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"Whataya' got there?"
"Is that a periscope?"
I always get questions about the rig. Always. No matter where I am, people are just too curious!
Then after I explain...
"What a great idea!"
"Did you think of that?"
"I'm gonna try that myself!"
Posted 4 weeks ago.
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Yep, I mainly get/got the same reactions as Russ here in Australia as well as when in Anchorage. In Taipei I mainly got strange and interested looks, but no questions. I think that' a cultural difference
In addition to Russ' list, I get many passers-by asking why I would be photographing my shoes...
I had one run on with a security guard some time back (when taking this shot inside the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney), when he objected to the 'professional' camera and hauled me in front of his supervisor...who profusely and unreservedly apologised for this incident...
Given the bazooka-like appearance of the NikΩmega TTV 910 with its pistol grip (I think it's one of the WMDs seriykotik1970 refers to...), I was quite prepared for questions by security and to have patience there, but on my recent visit to the Albury Show I did not get any reaction from any of the police and private securirty that were very visibly in attendance and quite thick on the ground. Again it was patrons who asked questions and one of then even offered to buy one from me...I told him that making this and getting the quirks sorted was half the fun..
Originally posted 4 weeks ago.
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ausphoto ! edited this topic 4 weeks ago.
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Twice in ten minutes I was asked why I was taking pictures inside a box.
Posted 4 weeks ago.
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From mild strange looks to questions and sometimes very close to abuse :-).People in Lithgow seem to be a very suspicious lot.Nobody even remotely has ever seen anything like it here
Originally posted 4 weeks ago.
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esch* edited this topic 4 weeks ago.
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When flying to Alaska earlier this year, I hand carried my previous set-up, the Nikolbia TTV812 rig, but had it disassembled (ie top and bottom cameras removed), so that it could pass through security xrays with their bumpy rollers etc (without risking either top or bottom camera getting damaged).
Most certainly got some strange looks and some questions as to what it was, but got through airport security unscathed in Canberra (1x), Sydney (2x), Taipei (2x), Anchorage (2x) and Adak, AK (1x).
I also shot several images outside and inside Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport, Terminal 2, including images inside the security zone (such as these highly polished corridors) and had no problems at all.
Posted 4 weeks ago.
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In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, people is gently curious....always. At least two every hour stop me
Posted 4 weeks ago.
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KCI-34...be glad you're not in New York...:
www.flickr.com/photos/jasoncina/3386721591/
Posted 4 weeks ago.
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The weird thing is that Russia is (I'm guessing here) far more of a police state than the US or Australia are. Armed police going on drunken rampages, heavy handed suppression of demonstrations, massive corruption by police, hit and run accidents involving police officers, random document checks - it's all everyday stuff here. Yet I've only ever been stopped from taking photos twice- once of an embassy, once of a Government office.
Originally posted 4 weeks ago.
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seriykotik1970 edited this topic 4 weeks ago.
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"What kind of lens is that?"
"I used to have a (insert your favorite TLR here)."
"Why are you taking pictures of the sky?" (if i'm periscoping the rig)
and almost always upon explanation: "That's cool!"
Posted 3 weeks ago.
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I get a lot of "Nice Lens...huh huh", but then I tend to bring out the passive aggressive a**hole in people. Maybe it's the pink hair, maybe it's the tattoos.
More often than not, the people brave enough to talk to me are genuinely interested in what I'm doing - I love talking about TtV and have made some cool connections with people.
Posted 3 weeks ago.
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I love it because people often look right into the lens while I am shooting, not realizing it is the lens.
Posted 3 weeks ago.
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Greg, You're holding it sideways , then?
Posted 3 weeks ago.
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I do most of my shooting in NYC. The people who come up to me generally just talk about the bottom camera. They tell me stories about when they or someone in their family had one....ask if you can still get film etc.
But generally, I don't attract a lot of attention. Maybe it's because I am under 5 feet tall. It makes me sort of invisible.
Originally posted 3 weeks ago.
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luzcie sombra edited this topic 3 weeks ago.
