Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/08/08

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Crop circles - was Newsflash! Incoming Pic
From: "Stuart Phillips" <Stuart.Phillips@umb.edu>
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 15:33:30 -0400

LOL!

Things have certainly become strange since September 11th, you are
sneaking around with your 11x14, I attracted 3 squad cars outside St
Louis in January while taking pictures of some old gasometers.
Apparently Al-Qaeda operatives on reconnaissance missions can be
expected to take photos using Hasselblads on large tripods, with their
entire kit (extra lens (wide), teleconverter, proshade, filters, 45
prism, etc etc) spread out on the hood. Have you ever tried to explain
to a cop what a light meter is? Apparently, it's analogous, to a Geiger
counter or radar. Even I'm confused which. 

I had just visited St. Louis State Hospital (It's closed:))- and copied
part of a book on Thomas Kirkbride. The last page gives a standard plan
of his design, about 5x7". "Are those blueprints?"...

"You have to understand sir, we do have to be careful." Yes occifer.

So if the crop circles are not being made by you, I do hope whoever is
making them does check with you.  The thought that the first alien
contact will be at the local station is more than I can bare:)

(R8 with 19mm lens - kept that quiet - VERY nice!)

Best

Stuart Phillips

- -----Original Message-----
From: Jim Hemenway [mailto:jim@hemenway.com] 
Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2002 2:38 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: [Leica] Crop circles - was Newsflash! Incoming Pic

Stuart:

You're closer to the truth than you think, as for as the Police are
concerned.

Last Autumn, a few weeks after September 11th I took a few "vacation
mornings" to carry the 11x14 and required other stuff over to Horn Pond
to shoot some chromes of a swamp maple. (I also brought the R8 with 19mm
lens, on topic sorta).

The first morning I attracted a lot of folks who wanted to know what I
was doing.  I invited them to look under the black cloth to see for
themselves.  You probably can guess the rest:

"I can't see anything!"

"Why do you bother with this, my Nikon is better and it has a meter in
it already?"

"Something is wrong, it's upside down!" and

"I don't get it, is this some kind of television?"  

One woman looked under the cloth, made a grunting sound and walked away,
more on her later.

One man in his late 60s and was named Jerry. He was a lot more
interested and asked me about the big filmholders, the lightmeter, etc.

A week or so later I was in the same spot trying again for the same shot
as I had ruined the first when trying to process it in a print drum in
the kitchen sink... hard to keep the correct temperature.

Jerry came by and told me that a woman had written a "Letter to the
Editor" to the Woburn newspaper asking if anyone had checked out that
man with the big camera to see if he might be taking pictures of the
pond to find places to drop POISON. Jerry went on to tell me that he had
TAKEN CARE of things for me.  He had called the police and told them
that he had met me and had visited my web site and that I was "legit."

When I later dropped by the police station myself, the two in the office
at first pretended that things had become serious for me but then
happened to look at each other and started laughing. They allowed that
they had no idea of the identity of the grunting woman... my first pick
as the letter writer.

So, if crop circles begin appearing in Winchester or Woburn, they'll
probably check on me first.

I can see the headlines, "Strange 61 year old photographer with
televison-sized camera is being questioned by police about last night's
crop circles, ties to Al Qaeda being investigated."

Jim - http://www.hemenway.com
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