Bumping into others taking photos

I bumped into someone at a museum a few weeks ago; we had a bit of chat about the exhibits and the conversation turned to photography, he showed me his D300 and commented ‘I like photography but I can’t be bothered with all that f-stop, shutter speed stuff, it takes all the fun out of it’. I gradually moved away wishing I’d been a miserable git.
 
'Bumped' into someone on the Roaches yesterday evening. Had a nice little chat about places to go. He said he was going to Scotland in June so I think I talked none stop for about 10 minutes on some places to go. Nice friendly chat.

Most times it tends to be just a smile and nod but if someone wants to talk I have no problems.
 
I have had a few good chats whilst I have had the camera, but I get a little annoyed when people start explaining their full work flow to me when I am in the middle of shooting.
 
I for one love to meet & greet other toggers, they usually know more about it than I do :LOL::LOL::LOL:


:Les (y)
 
He might be embarrassed. He may have paid a fortune on the latest DSLR with all the bells a whistles, upgraded from a compact. He may not know how to switch it on :LOL:
 
I have a feeling its a gear thing.
When i had my Panny G1 i would let on and get acknowledged back from other CSC users, people with DSLR's tended to ignore me. Since I have had the DSLR i've seen and let on to a few people, mostly CSC users and its as if I have suddenly gone invisible.
 
dtsrules2 said:
I have a feeling its a gear thing.
When i had my Panny G1 i would let on and get acknowledged back from other CSC users, people with DSLR's tended to ignore me. Since I have had the DSLR i've seen and let on to a few people, mostly CSC users and its as if I have suddenly gone invisible.
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hmm could be :thinking: but I would hope not, as that would be pretty pathetic. Reminds me of the time I used to ride big sports bikes 1100cc and 750cc bikes. My 1100cc bike was in the garage getting fixed and I borrowed a friends little 125cc to get me about on. When I rode my own big bike around other bikers would let on to me, but on the little bike I became invisible.

But it would not bother me I will aknowledge anyone, yes even the person on the rickety old bicycle :)
 
I'm usually one of those people who will nod at say hello to people when I'm out for a walk, with or without my camera. I tend not to ask or instigate a conversation but will respond. I'm also the one who has a natter to the check out operator in the supermarket, will give a cabbie my life story and pretend I know what the twitchers are on about when I got to the RSPB place, and it's not like I'm an old dear starved of attention :D

However, I have been somewhere where you can walk into a room full of strangers of a similar demographic with similar interests for a full hour & not one person will talk to you, it's called mothers & toddler group :LOL:
 
I'm always stunned by people who, when walking my dog and they're walking theirs, seem incapable of even making eye contact - I always say hello and often their response is one of relief ("...he's not going to mug me he said hello...") I am over 60 after all so not a potential mugger.

I do think some people are wary of 'getting involved' as a Southerner I'm not sure I can handle the 'hail fellow well met' attitude of some others and when i do meet a fellow photographer I can quickly tell whether they want to chat or not, sometimes they seem almost rude but really they want to get on with their day ... other times I wish I hadn't started the conversation because after chatting about the length of our lenses I'm next being invited to their grand child's wedding ... as they say " all part of life's rich something or other" - Roger
 
I was doing a band shoot in the forest near where I live last year and I had all my lights setup with soft boxes and beauty dishes etc. I had a couple come along with their dslr's and asked if they could watch. Of course I said yes, and in the end the guy helped out with adjusting lights etc and they ended up getting a short course on off camera lighting from me and where so happy that I was open to showing them what I was doing.

I will always chat to others who are interested :)
 
jamesoliverstone said:
I was doing a band shoot in the forest near where I live last year and I had all my lights setup with soft boxes and beauty dishes etc. I had a couple come along with their dslr's and asked if they could watch. Of course I said yes, and in the end the guy helped out with adjusting lights etc and they ended up getting a short course on off camera lighting from me and where so happy that I was open to showing them what I was doing.

I will always chat to others who are interested :)
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That is a brilliant outcome, and shows why you have to take the time to talk. I always do, and have come across some interesting characters, including a local guy who just does pinhole photography, and another, whose lens collection almost mirrors my own!
 
Iris said:
However, I have been somewhere where you can walk into a room full of strangers of a similar demographic with similar interests for a full hour & not one person will talk to you, it's called mothers & toddler group :LOL:
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Is that a quite sad but true indictement of life today? I am never really happy socialising with people from my work, because they all seem a bit restrained, but with my wifes colleagues, no problem, because they seem to have varied interests, and every BBQ/party/social gathering is fun, and you are never left out or lost for words.
 
If I see someone out and about, camera in hand or displayed then i'll say a quick hello. Chances are that i'll be busy looking for my own shots anyway to become too engaged in conversation. If the photographer is already immersed in work then I just let them be, the same way I (hope) anyone else would also when I'm in that work-mode.
 
If you like to bump in to photographers you should go to focus on imaging they will hit you with their huge lens, flash gun and when they turn round to walk away they huge backpack carrying their kit.

Usually its just a nod or hello to acknowledge them but I would do that to most people if I was out for a walk where you rarely meet someone else.
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
You may be seeing it a little OTT yes, but don't worry about it, I mean you wouldn't expect every car driver to approach every other car driver for a chat about cars. Just like us Motorcyclists on TP we don't speak to each other just because we all ride bikes, ...its kinda weird to think badly of him just because he avoided you I think.
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Perhaps we need a photographers equivalent of the bikers nod!
 
I was at the park again trying out my skills, and trying a capture a picture of the lake fountain as it sprayed water out. A fella who was walking through the park veered over to me and said change your possition and move to your left and you will get a lovely effect. He said he had already got some decent shots at that angle, and he was right, the result was better than I had done earlier.

He was a good few years older that me, and so much wiser in many ways. He said he does a bit of photography himself, and we had a good half an hour or so chat. He was telling me a great deal of history about the parks and the city. He even told of some good places to photograph, long fortgotten places that sounded pretty interesting.

Good job I did not ignore him and sidetrack him, thanks to him I now have some good locations to get pics of.
 
It does make you wonder why we have become so insular in general as a society. I'm sure communities would be much nicer if people started talking to each other. There has been an interesting couple of programmes on TV "Make Bradford British", other cultures aren't so much different to us, they care abut there families, feel joy and sorrow, we all have much more in common than we think.
 
I've only 'encountered' photographers a few times when I also had mine 'out' as it were. *cough*
Two blokes up near Walltown crags years ago couldn't have been more helpful, showing me their stuff, explaining stuff, even helping me take a panorama.
Other fella had a whole remote flash setup in a park, I posted my snaps of a car from that event, everyone was very friendly.
The only time a photographer actually avoided me was in a cemetary ... and he did the 'busy with the settings' side shuffle of pointed disinterest.
Just different folk ... but yeah, probably a southerner. :wave:
 
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