Kindest photographer you've ever met?

[Ooh.com]

Weird experience the other night - I was photographing a gig for a friend with a basic setup and another photographer, who had a lot more kit with him was shooting at the same time. Without being prompted at all, the dude handed me a lens and just said "Do you want to try shooting with this 50mm f1.8?"

Now this is a lens I've had my eye on for a while, though I wouldn't be able to afford it - I can't even afford an f2.8.

It was pretty heart warming that the guy was cool about handing over about a grand's worth of lens to an amateur enthusiast.

Any other "kindest photographer ever" stories?

[jra]

That's pretty cool :) If you're talking about the Canon 50 1.8, it might be a little more affordable than you think ;)

[Ooh.com]

@jra Well - I'm saving up... slowly. Problem is, I'd probably rather spend the money on a holiday at the moment!

When photoshop stops crashing on me, I'll post one of the photos. The band is called Hoshal Patrick and I reckon they are pretty good - they're a very young band though, so not a huge sound.

[10megapixel]

The 50 1.8 is like $100 bucks :confused:

You mean the 1.2?

[DStanic]

That was nice of him. :)

I met my buddy Mike off POTN (we connected through facebook). I was admiring pictures he took with his Sigma 30mm, then one day he invited me to come over and borrow it.. and I hadn't even met him in person! So I borrowed it from him, no deposit, no lens trade.. he just let me - basically a total stranger - borrow his $400 lens! I used it for a week and gave it back to him. Months later he got a 24-70L and sold me the 30mm cause I had fallen in love with that lens ever since. :D

[MikeFairbanks]

Were you thinking of the 50mm that's 1.4 or the L-glass 50mm? Those are about 350 and 700 respectively (or more).

The 1.8 is 99 bucks.

[Ooh.com]

Aha, I had forgotten that the *really* espensive 50 was the ef-s 1.2. So I guess the lens wasn't worth much. Don't think that detracts from the gesture though - I had literally been standing next to the guy for about 1 minute!

[CafeRacer808]

Aha, I had forgotten that the *really* espensive 50 was the ef-s 1.2. So I guess the lens wasn't worth much. Don't think that detracts from the gesture though - I had literally been standing next to the guy for about 1 minute!

FWIW, the 50/1.2 is an EF mount, not EF-S. ;)

[advaitin]

Aha, I had forgotten that the *really* espensive 50 was the ef-s 1.2. So I guess the lens wasn't worth much. Don't think that detracts from the gesture though - I had literally been standing next to the guy for about 1 minute!

You'll just love the fact that we are all so anal that we must correct you when you say something off or inaccurate. For instance, it's the EOS EF 50mm L f1.2 (not to mention the rare 50mm L f1.0) not EF-s. The EF series lenses fit all Canon EOS SLRs, while the EF-S will only fit EOS 20D or XT and newer Rebels or XXD and 7D cameras.

[F-Stran]

It was still kind of him to lend you the lens considering that it is cheaply constructed and has been known to fall apart on people. In any case a $100 is still $100 in my book, cheap lens or not.

[pprice]

Expensive is all relative to ones situation. I remember when 100$ was a HUGE amount of money, so don't worry about what the amount of money the lens was worth, like you said, it was very nice of him to share (something you see less and less of these days).

[Ooh.com]

Guys, a lot of you seem to be missing the point here - the post was named "kindest photographer you've ever met" not "please correct any mistakes concerning exact lens names and values in the following post"....

Anyway, here are a couple of the shots of Hoshal Patrick. My friend is the singer - the first one is taken with the 50mm and the second one is taken with my lensbaby.

http://imgur.com/BqHA8.jpg

http://imgur.com/6KTOj.jpg

[CafeRacer808]

Guys, a lot of you seem to be missing the point here - the post was named "kindest photographer you've ever met" not "please correct any mistakes concerning exact lens names and values in the following post"....

Anyway, here are a couple of the shots of Hoshal Patrick. My friend is the singer - the first one is taken with the 50mm and the second one is taken with my lensbaby.

