A Foto Flea Market

Last Sunday, I drove to Pasadena to check out the monthly Bargain Camera Show held at the Pasadena Elks Lodge. This is a once-a-month, indoor, photography flea market where vendors set up their wares on folding tables and photographers stroll about looking for that killer deal on whatever it is they're looking for. Looking for that classic Leica Rangefinder you've always coveted? This is the place to find one.

Don't get me wrong. It ain't all classic film gear at this show. There's plenty of guys selling used and new digital bodies from Canon, Nikon, and others, as well as tons of glass to go with them. And there's also all kinds of accessory gear: bags, meters, sticks (tripods), media cards, whatever. I went there looking for lighting and grip gear. Unfortunately, that's the kind stuff they have the least amount of. I did buy a Larson 36" "Reflectasol," still new in the box although it was from the 70s. I paid $30 for it and tried it out today. Still haven't decided if I like it or not. But hell! It was only thirty bucks and I guarantee it will come in very handy at some time or another.

If you ever hope to see a whole bunch of old school shooters gathered in one place, this is *that* place. I'd say about 90% of the guys attending were middle-aged and/or seniors. And nearly half of them were wearing one of those classic photographer's vest. You know the kind-- beige, brown, black, or green vests with tons of pockets and other places to hold film and meters and lenses and cameras and just about anything else you want to carry. With one of those photographer's vests, who needs a camera bag or backpack? You can wear everything you need from your waist up to your neck and look stylish too! (Not.)

Ethnically, the crowd was nearly 50% older white guys and 50% older Asian guys with one or two older black guys thrown into mix. (Black photographers attending the show were about as common as black golfers in the PGA or black racers in NASCAR.) There was a very small smattering of females there -- mostly younger and college-age -- who seemed to be just embarking on their photographic journeys. (I know this because I stalked each of them at different times so I could eavesdrop on their conversations.) The common denominator was that they all seemed to be just starting out as shooters and they had all decided to start out with a purist's approach, i.e., they were gonna learn to shoot film before "graduating" to digital. (Young chicks can be so idealistic!) Of course, there was no shortage of old school shooters hoping to impress these girls as they bored the crap out of them flaunting their (supposedly) encyclopedic knowledge of photography!

Anyway. That's what I did on Sunday. Exciting life, no?

The eye-candy at the top is Dana from this past Monday. I lit her with a large Octodome for the main and a shoot-thru umbrella behind her for some highlights. I also placed another shoot-thru, camera-right and about even with the model, for some fill.