YOUR "X" minutes of FAME..

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

for some lighter moments now..

now this has been inspired by bibudesh's post in wild life section.

the contribution to this thread should basically relate to your experience as been regarded a bigshot.ordinary people thinking you are somebody famous.

ill start off with mine.

i was invited to a flower exhibition in Ferguson college. i was happily clicking photos of the flowers.now you can imagine the scenario.people are clicking with their mobile cams while i was the lone person with tripod,raynox attached to my cam and meticulously checking intricate parts of a flower.

after some time i was standing besides a lilly studying which angle would suit that particular flower,when suddenly a bunch of college girls came to me.seeing my gear,one asked.."xcuse me..do you work for the press??are these photos gonna come in tomorrow's paper??"i said no..confirming that i was not from the press.
to that a second girl said that"you look like a pro..can we see your photos??"i was like sure..why not.

for the next 15mins they all were going WOW..WOW..lovely..romantic..etc..while i was doing two things..enjoying my FAME..and the company of the ladies..

so what you have in store??

[KrishnenduKes]

Your Minutes of Fame Approved!

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

Your Minutes of Fame Approved!

ken..some contribution from your side will be nice.i m sure you have many under your sleeve.

anvancy

[arvindm29]

I would like to share my latest experience, two weeks ago been to Bandipur Wildlife sanctuary for which I had borrowed with my friends 400 L f4.5. On my way back we stopped at a coffee day, a person walks to me started asking about wildlife, photography etc. One question of his which stunned me was “ How many X is your camera?” I told him its 400mm, his reply 400X WOW!!!

[Aryan]

@Arvind: That was really hilarious! :D

@Anvancy: So, you became the 'bee' for 15 odd minutes. Not bad! ;)

Something of this sort did happen to me, sometime close to 15th August, this year. I was taking pictures in and around the India Gate, when a couple of policemen came upto me and started questioning me. I just said, I work for the 'Press' and showed them the visiting card of 'xBhp' and 'thePhotographer.in' that I had with me. And they showed REAL respect, which was really shocking and amazing, at the same time! :D

Frankly, I loved it! ;)

[arvindm29]

when i comes to using the term PRESS, i have made use of my company name (REUTERS) very well. Even though I am not a journalist, Last time when i was at the Bangalore Derby to get access to front line I said i am from PRESS, but one difficulty :mad: i faced was a person next to me started asking me lot of questions like, what celebls have come to see the race, how much is Vijay Malya's bet and for all his question his own answer was "you press people will know all..."
this experience kept me thinking whats the state of the bureaus, more then what they cover that will have to answer these public questions
got many more experience to share, will type them when i find time.

[Bibudesh]

I think I have more number of stories to be shared here.

Once I happento click some shots in my friend's sister wedding. There was some ritual in the morning so I had to rush to his place and I did not bother about my get ups, just a normal worn out jeans and even more worn out T-shirt. Nobody knew me there except my friend's parents. Since I was not introduced to all the guests there, I ended up doing lots of group shoots. So many called me here and there and was 'ordered' to cover many other stuffs. Ohh so lousy poises by those kids man! :( ..

After that incident I make it sure to be in suit if some marriage thing has to be attended with my camera. I try to stay away with my bag also.

Once I was mistaken as a Times of India reporter in Cubbon Park during a casual visit.
Another time I gained lotza respect from a lady in Madroling monastery during my Coorg visit. She had the same confusion as the chameleon guy. Had to spend a lot to convince my wife back though!.

Man! some problem with my appearance maybe.

[srikeerthi]

Hehe.. those are not minutes of fame, just the power of DSLR :)

I have had countless instances where my DSLR and long white lenses have acted as all access pass :D. Right from small local events to motorsports in Sepang Malaysia. The moment they see the equipment they let you through. Guess what! Even in a highly sensitive place like Aero India show where they were not letting bags without checking, I partially opened my bag and his comment was, "Oh Professional, Ok sir, carry on".

And in more public places, like flower shows and some performances, peolpe move aside for the "guy with the bigger camera", with some questions regarding the cost of the stuff and "zoom reach" ;)

One more recent event where I and MG were stopped by police near Jog falls!

He had stopped us for checking our documents, he was talking to me in Kannada, so I was showing all the documents. MG zoomed in and he was propmtly flagged down, he showed his docs and all were in place.

Then he said that he wanted to fine MG for overspeeding :P . After convincing that we were photogs from xBhp and promoting Jog falls, he let us away with a smile :)

[Vicky]

Pretty funny encounters guys...

