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

[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]

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]

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]

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?