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Santa is strapped posted:Hey Mannequin, did you go solo on your night shots or did you team up with somebody else? If you count a tripod as an assistant then that was my teammate buddy, otherwise it was just me.
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Dec 26, 2012 21:39
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 18:48 |
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Here's a lomography film that I don't hate: Fuji RMS 100/1000, shot at ISO 100.
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Jan 22, 2013 06:56
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Apr 24, 2013 05:28
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Was in the city the other day on my way to Adorama. As I was walking up 6th Ave, who do I bump into but the famed Louis Mendes, there, resting casually up against the wall with his infamous 4x5 Graphlex. I say "hey!" and after exchanging some basic pleasantries I asked if I could take his picture. He was cool about it, but right at the moment my Hasselblad jammed. It needs a CLA, I don't think it's a major problem, but we both stood there for about 5 minutes trying to diagnose it and realized it was not fixable by us. He directed me to somebody in Adorama who knew a lot about Hasselblads and maybe he could fix it if it was something simple. (He couldn't fix it). So that was my first run-in with Louis Mendes a little over a week ago. Then, by chance, I was in Adorama earlier this week and saw him again! This time I had my Pentax with me, as my Hasselblad is still out of commission and I have yet to get it repaired. I got my picture of Louis, we'll see how it turns out. I actually took two. Okay, so big deal, I took a picture of Louis Mendes. But he's such a staple of NY that taking his photo isn't a whole lot different than taking a picture of the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. He's just an icon, really. But then he offered to take my picture with his Crown Graphic. I said "sure!" He was shooting Polaroid at the time but hey, a picture from Louis Mendes? Cool! I guess he's going through a phase of 'dragging the shutter' as they say: shooting at a very slow shutter speed so that passersby and cars are blurry, but using flash to isolate the subject, keeping them steady and in focus while everything else is blurry. (If you're not familiar with the technique, and I know a lot of you are and I'm just beating a dead horse, you see it a lot in wedding reception photos.) So he takes my picture, and as we wait for the Polaroid to develop we start talking about photography. Things are going cool, the conversation is going smoothly, and after a few minutes the the Polaroid finally comes into view. But before he hands it to me he says "that'll be $20 please." I was a little taken aback. I didn't know he was going to ask me for money and I only had a few singles on me at the time, and I told him such. He said "well there's an ATM across the street. I'll wait here." So I crossed the street, drew money out of the machine (wasn't my bank so that will cost me $5 in charges), all the while knowing there was something very wrong about this. I was also kind-of broke at the moment so it was a lot of money to me. I crossed back over and gave him the cash. He put the Polaroid in a card and signed it Louis Mendes 2013. While I was handing him the money it dawned on me: this is his scam. He asks unsuspecting people if he can take a photo of them without telling them that he's going to want money for it. He's recognizable and most people say yes. And then, while the Polaroid is developing he starts chatting to them and being very friendly. And when he asks you you for payment it comes as a surprise. But for me, and I would imagine for a lot of people, I somehow felt obligated (cornered, maybe?) to pay him for it. And so that's it, that's his scam. He waits outside Adorama, (where many a photographer visits), just opposite the Chase bank, waiting for unsuspecting customers to come his way. And the funny thing is, if you do a Google Image Search for him you'll find lots of pictures that were taken of him by other photographers; and in many of the photos he's in his same corner - right outside Adorama opposite the bank. What a loving hack! For your viewing pleasure, here is Louis Mendes' photograph of me, for $20.  It looks pretty awful in person, I think my photo makes it look better than it really is. Edit: He also does this outside B&H and other iconic places. Mannequin fucked around with this message at 08:48 on May 11, 2013 |
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May 11, 2013 05:56
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Quantum of Phallus posted:Should have charged him $30 for your hip-hop CD. Hahahaha very good. Or next time I'll just walk around with a bunch of fliers and force him to take one.
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May 11, 2013 17:05
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Oct 18, 2013 21:07
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ExecuDork posted:All of them are very nice, but I wanted to ask about these two - do you often get / solicit reactions like this when out shooting in the street? The second picture he is not looking at me, but at a table with diners at it. Or maybe he is looking at the server who is in the foreground out of focus. But he did not see me. In the first, it was kind of weird. I approached a van with two workers and took a picture. They caught me taking the picture and asked me what the hell I was doing. I explained, and the big guy (pictured) gave me the finger. It was a half joking / half serious gesture, but he actually held it there for a second so that I could get focus. Otherwise, no, I don't usually get reactions like that at all. In the past I used to ask people for permission and then they would pose, and in this recent series I disappeared into the crowd and most of the time no one realized I was taking pictures. ZippySLC posted:Incredible. Did you use Portra for the color shots? Ektar 100 for the medium format, and I think Fuji Pro 400H for the 35mm. I would have to go back and look at my notes. Mannequin fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Oct 19, 2013 |
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Oct 19, 2013 03:16
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 18:48 |
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Found a box full of boxes of 120 film in my parents deep freezer that I gave to them over year ago and totally forgot about. A lot of it is film they stopped making like Provia 400 and Ektachrome. Very psyched, that poo poo never happens.
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Jan 18, 2014 00:35
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