how do you feel walking round with a tripod?

jamesoliverstone said:
Nothing much bothers me nowadays, but the best one I had was when I was shooting a model in a public place (near a forest). I had the rather stunning female model in pose, 3 lightstands with beauty dishes and softboxes setup and was shooting away. A group of young lads (18/19 yr olds) walked past me, stopped to watch me photograph the model and then all started laughing and pointing and called me a faggot.

Now... I still to this day dont understand that one... its a young beautiful woman? duh!
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I'd give my right arm to have a beautiful woman to tog!
 
mrwall said:
I'd give my right arm to have a beautiful woman
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well there's aways udate :lol:

but seriously have a look in the back of a photo mag - there's loads of 'models' willing to do TFP
 
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beckyboy1 said:
I went out with my tripod for the first time the other day and a couple stopped and watched me set up and the chap just said oh its a fancy camera. He then produced his P&S and procceded to tell me how great it was.
He then had the cheek to ask if I minded taking a photo of them with it. I agreed and offered to take one with mine which I could email to them.
I got a email back from him asking how much one of those "Fancy cameras cost as he had to get one"
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can we see the pic
 
TCR4x4 said:
I went to our local woods a week or so ago with my tripod and all I got was friendly hello's.
Even when I was rolling around on the floor trying to shoot macro dandelions.

QUOTE]

I did this once (with buttercups) and a lady came hurrying over thinking I'd collapsed and was having a heart attack. We both had a good laugh! Shows people do care, though. :)
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Whenever I see someone out with a tripod (or even just a camera) I do tend to have a nosy stare, but only because I'm thinking "oh cool, a photographer. I wonder what kind of gear they have!" :lol:
 
People look at me weird, but that's because I am 16 I guess... I've even been told I'm just a kid with an overpriced camera. Oh well, not everyone understands... :)
 
blade_922 said:
The way i look at it, you'll probably never see them again and they'll never see you again. .
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Don't you believe it! Many years ago at the end of a long day's hillwalking I let out a loud "Yeee-ha!" as we approached the final, deserted summit, and I ran the last 50 yards to the cairn, around which I did a lap of honour. To my surprise and horror an unseen couple were sitting behind the cairn wearing very broad grins. I hurried my companions on, anxious to depart the scene of my embarrasment. On the descent I remarked, "Oh well, who cares, I'll never see them again."

Back at the campsite we had a shower and relaxed over several cups of tea before going to the local pub for dinner. As we walked in, there sat the same couple and with a broad grin the chap said to me, "Glad you enjoyed your walk so much today."

The morals of this story are firstly that it is a small world and secondly I'm quite capable of making a fool of myself and drawing attention to it, with or without a tripod - so who cares! :D
 
mrwall said:
this is what I was getting at in the carpark in Belmont, lots of cars with "couples" in!!
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and there was me thinking the thread topic title sounded a bit iffy, then I read the details... :nono: :nono: :gag: :D :help:


*ahem* no I've never had any problems walking round with a tripod...although you do get even more people wanting to stop and have idle chat when you do, so its generally less hassle if you don't...but I guess that's all part of tripod photography - less rush and machine-gunning, more thought and the perfect shot...:clap:
 
speaking of whichI just had said tripod out and took this

DSCF9724.jpg


need more zoom, 12x is not enough!
 
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goldenlight said:
I did this once (with buttercups) and a lady came hurrying over thinking I'd collapsed and was having a heart attack. We both had a good laugh! Shows people do care, though. :)
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I had a colleague at work do the same when I was using a miniature tripod to take a photo on my way home in the evening. He was even more surprised when he realised it was me and what I was up to :lol:
 
Musicman said:
I had a colleague at work do the same when I was using a miniature tripod to take a photo on my way home in the evening. He was even more surprised when he realised it was me and what I was up to :lol:
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I bet you came in for some stick at work the next day! :lol:
 
*Bumble-Bee* said:
People tend to try and walk past me slowly and quietly so as not to disturb my mental breakdown, unless they have a dog with them that just comes running over to see what I'm doing there and looking at and they look horrified ha. :exit:
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Try having geocaching (a sort of high-tech treasure hunt for those who don't know) as a hobby too. Feeling up fences in busy areas and producing various containers, diving in and out of bushes and popping in and out of other unusual places are the norm and make even the maddest photographer seem sane as people can see no logical reason for such behaviour! Surprisingly, only once had someone stop and ask why I was searching so intently next to a road in the dark (think he thought I was a drug dealer!). Most people just look at you strangely and walk away although part of the aim is to be discrete.

