he could see as he looked around the living room. after that I took the camera and changed the lens and put the 28mm on to it and did the same thing....I did this for all of the lenses I brought with me. 

Wile this is happening my fiancée's aunt comes into the living room and sees him with this camera to his face and just looking around. Her jaw hit the floor and she turns to her brother and asks "Is that a Canon" "Is he letting him handle that thing?" isn't he worried that he's going to hurt it"


The look of sheer terror on her face was priceless enough but overhearing the comments made along with it was over the top. I had a hard time not rolling over laughing.


----------



## ToddLange

shorty6049 said:


> i need to get a better zoom lens... everyones got those dang white canon monsters lately.... too bad i shoot sony




hey i shoot sony too. we gots big white lenses too! cept i cant afford em  lols. damn kit glass :x


----------



## Janthony13

I have a Minolta film camera from the 80's which is clunky, boxy, and so obviously OLD. I was shooting a park bench/ sunset seen in the park by my office with the 70-210mm zoom when two "thugs" came up to me and said "AY YO BOY... Yo getta pitchaa of DIS!" Then he struck some gangster pose with his arms cross and head cocked to the side... I was like.. uhhhh.... so I snapped his pic to appease him. (WASTING MY FILM). Then, he asked me to see it... I said I couldnt show him... he was dumbfounded and confused by my statement. He simply said, "aiight... well... put it online tonight." Then left. awk.


----------



## Santa Gertrudis

I get "Is that big thing hard to use? I've always wanted a big zoom camera like that." almost on a daily basis. :lmao:


----------



## Darkhunter139

I just got my camera about 2 months ago and have got one comment so far.  I went for a walk to a creek not to far from my house with my camera to try and get some pictures.  This lady walks by me then stops and stares at me for a while (This was pretty annoying)

She then asked "What are you doing" and I answered taking pictures, she replied "oh" and walked away.


----------



## FrankLamont

Buckster said:


>


Sigma? Pfft!


----------



## Buckster

FriedChicken said:


> Buckster said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sigma? Pfft!
Click to expand...

What's your problem?

Have you looked up the stats on this lens?  Have you looked at the reviews for this lens? Here...  Get you some:

Sigma AF 180mm f/3.5 EX HSM APO macro - Review / Test Report

Have you looked at the results from this lens?  Here... Get you some:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/macro-photography/178920-milk-drops.html

I chose this lens after a ton of research based on my needs pointed directly to it, and I've been 100% satisfied on every level with it.
















"Pfft!" yourself.


----------



## Overread

SIGMA FTW!!!







great macro lenses


----------



## Xdwardo

I just get the usual... 

#########################
"My.. what a BIG ZOOM you have!"... 

and sometimes I'll get comments about my camera too.
#########################

I couldnt resist! :mrgreen:

I like the funny looks you get as you're sizing up a picture, but havnt taken your camera out yet. Then as soon as you pull it out, you can kinda sense the "ahhh he's a photographer"....


----------



## MGriff240

Xdwardo said:


> I like the funny looks you get as you're sizing up a picture, but havnt taken your camera out yet. Then as soon as you pull it out, you can kinda sense the "ahhh he's a photographer"....



AHHH, I get that all the time.


----------



## FrankLamont

Buckster said:


> What's your problem?
> 
> Have you looked up the stats on this lens?  Have you looked at the reviews for this lens?
> "Pfft!" yourself.


Relax, mate, my post was in jest.


----------



## Sam6644

Best comment I've gotten since I got my 7D so far is, "Damn.. that's a hell of a camera!" Its still so new to me all I said back was, "Dude, I know!"  I probably sounded like I was making fun of him, but I was really just impressed with it myself. 

Around Cincinnati the most common thing I hear is, "Who are you working for?"


----------



## Sam6644

ohhhhh... I just remembered one I hear all the time that annoys the hell out of me:

semi-friend/acquaintance who is semi-into photography/owns a digital camera sees me with my camera in hand, 
"Hey man, we should shoot some photos some time" 
uugggg! how about you leave me alone.  
my usual response is, "Aw, yeah man- for sure..." haha


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## LuckySo-n-So

I don't have season tickets to LSU football, so I usually purchase them outside the stadium, as there are usually plenty of people trying to get rid of tickets for one reason or another.