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Nope, just depends on how far away they are.
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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Mostly curiousity. Questions and wanting to see the images. I get a lot of people that ask, "What's the point?" after I explain how it all works. I usually just reply, "Oh, there really isn't one." I figure if they've got to ask, they probably won't get it anyway.
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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I attended a South Bay Photography meet-up in Santa Clara last week. I brought my bag and in it was the TtV rig. I also brought along my 'mini' portfolio', a 5" x 7" booklet filled with 48 TtV prints. Attendees are encouraged to bring prints, so I did.
I showed it to folks at one end of the table, mainly younger males, but there was an older couple sitting there, too. I got some positive reaction and a few questions, mostly from the older woman. I brought out the trap and it got barely noticed. The yougsters were not impressed. Then again, neither was I - there was more conversation at this end of the table about Canon 5Ds for sale than about anything technical or creative.
Undaunted, I moved to another seat at the other end of the table 'tween a couple of geezerz like me and showed them the prints. Totally different reaction. They asked what camera I used, was it a toy, how was the shimmer effect achieved? They commented on the square format, the low perspective, the subject matter, and when I brought out the rig this time, these two guys were instantly curious. They wanted to hold it, inspecting all angles of the trap while asking about the Duaflex, general trap construction, the type of lens I have on my DSLR, lighting issues.
One of the guys, Godfrey, brought two gorgeous prints to share. One was an 8" x 10" of an older red bicycle with the Pacific Ocean in the background, the other an 11" x 14" B&W triptych of a pretty young woman posing. The other guy, Jim, let me play a bit with his new Panasonic GF-1.
Those two made my first meet-up worth the effort.
Perspective. It's amazing how different people react differently to something out of the norm.
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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rustman
Amazing!!! thanks for that story!!!!
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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Russ,
Yep, people like it or not.. and many younger ones are obsessed with megapixel technology..every one to their own...I like the geekdom if it, must admit... plus it gives a feel that you just can't fake...(see this for ex.: www.flickr.com/photos/heritagefutures/4097040860/ )...next week I am going to try and develop a 120 film in homebrew Caffenol-C, and if that works out, then I'll hook up my Nikon F5 to the TTV rig (not sure as yet how... might have to shoot unconnected.). and yes, the F5 is FILM.. and then develop the TTV images on the FILM in Caffenol-C as well, just to see what happens...
Originally posted 2 weeks ago.
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ausphoto ! edited this topic 2 weeks ago.
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<-----this younger one isn't obsessed with megapixels!
stop your almost completely accurate generalizations about my generation :P
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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and the exceptions tend to flock to this Flickr group..
;-)
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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It's not about the age really... if you see the photography group from my town - Pune, they are all obsessed with digital tech and equipment and post processing technique... Irrespective of their age.
I have been getting some nice reactions from people, but rarely do they understand what Ttv is. I must say, very few fellow photographers who shoot pretty things through their impressive and expensive cameras and lenses like this technique.
Generally on the streets, people often look at the wrong camera, and then are surprised to see themselves in the image formed on my LCD screen!
Kids are really thrilled... it's like a periscope. they take a look through the Ttv rig and love to pose!
people are either very inquisitive or just don't bother.
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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If someone asks me what i'm doing photographing the ground, as was the case yesterday i tend to let them have a look through the trap then take a portrait of them......
Reactions vary to "Oh that's cool" to "Why?"
I guess it boils down to the fact that people either get it or not. Not sure what that says about the 'non getters' but by and large my experince of peoples reaction is very positive and the nay sayers well they can concentrate on their HDR kittens at sunset :-)
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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I It's not about age at all! I've shared this medium to young and old, male and female - reactions vary from giddily excited to bored silly. And I'm okay with both directions. It's what makes the human race so damn interesting!
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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HDR kitten at sunset, I gotta try that, maybe coughing up a hairball.
