I briefly mentioned this in a different forum in a response to someone about being nervous about carrying his newly purchased camera around. I thought it would be interesting to give it it's own thread to get a little more feedback on it. Here goes, when you are waking around with your camera gear around your neck, maybe with one of your larger lenses mounted, do you notice that ladies tend to smile and look your way a little more than usual? It may just be my imagination, but that seems to be the case with me.

How about for Nikonians of the fairer sex, do you notice men giving up more smiles and glances? At first I didn't think it would be as common but now that I think about it, if I saw a lady carrying her Nikon around I would definitely let loose with a big grin This leads me to another question, what do you think is motivating the smile? I don't want to sound sexist, but I've heard it suggested that women smiling at men is sometimes motivated by the woman wondering if, "He thinks I'm good enough to photograph," or something to that effect. I'm not stating this as fact, it's just one thing I've heard; I'm posting this question so I can get a broader perspective.

I would be smiling more because I'm happy to see a fellow Nikon shooter or photographer and I'm interested in the camera equipment (of course the fact that a cute girl is behind the eyepiece doesn't hurt ) What do you all think? Would you say non-photographers (guys AND girls) smile at photographers for different reasons than might fellow photographers smile at one another?


Joseph D. Cook
Nampa, Idaho, USA
My profile

Maybe it's just North American women, but when I was in Niagra Falls this past weekend, I had a heck of a time drawing a smile from anyone. I've never heard that carrying a camera will draw you a smile. My guess would be that you'd have to be smiling too (or knocking over lamps) <big grin> to pull a smile from most people just because you had a camera...

Maybe it's because my cameras name is taped over, so it looks generic - although at the Toronto Zoo, quite a few people (who were fellow nikon-users) recognized the F100 body-shape.

Cheeri'o...
Frankie...

Well, you know some women believe there's a correlation between the size of a man's hands and other male anatomy. Maybe some think there is a similar significance to a man brandishing a big lens.

Kerry

Kerry

>Well, you know some women believe
>there's a correlation between the
>size of a man's hands
>and other male anatomy. Maybe
>some think there is a
>similar significance to a man
>brandishing a big lens.

Dunno... I've got pretty large hands... (Bass Player) and a very freudian barrel 70-210 lens... Nothing thus far...


Cheeri'o...
Frankie...

Maybe in my old age I am able to show gentler smiles and as a consequence people smile back at me. Yes, it is more frequent in the US than in other country but it happens. Maybe I am not that threatening looking anymore. Whether this has anything to do with my camera and lens I will have to start recording statistics. Lately I am more frequently without a camera and lens but still getting the smiles back.
Have a great time
JRP
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And the southern USA tends to be friendlier than the midwest and northeast. The first thing that struck me when I moved to TN from MI was that down here they wave to complete strangers all the time; especially in a small town.
Not to say in MI people don't wave at complete strangers, just in TN they use the entire hand, not just one finger.
However, can't really remember anyone smiling at me because I had some cameras over my shoulder. In fact, sometimes I believe they are intimidated by a person with a large camera (or cameras) around their neck. I'll have to keep an eye open and see if people do smile more.
DD
JRP. People may smile at us more because they now think we are someone's grandfather.

"Take only photographs, leave only footprints"

Jeez JRP,

If a woman doesn't give you a smile, she's probably severely inhibited

I have the problem that I don't know if the woman is smiling at me or at my gear... Something totally different

Bo (Nikonian in the Black Forest/Germany)
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Gear? }>

"Take only photographs, leave only footprints"

LAST EDITED ON Aug-12-00 AT 03:35 AM (GMT)

I think Bo referred to 'gear' as in 'photography gear', pretty much along the lines of the one shown in the picture below of a very busy Reuters photog

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Grandpa JRP
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Is that what they call "overkill"? I mean, does this guy need that much camera equipment?
Is he really a photographer or is this the start of a new profession...Photographer's Caddy?
DD

"Take only photographs, leave only footprints"

The word "unobtrusive" doesn't exactly come to mind. Reminds me of that car commercial where the two girls were laughing at the guys driving around with the big powerful cars... wandering what their "short comings" were. Then they spot a guy in a simple adequate car, and swoon for his self confidence... desiring to see under his hood.

Wendy L. Folse
http://www.suite101.com/myhome.cfm/wlfphoto

Personally, I believe that there is something about the gear that turns people's heads. Last Saturday I had a photo shoot to do and there were several other pors there from the local papers toting huge amounts of gear. I think out of habit we photographers size each other up on site.

As a female photographer I have tiny hands and despise carrying larger than necessary equipment and usually opt for the k.i.s.s. moto. (Keep it simple stupid) So I had my N60 with a standard zoom. I noticed most people gravitating towards the "pros with the big lens" and basically ignoring me as a tourist. Which is exactly the effect that I prefer. I like to do candids and my best photography is when people are totally unaware of my presence. People do ham at a camera... Sorry fellows, I don't think its so much the size issue as it is the "I want to be discovered" factor.

Wendy,

I also "go light" when I am after good candids. Go to the archived thread in the "Nikon Bodies" section... "best Body for street shooting" and read my input on the value of not being overloaded when desiring to remain "unseen"

My favorite response when I give someone a photo of themself is "Wow, I didn't even know you were taking pictures."

Al