I never pay face value for the "crap" games (LSU v. Louisiana-Lafayette, for example).

So I ask a guy how much he's selling his ticket for, and I counteroffer at $20 less than he wants.

"Dude, you're walking around with a thousand dollar Nikon and a thousand dollar lens in the rain*.  You shouldn't quibble on $20."


*Camera and lens in question were covered with a ziploc :mrgreen:


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## Battou

LuckySo-n-So said:


> I don't have season tickets to LSU football, so I usually purchase them outside the stadium, as there are usually plenty of people trying to get rid of tickets for one reason or another.
> 
> I never pay face value for the "crap" games (LSU v. Louisiana-Lafayette, for example).
> 
> So I ask a guy how much he's selling his ticket for, and I counteroffer at $20 less than he wants.
> 
> "Dude, you're walking around with a thousand dollar Nikon and a thousand dollar lens in the rain*.  You shouldn't quibble on $20."
> 
> 
> *Camera and lens in question were covered with a ziploc :mrgreen:



lol that is when you reply "Yeah I spent all my money on this camera, now I want to use it and get my moneys worth."


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## BKMOOD

Some guy:  Wow.  Nice camera.  How much something like that setcha back?

Me:  Not much.  I just knocked some guy out in the alley and took it from him.  If the cops come by, you didn't see anything.

The guys eye widen.  I wink at him and say "just kidding."


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## pharmakon

Alex_B said:


> S2K1 said:
> 
> 
> 
> This happened yesterday, went to a local ski resort and after getting to the top of the mountain, I saw a lady carrying her Canon 5D with a wide-angle, lens hood, and a big softbox on top of it. I was looking for someone to take a picture of my fiance and I, she made herself aware she was capable of using my 30D.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, actually, I am very often in that situations that I always have to take pictures of couples (or single Indians for some reason). They see my camera and think, wow, he will make us look good on the photo. Sometimes I feel like I take more pictures with other people's p&s cameras than with my own gear
> 
> I am never sure how those images come out in the end though... guess they are all very disappointed in the end
Click to expand...

 

Similar situation..  Just the other day my wife and I were walking around the ski area where we are on vacation, I was shooting but she occasionally wants to take a pic with me in it for memories sake. She happened to be doing just that and some others came up and asked if we wouldn't mind taking their picture. I offered, but they hastily handed the camera to my wife, assuming she must be able to take a much better photo since she was holding the 50D at the time.


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## mdtusz

Big lenses and vertical grips seem to do it around here. That, and the clickclickclickclickclickclick that happens 8 times a second. The sound of a SLR is a beautiful thing.


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## ottor

Was at the Zoo Monday, and had the camera on a Tripod (Using as a monopod) and had the 100-400 fully extended with the 1.4x attached and walked up to the Lion area.... the Dad took his daughter and moved her closer to him and said.... "Get out of his way Honey, .. he's a photographer"....

Yup .... that day, I was.... :hail:


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## Battou

ottor said:


> Was at the Zoo Monday, and had the camera on a Tripod (Using as a monopod) and had the 100-400 fully extended with the 1.4x attached and walked up to the Lion area.... the Dad took his daughter and moved her closer to him and said.... "Get out of his way Honey, .. he's a photographer"....
> 
> Yup .... that day, I was.... :hail:



I have gotten that on a few occations with my 400mm 5.6 on a tripod at a local raptor showing. I lost count of howmany times I said the words "Don't let me stop you, I can wait."


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## Overread

Yep I've had the self same reaction (though not from the lines - neat shot!) 
And I didn't even have a bit white lens - just a tripod and my 70-300m little black sigma to hand. But I looked pro (its the beard I tell you!  ).
Now with the 70-200mm and a flash with softbox I really do look like the real nutter


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## danielrwelch

I was out a little while back on a weekend night, 40D and 50/1.8 taking pics.  Wandering into an area of KC with bars and restaurants aplenty, I got the whole "Dude, why're you shooting my girlfriend?" (when I was taking a picture of a wall...)  or  "CReeeeeeepy!" all while not actually shooting people.

