you want (me) to do WHAT?!

[carlita]

so my latest idea for a photo got me thinking... how weird AM i, really? compared to the rest of you folks i mean.

see, i have to take a scary picture/one that plays on a common fear, or fear of my own. so i thought "hmmmm... since my parents won't let me dig a hole in their backyard and i don't HAVE a backyard myself, i'll call up a cemetery and ask them if i can lie down in one of their freshly dug graves to get a picture from the point of view of someone about to be buried alive... with some sweaty, creepy guy standing over me with a full shovel of dirt."

i ran this idea by my mom asking her if she thought they would actually let me do this. she says she doesn't think so (which turns out to be a common opinion), but i have yet to call and ask and what's the worst they can say? no, right? and that's no big deal. my mom says they'll think i'm a freak. i say i don't care what they think as long as i get my picture.


SO... what i want to know from the rest of you guys is this:

what is the strangest thing you've ever done/asked someone else to do to get a picture you wanted?

i remember one of my professors telling our class once that if you're not willing to get arrested for trespassing to get the right angle for a shot, you're probably not a true photographer at heart. :razz:

 

[Scott WRG Editor]

Give it a shot. My friend just made a 5 second movie for a contest and for this video he needed a new Cadillac. I told him the dealer would never let him borrow one but they DID! So you never know until you try.

 

[Walt]

Great idea! Twisted perhaps but all in good fun!
Hey, we can't take flower pictures all the time!

 

[ferny]

I don't think you're weird. You're cool for getting the idea. Even more so for asking them about it (if you do). I get all sorts of strange ideas but can't carry them through.
You seem pretty normal to me.

 

[Artemis]

Thats a great photo idea...hehe really artistic, and not weird at all you.......weirdo...

 

[Scott WRG Editor]

A variation of this shot would be to set up a tripod and shoot a picture of the empty grave, then shoot a shot of you lying in the grave without moving the camera. Composite the two in photoshop and drop the opacity of the one your in. Should give a ghost type effect.

Just a thought.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Cemeteries tend to be a little unco-operative - with good reason. If you approach them as an individual they will just write you off as a wierdo. Worked as a stills photographer on a film a few years back and they needed to do a funeral scene. It took a bit of arm twisting to get it organised. So your chances are slim but there is no harm in trying. But choosing the right approach is important.
As for the strangest thing I've ever done or asked for... I've never thought about it. You just do whatever it takes to get the shot you want and if people think you're wierd - that's their problem.

 

[Big Mike]

You could talk to a landscaper or construction comapny...all you would need is the hole right? All sorts of people are digging holes all the time...how about foundation repair? I did that for a summer and let me tell you...I dug a lot of holes...

 

[Nikon Fan]

Great idea Good luck with pulling it off!

In answer to your question, it's not really too strange IMO, but when the SARS epidemic was going on, I was traveling in Asia. At the Bangkok airport there is a lifesize Kernel Sanders statue, I happened to have a 2 SARS Mask in my backpack, so i put one on him, and one on me. Then had someone take the picture. I took mine off, but for kicks left it on the kernel...the funny thing was that loads of others thought it was hilarious and all had their pics taken as well