Topic: What makes me smile...

[original_ann]

On an almost daily basis, while out shooting in the evenings, my sister and I would be approached by friendly folks advising where the best place was to take a picture of the sunset. 
... or to say "oh my gosh, you JUST missed the most gorgeous sunset!!"
... or "hey the sunset is over here, ... you might want to take a picture before it's gone"
... or the memory of laughing in unison at the expression on one lady's face when we said "oh, that's okay, we don't take pictures of sunset".   

[Ed Wenn]

...and anyway, sunsets are really hard to photograph well.

Your sister's the one with the Land Camera if I remember correctly? You have taken some excellent pictures of her...around sunset maybe? 

[Francois]

And besides, sunsets are so over rated
Sunrise is definitely where the real gold lies 

[calbisu]

May be people watching sunsets would be worth 

[Windy]

The other situation being the inquisitive look that you get when people are snapping some tourist attraction and you walk in front and take a close up of the rusty railings or crumbling wall that surrounds it purposely ignoring the landmark 

[original_ann]

Precisely Windy!  hahah  I don't diss those that love to take pictures of the sunset and I certainly LOVE to photograph DURING sunset-time.  Bingo, Ed!  I took that pic of sis in during a pink-skied sunset... that was behind me. 

Francois, they both are equally grand - - long shadows are our friends

[Jack Johnson]

And besides, sunsets are so over rated
Sunrise is definitely where the real gold lies 

Absolutely. If we're going to do a sunset vs sunrise "golden light" poll, I'm wholeheartedly in the sunrise camp!

The other situation being the inquisitive look that you get when people are snapping some tourist attraction and you walk in front and take a close up of the rusty railings or crumbling wall that surrounds it purposely ignoring the landmark 

Went to the state fair yesterday and got a lot of those looks.

It was also pissing down rain all day, so I packed my "reusable disposable" Vivitar Eco 35. I had it hung around my neck and and some people just stopped cold trying to figure out what it might be.

[charles binns]

What amuses me are the quizzical looks I get when wandering around with my holga from all the would be National Geographic photographers with their cameras hanging around their necks - usually with an unfeasibly wide strap with Nikon or Canon written on it, God knows how many lenses, filters, monopods, tripods, special camera bag, bum bag floppy hat from North Face or similar manufacturer. 

[Late Developer]

The following bring a wry smile to my ugly mug:

1. Point and shoot camera users (mostly but not exclusively of the digital variety) who insist on using flash when what they're photographing in a stadium. At least the digital users will be able to re-shoot when they see that the feeble little flash only sheds light on stuff up to about 10 feet away leaving everything else black.

2. Photographers who are convinced it's best to take a point and shoot on a wildlife experience holiday (safari, birdwatching, etc) only to find that what they were trying to photograph barely registers in the frame even at the extreme long end of the zoom.

[Francois]

Quote from: Late Developer on Today at 12:23:43<blockquote>1. Point and shoot camera users (mostly but not exclusively of the digital variety) who insist on using flash when what they're photographing in a stadium. At least the digital users will be able to re-shoot when they see that the feeble little flash only sheds light on stuff up to about 10 feet away leaving everything else black.
</blockquote>There's a reason for that, but just don't go screaming it on the rooftops: They don't know how to turn off the flash.

As for quizzical looks, try and take pictures quietly with a 1950's stereo camera in your hands!

[SLVR]

The following bring a wry smile to my ugly mug:

1. Point and shoot camera users (mostly but not exclusively of the digital variety) who insist on using flash when what they're photographing in a stadium. At least the digital users will be able to re-shoot when they see that the feeble little flash only sheds light on stuff up to about 10 feet away leaving everything else black.

I love this also. I was at a graduation a few months ago, lots of proud parents with huge fancy dslrs, long lenses. Almost all of them were shooting with the flash up. It was quite comical to see them frustratingly look at their screens and wonder why their expansive dslrs won't take decent images.

[Terry]

I like to watch people shooting through a train window with the flash on.  Although the most jaw-dropping use of a flash I ever saw was at a film festival: a guy took a flash picture of the screen (during the film of course).

[euge...]

The following bring a wry smile to my ugly mug:

1. Point and shoot camera users (mostly but not exclusively of the digital variety) who insist on using flash when what they're photographing in a stadium. At least the digital users will be able to re-shoot when they see that the feeble little flash only sheds light on stuff up to about 10 feet away leaving everything else black.

Of course they may just want over lit images of the backs of the heads of the 3 rows in front of them

[gothamtomato]

The following bring a wry smile to my ugly mug:

1. Point and shoot camera users (mostly but not exclusively of the digital variety) who insist on using flash when what they're photographing in a stadium. At least the digital users will be able to re-shoot when they see that the feeble little flash only sheds light on stuff up to about 10 feet away leaving everything else black.

I sometimes see a flash go off when looking up at the Empire State Building at night and always assume it's some yokel on the observation deck photographing the view below.