So, get this ( rant post, warning )

Davidoff

Get this, this just happened, less than an hour ago, I was walking to my "workplace" and in like 10 minutes, I see two different groups of photographer/assistant, one with umbrella's, a mac and film hassy and the second one with a large octabox, a mac and a digital hassy, both with power packs and studio lights. So, out of curiosity, I stop and say to the second group " Hi, can you tell me what you're shooting ? " the guy replies " pictures ". I say "okkayyee...." and leave. This is really p***ing me off, so I get to work but go back on purpose to talk to this guy. I ask " Can I ask one more question ? " he says " yeah " I say " How did you get so much equipment with so litlle manners ? "
After I repeat the same question maybe twice because the guy says he isn't understanding the question, he says " I didn't buy this, it's rented " I say " Still, some one has to pay to to work, and I don't get how you get to do that with such bad manners " he says " well, someone did hire me " I say " Ok, I was just curious " And walk off. As I move away I see a model and a couple guys that looked like they were doing the make up and hair. All this happened while he was either looking at the camera or slightly smiling. No wonder photographer's have bad reps, with idiots like this hanging around. Sorry, just had to rant.

zacker

lol... "Pictures" the doofus cant even say "Photographs" ..lol Dont ya just love it when some complete stranger gives you an attitude? i mean, he prolly gets asked that over and over but c'mon, is it that hard to be at least a little polite?


Your perfect response should have been.. "Oh, I thought you were a PHOTOGRAPHER, Say, thats alot of equipment for a Amature to be taking Pictures with isnt it?"

silversx80

Meh, he was just being a smarta$$, kinda like the Bill Engvall "Here's Your Sign" jokes. I've been known to be one myself on occasion . Like zacker said, he probably gets asked the question alot.

Davidoff

zacker wrote:

lol... "Pictures" the doofus cant even say "Photographs" ..lol Dont ya just love it when some complete stranger gives you an attitude? i mean, he prolly gets asked that over and over but c'mon, is it that hard to be at least a little polite?


Your perfect response should have been.. "Oh, I thought you were a PHOTOGRAPHER, Say, thats alot of equipment for a Amature to be taking Pictures with isnt it?"

lol well he didn't really say pictures, because we spoke in portuguese, he said "fotos", which still isn't photographs of course
But he could at least look at me and say " a model " or whatever, but no, he had to be as @** about it. If I were out in the street with over 20k in equipment, I think I'd try to be more polite with strangers. "It's rented" .... maybe that's why he spent like 2 minutes focusing on a brick wall.... lol

gluwater

zacker wrote:

lol... "Pictures" the doofus cant even say "Photographs" ..lol Dont ya just love it when some complete stranger gives you an attitude? i mean, he prolly gets asked that over and over but c'mon, is it that hard to be at least a little polite?


Your perfect response should have been.. "Oh, I thought you were a PHOTOGRAPHER, Say, thats alot of equipment for a Amature to be taking Pictures with isnt it?"

So just because he didn't want to talk to David or explain what he was doing and called his photographs "Pictures", that gives you the right to start namecalling in a thread he cannot stand up for himself in? David asked him what he was "shooting", not what he was "photographing". Why doesn't that bother you? We did not hear the conversation and are going off a translation by David.

David, was he really that rude? Or are you upset because he would not acknowledge you? If he walked into your workplace and started asking you what you were doing would you explain it to him?

From what you have said he could have been more polite but you could also have had thicker skin about the situation. There are much more important things in life to let bother you than a chance encounter with another photographer.

Davidoff

Absolutely, don't get caught up in the exact words, this is a loose translation, not to be taken as if he said those exact words and meaning, shooting, photographing, etc, it's all the same in portuguese.

He was rude gluwater, he aknowledged me but he just chose to be rude. If my workplace was a public place as well, I don't see why I couldn't tell someone what I was doing, especially if all it took to explain would be one word, instead of " pictures " he could've said " model ". I know it's no big deal, but I really thought he was particularly rude to a complete stranger that approached him in a normal, polite way.

Moogle Pepper

Davidoff wrote:

lol well he didn't really say pictures, because we spoke in portuguese, he said "fotos", which still isn't photographs of course
But he could at least look at me and say " a model " or whatever, but no, he had to be as @** about it. If I were out in the street with over 20k in equipment, I think I'd try to be more polite with strangers. "It's rented" .... maybe that's why he spent like 2 minutes focusing on a brick wall.... lol

I am not sure why you are up in arms about that.

This is really p***ing me off, so I get to work but go back on purpose to talk to this guy. I ask " Can I ask one more question ? " he says " yeah " I say " How did you get so much equipment with so litlle manners ? "

That was kinda rude to ask him how he got all that with so "little manners." How was his tone of voice? harsh? Or just not really there?