There was this guy at a restaurant where I was eating with friends, he was sitting about 12 feet away and in conversation with his friends. He couldn't stop staring at my camera set-up sitting on the floor at my feet, his expression ran the gamut from concerned to scowling and everything in between, it was hilarious. He never did get up the courage to come over and never saw me looking at him, he was really focused on figuring it out for himself. Often, though, if I see someone scowling in frustration trying to understand what I'm doing, I'll just tell them, lord knows I have the explanation down pat. My wife's heard me explain it a thousand times too, sometimes she does it for me!
More and more over the last year people say they know exactly what I'm doing, that they've heard about it from other people or read about the process. I hope it never catches on too much, I like the "outsider" approach that it still has. In the photography world it is truly genre bending.
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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I posted this once before in another thread but a few years back I went to Eastern State Penitentiary and I was taking pictures with my contraption. This one guy (who's breath almost made me vomit) asked me if it was ghost hunting equipment.
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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Mostly I just get people who are curious about it, but last year, at a museum in St. Louis, someone thought I was using it as a barf-bag. Weird.
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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Now, that's funny! 8^)
Posted 2 weeks ago.
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I had a man actually stop his car in the middle of thestreet, and leave it running just so he could check it out!! He HAD to look thru the Viewfinder! Too funny! I never go ut but that someone and usually more than someone asks about it. Now that I've painted the contraption black, it looks a bit sinister...bwahahahaa
Posted 7 days ago.
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And a cousin actually said that i was clearly looking for attention...yep, that's it!! GOT ME!!
Posted 7 days ago.
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Last week I shot some school stuff with the TtV, just to make the assignment more complicated and challenging for myself (the class is a little under my skill level, but required, so I'm jazzing it up a bit). I knew that by presenting these photos in class I'd have to show the gear as well to put some context to how I got the images. My professor was stoked that I'd made this innovate thing - the other students not so much (I don't think they're at the geeky gear lust stage yet, they're just learning how a camera works). In the discussion we had, he asked why I'm bothering to use this device. I told him about composing, the square results, vingetting but the aspect I liked the most was the comedic timing if text were involved, and or how much it eradicates distracting background noise of all the words we're inundated with - and because of that effect the finished images derived from using this technique most closely resembles my eyesight (which is terrible). TtV gives me an opportunity to best represent my view of the world.
Posted 5 days ago.
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Cool, Qathi.
I'm giving a presentation to a Camera Club in Cupertino in January. 8-10 people, from what I hear. I'll prepare a handout that'll include a little history and the Duaflex trap plans. It's the first time anyone has asked me to talk about TtV formally. Talk about stoked!
Posted 5 days ago.
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I had my first day out TtV'ing today (only for about 10 mins because it was very cold windy and raining). I just got some quizzical looks, some people were trying to work out what I was carrying and why I was looking in a black tube - I guess the true test will be when I go inti the city with it!!
Posted 5 days ago.
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congrats Qathi and Russ!
Posted 5 days ago.
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Oh! And... I'm applying to California College of the Arts; I had a portfolio review the other day - the book I took in was 3/4 TtV shots. The advisor asked if I was shooting medium format, at which point I told him I was making pictures with TtV contraptions, he knew what it was (a rare occurrence) he offered awesome feedback and accepted my book for admission :-D
medium format pfft
TTV FTW!
Posted 4 days ago.
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Too cool, Q!
Posted 4 days ago.
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Yesterday I was shooting an overpass construction site when one of the workers approached me and said it was illegal to take pictures there because I was stealing company secrets. He didn't seem too serious so I kept talking to him and within a couple sentences he admitted he was joking around and asked about the contraption. He said he recognized the argus 75 (or twin lens box at least) as one of the types of cameras he used in some school photography class. After an explanation he actually seemed a bit interested in ttv so I showed him some samples and gave him one of the curiosity cards with this group's addy on it. By the end he was talking about how his dad had pics of the Coronado Bridge being built and telling me the schedule of when all the cool construction stuff was going to happen so I'd know when to come back and shoot some more.
I don't have a lot of good reaction stories for some reason so I thought I'd share this one.
Originally posted 2 days ago.
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525 edited this topic 2 days ago.
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