#2 Hillariuos story. Tim Mostly harmless (just plain Norwegian) Never underestimate the power of stupidity in large crowds (Very freely after Arthur C. Clarke, or some other clever guy)
> -----Original Message----- > From: Doug Brewer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 25. august 2005 03:04 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Survey: Your Most Unusual Shot > > I've been thinking about this off and on for a couple of days, and > rather than coming up with actual photos, what keep coming to mind > are the various weird situations I've been in during my long > association with photography. > > 1. Had a visit from a guy in Elizabethton, Tennessee once. He walked > in the studio and told me he'd like to have some photos made of > himself for his girlfriend's birthday. Pretty standard request. No > worries, I sez, and gave him the nickel tour of the studio. Here's > the lights, the backgrounds we use, some packages we offer, etc. I > pencil him in for a week or so later, and bid him adieu. A week or so > later, of course, I'm in another studio 400 miles away and get a > phone call. > > "Doug?" > "yup" > "There's a naked guy in the camera room" > "anyone we know?" > "He says you told him he could have naked pictures of himself." > "I think I'd remember that, but nothing comes to mind" > "What should I do?" > "Tell him to put on his clothes." > > 2. Christmas season, College Square Mall, Morristown, TN, and I'm the > Santa photographer. It's Friday evening, about seven pm, around a > week until Christmas, and the place is packed. There's a line of > fearful children and impatient parents roughly two miles long, > waiting to see Santa, and I'm shooting two-year-old Nicholas. I have > a decent shot of him, but I want the winning smile. I go for the big > gun, a stuffed Mickey Mouse doll, to which I had attached some rubber > bands. The ploy was to appear to throw the doll toward the subject, > and boing! It magically returns to my hand. Hilarity ensues. Happy > kid. Happy parents. Happy bank account. > > Except. > > Mickey continues his flight, FREE! no longer encumbered by the broken > bands now snapping painfully against my outstretched fingers. It is > not a soft flight, either. Nolan Ryan himself would have wept at the > precision, the velocity, the unerring delivery, the audible FUMP! as > Mickey plowed straight into young Master Nicholas' unsuspecting > visage. Certainly the throng was impressed. You could have heard a > butterfly sneeze in the silence that accompanied my frenzied attempt > to chase down Walt's prized creation. > > And it was bad. Nicholas looked at me, and I saw in his eyes the > uncertainty, the melting away of trust, the signs that I had, in one > brief moment, planted the seeds that would bloom into a fear of > photographers, of Santa Claus, even of Mickey Mouse! It was a triple > play, ladies and gents, and I was clearly to blame for not knowing > the condition of my little rubber bands. His little face began to > cloud up. And then the deluge. > > I was apologizing to his parents before Mickey had cleared the > intervening distance. I continued doing so as his mother swept in > from stage right to nab him from Santa's lap and kiss away those > tears. I felt terrible. I was panic-stricken. In the turbulence I > looked around. I caught brief glimpses of waiting families, > shopkeepers, young lovers, punks, and then, I spied Nicholas' father, > not far from his cooing wife and wailing son, and I was comforted. > > Because he was laughing his ass off. > > > On Aug 23, 2005, at 10:26 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > > Q. What is the most unusual subject matter you have ever shot? The > > most > > unique? Or the weirdest? Or simply the subject matter that you have > > had the hardest > > time "capturing" (either because it was hard to get to, or timing, or > > movement, or whatever)? > > > > Please expound. > > > > A. > >