Oh, we get the point all right. The thing is, when you write a post about a photographer you've never met "handing over about a grand's worth of lens" and you say it's a 50/1.8 (a $100 piece of glass), you're going to create confusion. A little explanation from the peanut gallery helps to clear up the confusion and brings a bit more knowledge your way in the process. All good things, wouldn't you say? And, as advaitin so accurately states, a lot of us here on POTN get pretty anal about lenses. What can I say...we're Canon geeks! ;)

Oh, and welcome to the forum! Once you get over how anal retentive we can be at times, I think you'll find that POTN is a great place to spend your time when you're not shooting.

Oh, and just to add to the original intent of your thread, I was at a friend's wedding last year and my batteries died about a quarter of the way through the reception (I'd left my spares in the hotel -- a good 15 minute cab ride away). The wedding photog (who'd seen me shooting at the beginning of the reception), came over and asked why I'd stopped. When I told him about my batteries, he quickly handed over his backup body and said, "Here you go. If my primary body dies, I'll need this back. Otherwise, have a blast!" Pretty cool of him, I'd say!

[10megapixel]

I'm the kindest photographer I've ever met. I have bought myself all kinds of gear and have nothing but nice things to say about myself.

[JCH77Yanks]

I'd have to say the kindest photog I've ever met so far is Chase Jarvis...
I had a chance to attend a Q&A he hosted with about 30 other people, and as we were arriving, he would personally come to greet us as we were walking in. That combined with the fact that he loves to share Ideas and talk shop. It doesn't matter who you are, the guy is just straight up cool.

[YamahaRob]

Nicest ones I met so far are the Gron4 guys at Blackhawk Farms Raceway (pretty sure one or both of them are on here). Good guys that us cornerworkers dont have to worry about when beyond the spectator fence.

And damn good photographers too.

[JoePhotoOnline]

I was at a night-time football game shooting with a 70-200 2.8 when I noticed a fellow photog with a 300 f2.8 IS. It was the first time I'd seen one in person, and I had to make the "Wow! Awesome lens!" comment. About 5 minutes later, he taps me on the shoulder and says, "It's damn heavy, and I'm getting tired of hauling it around. You wanna use it a bit?" I was shocked, and gladly took him up on his offer. I let him use my 70-200 2.8 in the mean time as 'collateral' even though it was a $1300 lens vs a $5000 lens. I was a bit nervous with it, but damn, what a nice guy and a sweet lens.

[F-Stran]

I was at a night-time football game shooting with a 70-200 2.8 when I noticed a fellow photog with a 300 f2.8 IS. It was the first time I'd seen one in person, and I had to make the "Wow! Awesome lens!" comment. About 5 minutes later, he taps me on the shoulder and says, "It's damn heavy, and I'm getting tired of hauling it around. You wanna use it a bit?" I was shocked, and gladly took him up on his offer. I let him use my 70-200 2.8 in the mean time as 'collateral' even though it was a $1300 lens vs a $5000 lens. I was a bit nervous with it, but damn, what a nice guy and a sweet lens.

That's really nice. Hope you got some really nice shots.:)

The nicest photographer I've ever met is a friend of mine. I was asked to shoot someones wedding as a free gift cause they couldn't afford a pro photographer and my friend lent me his 10D and a 35-135mm lens and flash. I was really grateful because I didn't even have my SX10, which I wouldn't have shot with anyway.

[GilesGuthrie]

I was shooting at a local track, handholding the 100-400. Doing quite well as well. Guy comes up to me with a 75-300 DO, says he used to use the 100-400 until it got too heavy for him. We got talking about monopods. I didn't have one, so he lent me his Gitzo, and then took some time showing me the proper technique. I bought one the next day.

[HappySnapper90]

A 50 f1.8 isn't much of "being nice". At one of my nieces' weddings a couple years ago the photographer who was there and being paid to shoot his 5x5 MF film let me use his 70-200 f2.8 IS for a couple hours during the reception. He had digital gear but he was hired to do his MF film.