Finally I have one guy shove his friend, point at me and say, "Psh f**kin' stalker over here!  Getting shots of the sexy ladies you can't score?"

His friend smacked him when they looked through the window at what I shot.  His girlfriend laughed and called him a moron.  Image I was taking when he made his comment:






Shot I took out of spite when he parted ways and left with his girlfriend:


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## The Shoe

Nothing major yet, for either cameras (film/digital)

Only comment from a stranger so far has been while using ye olde Canon A-1 at a local Micro Brewery.  After a tour while we were sampling 5 types of brew, this larger, slightly inebriated woman leans over the table towards me and belts out "NICE CAMERA, BUDDY!" and then I, surprised, reply "You know it."

Then she went back to her beer and friends.

Was an odd moment.


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## Bigmojo

Lots of people want to talk cameras and that's OK.

Although I think a lot of them are into gadgets first and photography second a great many people love the subject.


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## Antarctican

I'm not going to read all the preceding 19 pages to see it this one has already been mentioned (and a version of it likely has):

I was at a crowded outdoor function in Toronto and had the lens hood on my 70-200 zoom. I was sizing up a scene to shoot, when a guy standing nearby with his little 'PnS'* looked down at his camera, then over at mine, then back at his, with a very obvious chagrined look. He dolefully said "Lens Envy" before slinking off.  It was hysterical. Or maybe you had to be there.


(*That's "point and shoot", but it looks funnier when shortened to 'pns')


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## icassell

Antarctican said:


> (*That's "point and shoot", but it looks funnier when shortened to 'pns')



:roll:


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## BLD_007

danielrwelch said:


> I was out a little while back on a weekend night, 40D and 50/1.8 taking pics.  Wandering into an area of KC with bars and restaurants aplenty, I got the whole "Dude, why're you shooting my girlfriend?" (when I was taking a picture of a wall...)  or  "CReeeeeeepy!" all while not actually shooting people.
> 
> Finally I have one guy shove his friend, point at me and say, "Psh f**kin' stalker over here!  Getting shots of the sexy ladies you can't score?"
> 
> His friend smacked him when they looked through the window at what I shot.  His girlfriend laughed and called him a moron.  Image I was taking when he made his comment:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shot I took out of spite when he parted ways and left with his girlfriend:



Looks like the plaza, am I right?  have you ever been down to Power in Light district? I'm thinging about going on a Friday/Saturday. But I don't want some drunk boyfriend break my camera.


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## danielrwelch

BLD_007 said:


> Looks like the plaza, am I right?  have you ever been down to Power in Light district? I'm thinging about going on a Friday/Saturday. But I don't want some drunk boyfriend break my camera.



Hey, if you want a shooting buddy, I'll go down to PnL some weekend and shoot with you!  It's a great place to shoot, but the d-bag bf's are just asking for trouble if you're alone.  If you're with at least one other person you seem more official and less creepy.


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## JLEphoto

I lived in East TN when I first got into photography.   One day my friend and I were just out driving the back roads looking for a good place to set up prior to sunset.  We found a great place and pulled off the side of thr road.  We were actually just on the edge of some guys yard and as we were starting to set up our tripods I see the owner come out of his house and get in his car.  A few seconds later he pulls up next to us and says "hey there what u guys-a shoot'n".  I said the sun setting behind that hill....  He says "what?....   Oh, you're takin pitchers".....  Yes, he thought we were setting up tripods for guns...  Even more strange he was perfectly okay with that.


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## matfoster

JLEphoto said:


> He says "what?.... Oh, you're takin pitchers"..... Yes, he thought we were setting up tripods for guns... Even more strange he was perfectly okay with that.



:lmao: :thumbup:


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## Actor

"I see  you're still using film."

I do still shoot film, an a lot of it, but the camera he was commenting on was my wife's DSLR.


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## matfoster

Actor said:


> "I see you're still using film."
> 
> I do still shoot film, an a lot of it, but the camera he was commenting on was my wife's DSLR.


 

this is a similar mindset to finding nice MF lenses on old SLRs in junk shops. "there's no call for them anymore, people are all going over to digital these days"

yep. shame isn't it ;-))


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