[LargeFormat] Rites of passage

[stuart phillips]

You had me rolling around with that story.

BTW: thanks for telling me what that kind of fence is called. Saw some in
New England a while ago.

BTW: any pics of the old coot?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brock Nanson" <brock@nanson.org>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2003 1:59 PM
Subject: RE: [LargeFormat] Rites of passage


> This is something I suppose we all face at one time or another.  Often,
if
> we're like U.D. and enjoy stirring the pot!
>
> A friend and I went out into the country one cold and dark February
night
> about (Aaack!) 16 or 17 years ago.  It was 35mm equipment, but that
> doesn't really change the thread any - we'd have used LF if we'd had the
> gear at that time.
>
> The goal was to mess about with long exposures and paint with flash.  We
> set up on an old snake fence next to the road (the zig-zag fence made
from
> small logs commonly used in this area before barbed wire).  Wide angle
> lens, shutter on B, I walked down the road and popped my flash at a few
> points to light the fence.  A few minutes after the first exposure, a
4x4
> came careening out towards us from a farmhouse at the far side of the
> field.  The old coot and his two grown sons (apparently home from
> rocket-science school for the weekend) were wedged across the bench
seat,
> with a rifle between one's knees.
>
> 'Whadya think YOU'RE doing out here?', in full view of the camera on
> tripod.
>
> 'Building a piano, what does it look like?'... We were still in
university
> at the time and cocky... besides which, the gun wasn't leveled at us and
> only served to egg us on.  The intimidation was having the opposite
effect
> to what they had anticipated.
>
> One of the sons was evidently a photographer because he figured out what
> the camera and tripod was for.  'What are you taking pictures of?'
>
> 'The fence.'
>
> 'What speed of film are you using?'
>
> '100 speed TMax'
>
> 'That'll never work, it's too dark out here'.  Real stretch to work that
> out... 11PM in the dead of winter, no moon, out in the country.  It WAS
> dark.  No question, this guy was bright!
>
> 'Well, I guess we're just wasting our time and film then.'
>
> Old Coot: 'You guys better clear out of here - this is private property'
>
> 'That side of the fence might be, but not where we're standing.  We'll
> leave when we're done.'
>
> 'You better move out now, I'm calling the cops'.
>
> 'Tell them to hurry, we'll likely be done within a half hour.'
>
> Off they went in a cloud of dust and a spray of gravel.  We hung around
> for longer than a half hour hoping the police would show up so we could
> casually mention these guys were driving around with a rifle.  No luck.
>
> We got some great shots that night as it turned out.  I guess it wasn't
as
> dark as they thought ;-)
>
> -- Brock Nanson
> Kamloops BC Canada
>
>
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