If he was smiling while looking at the camera, maybe he is adjusting the parameters to the camera to get everything right. And was smiling because he is liking how he is setting up.

Davidoff

Moogle Pepper wrote:

I am not sure why you are up in arms about that.



That was kinda rude to ask him how he got all that with so "little manners." How was his tone of voice? harsh? Or just not really there?

If he was smiling while looking at the camera, maybe he is adjusting the parameters to the camera to get everything right. And was smiling because he is liking how he is setting up.

So was his reply. This is two different times. Firts time he's looking at the camera and just ignoring me, second time, when I asked him that, he wasn't even with the camera, he was just sitting around, smiling as he replied " well, someone hired me " or something like that.

Justiceiro

Davidoff, you should have responded "Foto-se" but with a real drawn out Minho twang.

Bodwick

Was it Pierre Latrine?

“I’d flown down <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1:place>Portugal</st1:place></st1:country-region> with a load of hired Hasselblad gear to carry out a shoot for Time & Life Pictures together with another photographer, we arrived early and had a busy day planned.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
So I’ve set my gear up and am just going through all the settings and taking some readings from a nearby wall before running through my storyboard for the shoot.<o:p></o:p>
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Having shot in public many times you get a sense of people around you and approaching towards you rather than going around. Now I caught sight of this guy making tracks straight for me with his eye’s wide open agog at my hired camera. My alarm bell started ringing as I carried on pretending to still be looking through my viewfinder while waiting to see what this bloke was going to do.<o:p></o:p>
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There is no ‘good morning’ or any introduction mentioning an interest in photography just a terse “you tell me what you're shooting? Or something like that the words aren’t important as it instantly felt like a threat. So I try in my poor Portuguese to say I’m taking pictures and he goes “okkkaaayyy” in a long drawn out way. Off he goes and I take a deep breath and carry on.<o:p></o:p>
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Guess what…. Back comes this guy about ten minutes later walking straight for me. I’m sitting down with my sketch of the days shoot but as I have my trusty heavy implement beside me in a box of bits I stay put. I figure if he goes for the camera and tripod he won’t get far as it’s so heavy.<o:p></o:p>
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He stops right in front of me and demands to know something about where the equipment is from He had to repeat himself as I was not sure what he was trying to say. I got it the second time though and it seems he was just another rude pedestrian He asked me how I got so much equipment with so few manners? “And off he walks as if he was the most important person on the planet.<o:p></o:p>
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Weird or what eh…You meet the strangest people on the street nowadays. So be safe and try and judge peoples intentions quickly. I may be wrong but I think this guy was after my gear. <o:p></o:p>
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I asked my friend who was shooting near by what he made of this guy and he confirmed that the bloke also stared at his gear as he went past and it made him quite uncomfortable.<o:p></o:p>
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Was he a robber or maybe another crazy person? He could just be another photographer without the social skills to spark up a conversation with strangers on the street. I don’t know and anyway who cares, it will be another place and probably the same old story next time I’m out on the street.
Pierre Latrine Pictures”<o:p></o:p>

The Mack

wow, the guy is ranting about something that made him mad.
we all do it.

no one is perfect.
lay off the guy - you guys aren't angels yourself.

Davidoff

That would've been funny Justiceiro, you're from brazil right ? lol

Bodwick, interesting story, but with some important differences from what really happened.
First, he was clearly portuguese, he wasn't Pierre Latrine, and spoke perfect portuguese as well, so he just chose to reply that way, it was not because he wasn't familiar
with the language. This was not "early" it was like 4 p.m.
I didn't ask like that, I politely said " hello, could you tell me what you're shooting ? "
I didn't ask him where the equipment is from, I asked how did he manage to get someone to pay for it while being clearly rude. He understood the words, he just wasn't
understanding the question. Obviously, I wasn't after his gear, and he acted as if he was the most important person on the planet, not the other way around.

The Mack, thanks. You say no one is perfect, but I'd do it again.

Van Isle

If you can't see this from the pro's point of view, I won't bother explaining it to you. Lose the ego, go live life.

VI

Davidoff

Van Isle wrote:

If you can't see this from the pro's point of view, I won't bother explaining it to you. Lose the ego, go live life.

VI

Do share then.

The Mack

I've met some "pros" of various professions who are the same. No real reason to be a d*ck but they are b/c they think they're the shit.

gus

The Mack wrote:

I've met some "pros" of various professions who are the same. No real reason to be a d*ck but they are b/c they think they're the shit.

Exactly...its not the profession, its the person.