[Leica] Extenders & WAR! :-(

[tarek.charara at pix-that-stimulate.com (Tarek Charara)]

Le 22 janv. 08 ? 18:19, Ted Grant a ?crit :

> Last day of the war I was in a small village outside Jerusalem when  
> three
> men in Arab dress came around a building and the light on them was so
> beautiful, without a thought I whipped up the "machine pistol  
> looking lens
> and camera" to take a picture. All three instantly put their arms in  
> the air
> and surrendered. :-) I was so surprised by the action I put the  
> camera down
> without even taking a picture. One of the great missed photo moments  
> of my
> life. :-( It happens sometimes of surprise good, bad or ugly!

Now THAT is funny! I only had an unfortunate encounter with an  
illiterate syrian soldier in Beirut back in 78 (I was 17 and eager to  
be a reporter)... The man thought I was an Israeli spy because of my  
german Passport, lebanese press card and the photo equipment... I  
spent the longest hours of my life legs spread, hands on my head in a  
dark corner of a building on the green line and a kalashnikov in my  
back. :-)


>
>
> However all wasn't lost as it was a far more important moment in my  
> life
> than a missed photograph. Think about this. It was 3 to 1 and if  
> they had
> weapons I wouldn't be typing this. :-(
>
> Today in the Middle East, Iraq or Afghanistan one would be a total  
> idiot to
> take any kind of lens and pistol grip mistakenly seen as a weapon! You
> wouldn't be typing unless you were tapping on the lid of your  
> coffin! :-(

Ugh, today you even get stones thrown at you when they see you with a  
small Leica around your neck. I can't think of the effects of a  
machine-gun-camera...