My new "I'm a pro" trick, share some line cutting tricks.

A long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away...

Watkins Glen used to have passes for the different areas of the race track, and they all looked alike but were differentiated by color. One race the paddock pass would be red and the G.A. pass would be green. Next race the Paddock pass was green and the G.A. pass was blue (there were more, but you get the idea). After a while, if you saved all of your old passes, you would have the whole set. Get a hunter's license holder (clear plastic), and put the G.A. pass for the race you're at in one side (really, no sneaking in the gates), and the one of the color for the area you wanted to go into in the other side. Hung from the camera bag with the G.A. pass out, you move along briskly with camera in hand. As you go by the gate, the guys at the entrance might challenge you but you are already past them. Turn around, look slightly annoyed, and flip up the holder to display the right color. Usually, they couldn't read it from that far away, but it was, after all the right color, so off you go.

A friend of mine got a lot of great shots that way, and even got real work out of it with real credentials.

Have Fun,

That trick is also excellent for moving through crowds

timmyquest wrote:
I use this all the time.

When i go to basketball games i just walk by the ticket lady with my 70-200 attatched to my camera and hold it up to her like "I'm above tickets lady"

If you try that on me, I'll trip you with my cane and beat you with my oxygen bottle. Them's just bad manners, you young whippersnapper. Heck, I might even run over you two or three times with my rolling potty chair.

I'll run him down with the electric wheel chair, and park on him til you get there.

Getting into a camera pit is one thing, but blowing off the cover-charge is another.

Some of you know that I like to get up VERY early and go shooting before sunrise. I have fooled you into thinking that it's because I like sunrises.

Well, it's not so.

I get there early so I can sneak in without paying the $2 parking fee at the wildlife reserves.

I'd have mentioned it earlier but I thought it was a crass, cheap, low-life thing to do. But I am no longer ashamed of my penny-pinching ways. Now I realize that it's a cool and manly thing to do.


PS: Arriving early also allows me to park in the handicap spaces which are always closest to the birding sites. So I save $2 AND 2 steps. Cool.

Scottes wrote:
PS: Arriving early also allows me to park in the handicap spaces which are always closest to the birding sites. So I save $2 AND 2 steps. Cool.

I quit using a very handy coffee shop (not a Timmy's) because the staff parked in the HC spot. It was winter (always winter here), slippery and I was walking with a cane. (found out I was immortal, but couldn't fly )

I qualify for a handicap placard (in California, ugly is considered a handicap). The only problem is, when you live in an area with a lot of retirees, there are far more handicapped people than designated parking spots. The local mall has a number of parking spots reserved for expectant mothers. I've thought about using one of those spots because there just aren't that many pregnant senior citizens and most of those parking places are usually available. Heck with a little imagination, you might even think I was pregnant. (I have the right shape)

Bravo! You go old dude.

Scottes wrote:
PS: Arriving early also allows me to park in the handicap spaces which are always closest to the birding sites. So I save $2 AND 2 steps. Cool.

No, not cool. Very uncool.

Conk wrote:
No, not cool. Very uncool.

Psssssst. Conk. He's joking. Really.

Conk wrote:
No, not cool. Very uncool.

For crying out loud I'm kidding.


I coulda sworn that my post was dripping with sarcasm and exaggeration as well as fairly ridiculous that someone would think such acts were "cool." Besides, I put a "wink" smilie at the end.

Thanks for noticing Tom.

Besides, he really does walk around with a white cane.

What's that? Oh, sorry, that's his 500 f/4 IS L, not a cane . . .

Ok then. Sorry for misunderstanding. I should of at least asked if you were kidding. You never know. Some people can be that ignorant. I apologize if I put you in that category. My wife is paraplegic. You would not believe the excuses I've heard for able bodied people using the handi-spots.