[JoePhotoOnline]

A 50 f1.8 isn't much of "being nice".

Anybody offering a total stranger any piece of gear solely based on the kinship between photographers is VERY nice. It doesn't matter if it was a 50 1.8 or 300mm 2.8l IS. Nice is nice, and Good Karma goes a long way.

[CanonHowitzer]

When I was learning digital photography, I went to an all day photo shoot training session that the local photography club was running. All I had at that time was a Kodak advanced P&S but I said, 'I've got learn with what I have'.
After a little while a lady who was helping out came over, handed me her Nikon D80 with the 105 lens and said, 'You can use this'. It was her backup camera.
So all day I got to use a real DSLR with a great lens.

:)

[lespaulowner]

Went to a photography forum a tad bit early and Wayne Quilliam starts talking to me about photography. Asked me about it and I told him how I got into it and how it's really for the love of it and that I don't want to turn it into a business just yet. He said that's how it started for him too. We talked for about 30 minutes before the forum started. What's cool is that the topic of canon vs nikon never came up. It was always about tips and tricks to shooting certain things and the love of it. There's a lot of ignorant Nikon shooters here (some Nikon local was even trying to bring that topic of Nikon vs Canon but he wasn't diving into it) so it was nice meeting him. This is a photo of him and I.
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv242/lespaulowner/IMG_2879.jpg

[jpbimages]

Most definitely the kindest photographer I have ever met would be Wesley D. a pro (or so I call him) photog. He has lent me his 20d, so I could spend more money on glass and other such things (like CF cards and batteries LOL) I have it for as long as he doesn't harm any of his bodies. I am very lucky to have such a friend I think!

[Edbush6]

I belong to a photo club at work. I posted a message on our forum about sharing equipment. I have many L lenses so I have been happy to share. In turn I have got to try other lenses people have.

At sporting events if I happen to be by someone else shooting with Canon I always offer one of my lenses to try if they are shooting with their kit lens. So far it has been good and have met a lot of people that way.

[JoePhotoOnline]

At sporting events if I happen to be by someone else shooting with Canon I always offer one of my lenses to try if they are shooting with their kit lens.

I do that a lot too at little league games. I have the contract, and I'm making my money already, so if I see a parent who is seriously trying to get better (meaning they got their butt of the bleachers and actually thought about their shots) and I notice that their 18-55mm hasn't grown at all... I'll usually offer up something in my bag. They get really excited and it usually means better word-of-mouth for me.

[Eclipsed]

I'm the kindest photographer I've ever met. I have bought myself all kinds of gear and have nothing but nice things to say about myself.
bw!

[birdfromboat]

I had a boss that just couldn't help sharing and challenging and providing great gear for weekend loans to any of us that were at all interested in the art. I miss him, He probably succombed to the chemicals, but was a very private individual so none of us know why he went so fast.
I will never forget his challenging me with a 2 second drill whenever he caught me on a break or waiting for a print to develop. He would pick a shot from a magazine, let me look at it for 2 seconds, then cover it and ask me what I saw. Then we would look at the shot together, and talk about what we didn't see, and try to agree on what was important in the shot and what was excess.
All this for someone about ten paygrades below him, with no formal training just working my way through college.
I miss him, and wish I could tell him now how much I am enjoying photography these twenty five years later.

[stalemate]

A few months ago I was shooting a roller derby bout and another guy was there, he was a pro, but had never shot derby before. It was a tournament and one of the teams playing later had asked him to shoot their bout.

We got to talking and he let me use his Alien Bee + Pocket Wizard setup to shoot a whole bout. I had never used any kind of off camera lighting before. He set me up, taught me how to use it and turned me loose. He just told me to share my settings with him and let me glance through a few of my photos when I was finished so he would have a starting point for his later bout.

It was awesome. :)

[Red Tie Photography]

I was going to my cousin's wedding a few hours north of where i live and emailed the pro photographer, telling her a little about who i was and that i wanted to get into wedding photography. When i got there we talked a little, and she invited me to tag along with her, even told me i could shoot over her shoulder if i wanted and didnt give me any restrictions. She even invited me to the romantic photo shoot, and told me if i ever needed a reference to hit her up. She went above and beyond what I was expecting, and this is something i hope to implement in my photographic meetings.