I'm tempted to add one such moment here too...

This happened sometime in 2007...

I was at the zoo with a friend to try out my then newly acquired 400D with 70-300IS, and my friend had his XT with 70-300 sigma. Since, we were the only guys around with DSLR's amongst a crowd of P&S, cellphone cams, etc, we were pretty much the center of attention wherever we went..

Then near the tiger's enclosure, i was framing a shot over the heads of a few kids standing at the railings... when suddenly I hear a lady politely requesting me to stop for a moment ..... I bring down the cam, and notice she pulls out a comb from her purse and starts to make the hair of her two kids.. then positions them back where they were standing, but this time facing me instead of the enclosure... then smiles at me and says "now you can shoot"... all this when the kids were not even in the frame of my pic! Anyway, being a nice guy, i clicked a few of them... but had to zoom down to 70mm and still back off a little to get them:) Then the lady's husband approaches me and asks which 'paper' we are shooting for? His eyes suddenly sparkled up when he noticed the National Geographic bag on my friend's shoulder, he yells to his wife, they're from National Geographic!!

We just walked away with this huge grin on our faces:D

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

great contribution guys.

@aryan: i can imagine then the authorities saluting you..sir ji hain..bade bade photo nikalte honge..jane do..:p

@arvind: liked the 400x part.many are into this X factor..video camera mein 34x zoom hain..vo camere mein 12x zoom hain..lekin baba..34x zoom thek hain..par vo lens glass ki nahi plastic ki hoti hai..low quality.;)you could have done..tere paas 4x hain..mere paas 400x hain..tuk tuk..LOL

@bibudesh: this happens so many times.even i was victim to one.i mean the people have appointed a photographer.but he is busy clicking the bride and groom.so all guests feel J and then catch hold of us.we can imagine cause they want to know how they look in the whole thick clothes and equal thick chains of gold..and i m saying both genders.
next time when this happens lets tell them that we charge 10k per 2 photos.nobody will disturb us then.:p

@srikeerthi and vicky: nice instances.

vicky i particularly liked the comb part.there are some people who want FAME whenever they go.classic example we see on TV.suppose a reporter is giving a report standing on a road,quickly a crowd will gather,and what you will observe is that many are on mobiles..phoning their love ones..."DARLING..mein abhi iss XXXXX TV channel pe hun..jara vo saas bahu band karke mera scene dekho!!;)

one more instance from my side.

recently in JAN i went for a small karnataka trip.i was in brindavan gardens.it was evening.and there was a flock of people.now you must be knowing that there those level 3 photographers coming behind you..."tree ke niche mast photo...fountain ke saath best photo..romantic spot mein photo...etc

i was preparing to take this photo.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/3236017801_ae7e032217.jpg

this spot is very famous.as i was preparing to take,suddenly a couple came from behind and said..bhai whats your photo rate?? i was like..uhhh...i m not with the garden..then he said that you can mail me the photo..to that i added i myself was a tourist here.i will not have access for the net for the next one month.disappointed they left..i think they were a newly married couple and wanted some quick bites of their presence in the garden.

keep the stories flowing guys.

anvancy

[Bibudesh]

@anvancy- u missed a golden opportunity. In bangalore its quite easy to underestimate people. They make look like poorly dressed but they are all NRI s/w engineers with millions in accounts. U could have easily get away with few thousands LOL! ..

When I went on a trip to north canara (remember the water fall shots?) .. Some village guys were clicking their group shots using their 'N' series :p .. The smartest one came to me and asked to take their shot. Nice guy I am like Vicky, I took their shots. I looked out to escape when they asked me to transfer the photos to their mobile using bluetooth !.

Was that an overestimation or an underestimation ?? I did not know what to reply. But they did gave a disgusting look when I said my camera can't :(

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

@anvancy- u missed a golden opportunity. In bangalore its quite easy to underestimate people. They make look like poorly dressed but they are all NRI s/w engineers with millions in accounts. U could have easily get away with few thousands LOL! ..

When I went on a trip to north canara (remember the water fall shots?) .. Some village guys were clicking their group shots using their 'N' series :p .. The smartest one came to me and asked to take their shot. Nice guy I am like Vicky, I took their shots. I looked out to escape when they asked me to transfer the photos to their mobile using bluetooth !.

Was that an overestimation or an underestimation ?? I did not know what to reply. But they did gave a disgusting look when I said my camera can't :(

i think you should write a letter to nikon stating that bluetooth facility should be put in cams since mobile ppl wanna steal our pics.

the instance was funny rohit.

anvancy