Lloyd
Active member
Peter,Lloyd,
I'm not sure they had anything to hide. I've talked to Korean friends of mine and I get the idea that it's a cultural thing. They were also worried that I was somehow keeping customers from entering their store, but all through the 2 hours I was there, there was a steady stream coming and going, and since I was completely across the street, I didn't notice a single customer paying any attention to me.
There's also a lot of unfounded fear out there in the general public when anyone with a camera points it practically anywhere. I can't tell you how many paranoid people I've run into who think that somehow I'm endangering national security when I'm shooting landscapes, urban or otherwise. Just last week I was confronted by a person in a small Wizard of Oz era courtyard a few blocks from the old MGM lot in Culver City. This woman really thought I might be a terrorist. I spent about 15 minutes talking to her and by the end I think she realized that her little cottage was probably not on a terrorist hit list and if they wanted pictures of it they were already available for free from Google Earth. Not THAT really rattled her.
BTW, I had originally shot this digitally with my Canon, and this is one area where film is still miles ahead of digital. All the neon and street lights blowing out are oh so much nicer on film than the harsh cutoff of digital, so I re-shot with film and like the results much better.
Peter
I know what you mean about the paranoids out there. I've been confronted a couple of times, and have heard horror stories from friends. The times we live in, I guess?
And yes, I agree about film in those situations. Your result speaks to that very eloquently.