I get more odd looks when I randomly lay down then with the tripod though.
 
I too never had any such problem. I started going out with tripod only a month back and people around my place were quite excited by seeing a photographer. They don't disturb me but sometimes one or two people ask to take there snaps. I do it as I enjoy it. :)

But never felt awkward.
 
have a little more confidence in yourself. i find people who walk in woods are usually the friendly type, a little nod and a "good morning" is all it takes to put someone at ease. i get people talking to me about what photos i take when they see me holding camera and tripod all the time when im out in the woods.
 
I don't have a tripod yet but I get some funny looks just having a dslr!
 
itsdavedotnet said:
if they do suddenly have a problem... well, it's you that's already holding a heavy metal club ;)
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Bingo!

Anyway, maybe if as tripod's too conspicuous, a bean bag isn't - and a bean bag with just the right amount of fill can pack away into any space you want, and be any colour you want.
 
People are mostly just curious. I find it's best just to get on with it. At a scenic point I found last night there were four cars. Three of which emptied out a total of four togs with tripods. we all passed on the niceties before going on our merry ways. Two cars had the tog widows reading books and another looked bored to tears. lol
 
Sometimes having all the gear, tripod etc, has been a good conversation starter - you get folks coming upto you and asking what in particular you are shooting, often find that people have a vague interest in phgotography or the subject you are shooting and it can leads to some nice chats.
 
Bristol must be the most photo friendly place going. Tripod or not, whenever I get my camera out I get nothing but friendly comments. And unless they do it behind my back I've never had any weird looks.
 
I'm a natural tripod so I get funny looks all the time.

Joking aside, I've never had my tripod out in "public" I suppose. Well not in a crowded area. Although I've had some looks just out with the camera in my local town.

Usually I just presume it's just general nosiness. People are curious, it's just our nature.

I'm not one for candid portraits and I would never point my camera in the direction of peoples kids or anything like that. I tend to find the camera more of an empowerment tool than anything. As soon as you raise it to your face everybody jumps out the way. Or the opposite, I was once shooting by a river and there was a speedboat and a water skii'er. As soon as the boat "driver" seen me he flew closer and started showing off for my photo's. Unfortunately the light wasn't the best so motion blur ruined my pics really.

Getting the looks doesn't bother me one bit. I'm generally more careful when it's quiet. I've been out and about with the camera on a night and seen a group of yob's approaching. This is a different matter for me if alone, I would rather put the camera away for 5 mins than risk having it stolen. I'm pretty sure the majority of people know how much a DSLR is worth. We had a incident locally where a young boy had his DLSR and tripod snatched by a lad on a bike as he rode past. Over £1000's worth of gear lost in 10 seconds. For this reason I am slightly more weary of the younger generation when in less "public" areas
 
I glanced at the title and read 'how do you feel walking round like a tripod'
was gona add 'thats what she said' but then reread it :(

Only time I had tripod out was for the supermoon and 3 neighbours came out wondering what was going on but once they realised it was the weird one next door they said hi/bye and left me to it.
 
Fortunately I rarely see anyone when out and about with a tripod, I suppose living out in the sticks has its advantages.
 
unfortunately it wont the first or the last time i'm going to be asked do you help walking up the stairs? :(

must be the face *L*
 
I carry my tripod everywhere. I used to get some funny looks but not since I moved to Harris.

Who cares about funny looks, just think "this is one of the reasons why I'm getting good shots and your not" ;)

Alternatively beat them with it :lol:
 
Don't worry man, aslong as your not getting in anyones way then let then stare. Its not like you're wondering around with a dead body. I get some funny looks sometimes but I expect that when i am walking around London with a tripod and camera gear in the middle of the night. Haha
 
I see a few people with tripods going about taking pics. I just think its pretty normal as we are all toggers of some description...

I've never carried a tripod - I get enough funny looks without one anyway!
 
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