So yesterday in the early evening I was walking Riley along the strand by the beach. Had a Nikon F2 with me - the usual.
A nice enough man in his late 60s walking his dog sees me, calls out ‘is that a film camera?’, then comes over to chat. Nothing strange about that interaction. Then he asks me if I have a roll of film that he can have! Now he doesn’t have a camera with him, just him and his dog.
I actually did not, and stated that, but this was so strange. So I say ‘do you know Paul’s Photo in Torrance? They sell film there.’
He said he knew it well…. So this dood just sees me w a film camera and figures he could hit me up for film? Am I missing something here?
Now I’ve given film to kids before in the past - unsolicited - just saw them taking pics w film cameras and did them a solid. But for an adult with no camera in sight to ask for some? Just weird.
That was probably the first part of a code-sequence, for a secret spy rendezvous. You may have unwittingly exposed a cabal of film-philic conspirators, the likes of which you've never seen. Or, something.
You better lay low for a couple of weeks. Shoot some vintage digital.
Roll of 35 mm film prices are now about $10. So yes, maybe worthwhile to ask to snip one of these .
This said, I remember times > 10 years ago at the NYC based Photo Expo where vendors handed out 35 mm rolls of film for free. Not gonna happen anymore for sure!
Maybe it was completely innocent - he not knowing the current price of film. Back in the day - coming up on 18 years smoke free - people would hit me up for smoke, because they saw me smoking.
James Markus wrote:
Maybe it was completely innocent - he not knowing the current price of film. Back in the day - coming up on 18 years smoke free - people would hit me up for smoke, because they saw me smoking.
People hit me up for weed all the time. Because I have long hair..
Desmolicious wrote:
People hit me up for weed all the time. Because I have long hair..
I was sitting on a bench and had an exposed roll of 120 in my hand. While licking the sealing tape, two guys came up and offered me five dollars for "one of those". They were quite disappointed when I told them it was a roll of film.
madNbad wrote:
I was sitting on a bench and had an exposed roll of 120 in my hand. While licking the sealing tape, two guys came up and offered me five dollars for "one of those". They were quite disappointed when I told them it was a roll of film.
Should have countered with $50 'cause these are so illegal they have to be disguised as roll film.
I would be asking what year it was (like if I woke in another time warp) and if it had an DP12 or some other viewfinder. I worked in Torrance briefly as a youth back in ancient times. I had a Nikkormat and an an FE2 back then. No money for an F2.
retrofocus wrote:
Roll of 35 mm film prices are now about $10. So yes, maybe worthwhile to ask to snip one of these .
This said, I remember times > 10 years ago at the NYC based Photo Expo where vendors handed out 35 mm rolls of film for free. Not gonna happen anymore for sure!
Yeah basically it was the equivalent of ‘got a spare $10?’!
madNbad wrote:
I was sitting on a bench and had an exposed roll of 120 in my hand. While licking the sealing tape, two guys came up and offered me five dollars for "one of those". They were quite disappointed when I told them it was a roll of film.
Desmolicious wrote:
So yesterday in the early evening I was walking Riley along the strand by the beach...
They sell film there.’
He said he knew it well…. So this dood just sees me w a film camera and figures he could hit me up for film? Am I missing something here?
All Hallows' Eve brings out the fresh ones, don't it?
Psst, do you have any gigglebush you could lay on me? With those locks, I assume you're a fellow traveller.
jcolwell wrote:
That was probably the first part of a code-sequence, for a secret spy rendezvous. You may have unwittingly exposed a cabal of film-philic conspirators, the likes of which you've never seen. Or, something.
You better lay low for a couple of weeks. Shoot some vintage digital.
"Got an extra roll of film"
"I'm sorry, all I got on my is loaded up in my camera"
"Do the geese fly south this time of year?"
"Well, this is southern California so the don't really go much further than..." *abruptly cut off*
"The hunter for Red October has begun. It's a good day for a fedora"
Much better than the farm owner (Marlboro, VT) I "met" yesterday requesting 100.00USD from me for taking "professional photos" of his old barn with my 5x7 camera; never got the film out to actually do it...the guy was an absolute butt-hole. Although I never "carry" while out doing photography, I'm not liking the options to protect against the crazies that are out there, other than packing up and driving away. And yes, I was on the side of the road, not on his property...
madNbad wrote:
I was sitting on a bench and had an exposed roll of 120 in my hand. While licking the sealing tape, two guys came up and offered me five dollars for "one of those". They were quite disappointed when I told them it was a roll of film.
Hmmm...straight out of Cheech & Chong...love it...
. 
I worked in Torrance briefly as a youth back in ancient times. I had a Nikkormat and an an FE2 back then. No money for an F2.