[F-Stran]

I was going to my cousin's wedding a few hours north of where i live and emailed the pro photographer, telling her a little about who i was and that i wanted to get into wedding photography. When i got there we talked a little, and she invited me to tag along with her, even told me i could shoot over her shoulder if i wanted and didnt give me any restrictions. She even invited me to the romantic photo shoot, and told me if i ever needed a reference to hit her up. She went above and beyond what I was expecting, and this is something i hope to implement in my photographic meetings.

I hope that can happen to me one of these days.

[Josepi]

He said he had candy and Ls in the van.












Neither was there.

[Go4EVA!]

I have TWO rather remarkable experiences with very "kind" photographers.

1) I was on a trip to northern Japan to photograph the Red-Crowned Cranes. On the first day in the field, I made friends with a gentlemen at a wildlife preserve who loaned me his EF500 F4 lens -- while he was using his Sigma 300-800. (The biggest lens I had was my EF100-400.) He also loaned me a "spare" Gitzo tripod with Wimberley head. Throughout the day, we traded back and forth between the EF500 and the Sigma 300-800. At the end of the day, he just told me to keep using the EF500 for the rest of my stay, and that he would get it back from me at the end of the week! I was super-nervous keeping his lens for several days, but it all worked out OK.

2) I was on a trip to south Texas to photograph the Whooping Cranes. I was on a wetland boat cruise, it was a perfect morning, and there were several Whooping Cranes out feeding. Most of the people on the boat were bird watchers, equipped with binoculars only. The only other photographer I saw was a gentleman with a 7D+EF500+1.4xTC. He was a retired "local" who basically went out every day to photograph the Whooping Cranes when they are wintering down in Texas. Anyway, after just a few minutes of chatting and asking innocent questions about birds, the guy suddenly pulled his CF card out of his rig and insisted that I plug in a fresh card and borrow his lens stack (and the 7D!) for pretty much the remainder of our boat ride -- another two hours or so!

EF500 F4 "loaners" in BOTH cases! I still wonder how I got so lucky -- I think it must be something about crane photographers :D

[momof6kiki]

that is nice. I am new here. I would love to get caught up with a local photographer in my area, not to borrow lenses, but to borrow knowledge LOL. Sometimes I learn better when shown in person.

[jrm27]

I've been lucky enough to be surrounded by wonderfully generous photographers.

I have a buddy out in Portland who has wonderful gear. I was thinking about upgrading to a 24-105 so I called him to talk about it. He gave me his input and I told him "it's still a long way off, but I think I'd like that lens". A few days later I had a package in my PO Box. It was his 24-105 with a note that said "Hey, give it a shot and see if you like it" I called him and was just pumped to be able to use it. I told him I would send it back in a few days and he told me to hang on to it until he needed it. So, I used his 24-105 for about 4 months until he decided to sell it and I sent it back to him. He had me ship it on his personal UPS account. What a stud.

Another fella from my curch saw me shooting with my XSi and invited me over to his studio a few miles from my house. We talked about gear and pictures for a while. When I left he handed me a book on landscape photography to keep. Then he handed me his 5DmkII and told me to take it out for the afteroon and see what I thought about shooting full frame. Very very cool.

I'm fortunate to have some very nice people in y life.

[Thalagyrt]

When I first started transitioning from film to digital I just dipped my toes in with a Rebel XTi, and a photographer friend of mine who's with Getty started loaning me various lenses to try out. When I finally decided to go full on digital and ditch the old film stuff (Konica T4 lasted me a long time, all MF and manual everything, but it worked! I still have the thing) he loaned me his backup 1D2n, 24-70L, and 28-300L just to play around with pretty much indefinitely. I held onto it for about 3 months then decided that was the way to go, picked up a 1D2, handed his stuff back, and went from there...

