Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/10/20

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Subject: Re: No flash, you work for the police????
From: "Patrick G. Sobalvarro" <pgs@sobalvarro.org>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 10:58:21 -0700

Duane, that was a good story about shooting the church service in Cuba.  I
thought I would add that even worse than packing the Leitz table tripod
with the large ball head is packing the universal handgrip/shoulder stock
(14239).  I've been stopped in the United States by airport security people
when packing this thing.  Now I try to angle it so it doesn't look like
part of a gun.  I've never tried to carry my Novoflex 400 with follow-focus
grip onto a plane.  Too many ugly stories.

One part of your story that surprised me was where you said that you were
lucky that the Cuban military people didn't just kill you for your camera,
because you said that a lot of that happens.  I had heard that petty theft
was a problem in Cuba, but I hadn't heard that the military had turned
bandits or that foreigners were being killed for their possessions there.
Could you give more details?  This is actually an issue for me because I'm
trying to arrange the proper permissions to visit Cuba sometime in the next
year, give some talks (on O.S. research, not photography) and see the state
of their computer science education system and industry.

Of course I wouldn't want to smoke any cigars or drink any rum while I was
there.  Work, work, work -- that's it for me.

- -Patrick