On Having A Camera That Attracts Attention

Now, street portraits of strangers isn't normally my thing at all, but tonight I had an odd (in a good way) encounter that led to this shot...

So I'm in London overnight as a stopover on my way back from Vienna. Ann's down here with work so she's letting me share her hotel room. I wandered out to find something to photograph in Russell Square. This being London, there was no shortage of things to shoot... an am-dram play being performed in the park... a very photogenic fountain... lots of imposing buildings in different architectural styles... anyway, I was taking a pic of a university building when this chap gets out of his parked car and says, Excuse me, do you mind if I have a word?

WELL: my immediate thought was that this was someone who thought I'd been taking photos (of him?) without permission, and I was starting to wish I had one of those "Taking Photographs Is Not A Crime" badges. But no! - quite the opposite in fact.

The chap (whose name I neglected to ask) had spotted the red dot on my camera, identified it as a Leica and wanted to talk cameras! He explained, he'd just come from seeing a documentary at the ICA on Saul Leiter, who uses Leica kit, and figured it a nice coincidence that he then immediately saw yours truly with a Leica camera in hand.

Turn out he used to have an old film Leica (an M3 I think he said) back in the 80s but hadn't done any serious photography since, and had no experience of digital photography... he wanted to know if digital Leicas were any good, should he get one etc. I gave him the benefit of my tiny and recent knowledge on the subject and after chatting for five minutes or so we parted company. But not before I asked if I could take his photo for today's blip. The whole thing made me smile.