That was a while ago, as you can see I've since become filled with fear which led to anger which led to hatred which led me to the dark side. :lol:

Anyway, I still talk to him and his son (also with Getty) pretty much all the time - both are excellent photographers, and while his son gives me crap for shooting Nikon now, it's all in good fun and they're just great guys. If it weren't for them I'd probably still be shooting film - which isn't a bad thing, it was just expensive and the cost made me take a bit of a hiatus from photography.

[thebishopp]

A 50 f1.8 isn't much of "being nice". .

This is a good example of being ungrateful.

This type of "price tagging" good deeds is pretty annoying.

Personally I am appreciative whenever anyone does anything that is "out of their way" for me. Whether that is letting me use a 100 dollar lens or a 1000 dollar lens. I would even be appreciative if I was in the check out line and found myself short a penny and someone gave me one.

Man I really hate this attitude of entitlement which seems to prevail alot these day.

[Nordwil57]

Personally I am appreciative whenever anyone does anything that is "out of their way" for me. Whether that is letting me use a 100 dollar lens or a 1000 dollar lens. I would even be appreciative if I was in the check out line and found myself short a penny and someone gave me one.


While in Egypt on a packaged tour, a woman dropped her point and shoot in the fine sand at Sakkara. I had a two dollar blower/brush in my backpack and when I offered it to her, you would have thought I was giving her a new camera by her response. I could do no wrong the rest of the trip in her eyes. I agree, sometimes it's the LITTLE things that people remember.

[momof6kiki]

I feel the same way. That is why I posted that I would love to just borrow knowledge from someone. I am learning and finding it that no matter where I post someone tells me that I didn't post the "right" way, or I poste din the wrong forum. Most comments to me are to tell me what I did wrong in my posting not any of the actual photog help that I am looking for. I would love to just pick a brain or two on how I can better improve. No equipment needed just a good photog :-)


This is a good example of being ungrateful.

This type of "price tagging" good deeds is pretty annoying.

Personally I am appreciative whenever anyone does anything that is "out of their way" for me. Whether that is letting me use a 100 dollar lens or a 1000 dollar lens. I would even be appreciative if I was in the check out line and found myself short a penny and someone gave me one.

Man I really hate this attitude of entitlement which seems to prevail alot these day.

[britt49]

Most of the photographers I have come into contact with have been pretty nice for the most part!
I still am a beginner, but when I was a beginniner beginner a lot of photographers were really helpful and would answer a lot of questions/explain things which I appreciated,
also, just a little anecdote that really made my day though,
I was photographing this concert at a venue without a barricade, and I was standing there right in front of the speakers, the opening band was exceptionally loud, like WOW loud, and between sets I started talking to the photographer to the right of me and he went and got me a pair of ear plugs, small gesture, but meant a lot! :)

[gkarris]

Paul Bowen, Aviation Photographer, at Oshkosh AirVenture...

I bought his books and he signed them - awesome guy, great photographer!

I wish I was like him... :(

http://www.airtoair.net

[F-Stran]

Paul Bowen, Aviation Photographer, at Oshkosh AirVenture...

I bought his books and he signed them - awesome guy, great photographer!

I wish I was like him... :(

http://www.airtoair.net

Why don't you make it your goal to become as good as he is or even better;).

[Digital_zen]

10 LOL !!!
I met a few really great people on deviant art, through the photography chat rooms there I have formed some great friendships. One lady gave me a 75-300mm Sigma f4-5.6 (I think) thing is I have to shoot with iut wide open on my xt (350d) or I get an ERR and have to shut off then back on then adjust my aperture to wide open, and shoot.
Also after some discussion with a great guy who attends school in ATL. had a Vivitar 285HV that he had replaced with a Canon unit gave me the 285! That was last year, and that is still the only flash that I own, I am actually looking to get a second 285 , a 283, with a vari-power module or even a LN-460/ 465. As a matter of fact if anyone has any of those and can use a Sigma 75-300 (will work on film bodies, and as I understand it also the xxD line) let me know and perhaps we can swap!