[Leica] Warning: There is nothing in here worth your life

[gcr910 at gmail.com (Greg Rubenstein)]

Been following this thread and think a much larger is issue being
ignored or missed.

-- First: This is an old line; first ran across it in the early 70s.
Am sure it pre-dates my first exposure. A fellow south of the town
where I lived had an automobile junk yard with this sign on the gate
and some well-trained dogs without voice-boxes (another issue) inside
the fence.

-- Second: Lived in Oklahoma a long time and saw similar signs varying
only in size and, sometimes, spelling, on houses, yards, stores, etc.
Also saw such warnings in many other places, including Chicago, which
is where I live now.

-- Third: I actually said a more personal version of that to an
aspiring mugger shortly after moving to Chicago ("Nothing I have with
me is worth your life"). I returned home with my camera, wallet, etc.
He received a trip to Cook County hospital and some legal
difficulties.

My point is all the discussion I've read focuses on Chris Crawford's
photo of a symptom, not the disease. The fellow Chris spoke to sounds
sane and rational; even nice. What are the forces making him post such
a sign and live as he does? Or the forces in other places making
regular folks feel compelled to live in that manner? What do the
neighborhoods look like? The people? The streets? There's the BIG
story that needs more exposure.

Except for a few journalists (full disclosure on my part: I'm a former
photojournalist) and professional photographers, this is a fairly
cloistered list populated by awfully nice folks (at least the ones
I've met and corresponded with), and privileged people -- I include
myself -- who own, shoot with and talk about Leicas. We are a lucky
lot. Such sights and neighborhoods are, for the most part, outside our
bailiwicks.

Maybe as photographers who occasionally come in contact with symptoms
such as Chris posted, we should  focus more closely on exposing the
disease that leads to signs such as, "There is nothing in here worth
your life," or houses and business secured as if they are fortresses.
The disease, not something that can easily be dismissed as quirky
Americana, is where the story is -- here and in other places.

I'm not suggesting we put ourselves in peril; that's a personal choice
for photojournalists, documentarians and others to make. But we must
look at what is behind and around scenes such as Chris showed us,
whether we're in America or prowling other parts of the planet. Even
with our vacation, wildlife and pictorial photography we need to look
beyond the edges of the viewfinder -- essentially, take off our
blinders -- so we see and expose the BIG pictures; the pictures that
lead to threatening signs, bunker-style living or the beauty around
us.

End of rant -- or opinion. You decide. Feel free to respond and/or
take me to task on- or off-list.

Thank you for reading.

Greg Rubenstein