Jim_Brown
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 Do you enjoy or hate the attention? | |
I tend to get the "So, who do you shoot for or are you with the paper?" comments when doing event/candid stuff, when shooting the modely types, I get totally over looked most of the time... That hurts because, well Im all sensitive and stuff 
I still carry a Rebel XT setup around, which has gotten me out of the "no 'commercial/professional' photography here without filling out all this and paying this" when shooting Bridals, just flash the prosumer gear and tell her your shooting your sister and nieces and your golden.
On the flipside, the 1ds MK2 and Redstrips grab some attention and do allow you to move around events and such much easier... I remember painting my gold usm stripe red back when I was first getting started, got some good shots of Vince Niel that way and even gave him one of my business cards 
As far as negative attention, I shot some basketball stuff in Dallas around the faire park area for hoop it up, had to park across the street, I felt pretty confident that keeping the camera tight to my body and monopod half extended, kickstand locked out with spike extended out and gripped was a solid choice, people kept their distance...
Scariest moment was when I was getting into my car after a photography meetup thing one night and didnt get the door closed fast enough and I got accaused by a bum who proceeded get where I couldnt close my door and began to tell me that he just got out of jail for wrecking some dudes face with a beer bottle during the Katrina riots and to not judge him... I told him I wouldnt, but I just spent all my money, however if he didnt step off I was going to feed him some steel, he got angry... HOWEVER, I had both hands free and he was distracted enough I already had my "small(read: Thats not a knife, THIS is a knife)" blade stuck between the seats, which got quickly removed and cocked to point at his face... He chilled I gave him a couple smokes and he left... Could have done without that experiance though... Anyway, I generally carry some kind of blade, not that thats always the smartest thing or most kosher, but they do some in handy for the darnedest things, such as "realistic looking props" as featured by the lovely Eden here:
I will agree however that I am paranoid while shooting, specially when I have to worry about 2+ bodies and 10k+ in gear, also I agree 1Ds w/ Lbracket and 70-200= lethal blunt force head trauma to prospective mugger... Attached to a monopod it surely resembles some type of midevil war hammer or something 
Anyway, I generally dont mind the attention, as long as its positive, Im straight... Else, well Im a large guy who before getting into IT and photography, traveled around and got paid to play a sport where I was known for hurting people and playing dirty to make that happen, if I get to successfully ruin some thugs shit, its a great day
Also, big camera equipment probably saved me from having the cops called when shooting sunsets the other night, if I didnt have a big lens and such, it probably would have looked like I was about to nose dive off the tool box of my truck into traffic below... Not that almost didnt happen by accident, but I guess people figure your not gonna commit harry carry when you have expensive toys in hand, you just look too cherry I suppose :P
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