Last night I managed to smuggle OM equipment into the Amsterdam Arena
stadium, where the Stones where playing, and shot two rolls.
Photography was not allowed, and people where bodysearched at the
entrance.
How did I manage it? Some "balls" and camouflageing techniques. A
friend gave me the first idea, when he suggested I could hide a small
camera in... my underpants. A small camera. Hmmm. Using my girl friends
Yashica T5 (35 mm lens) to shoot people at a distance of maybe 50, 60
meters? I don't think so. "Yes when you look through the microscope you
will see Mick Jagger dancing" :-)
But still the idea of smuggling in equipment didn't leave me alone. I
only discovered photography wasn't allowed at the concert *after* I got
the ticket, and I'm always very frustraded by such stupid rules. After
all, it's just my hobby, I'm not making any money out of these pictures
and I don't even publish them on the Web. Anyway, just for fun, I tried
if this "pant's hiding" could also be done with an OM body. Yes it can.
Don't ask how it feels (just try it, if you dare :-) - I put on *two*
pairs of underpants, wrapped the OM-3 body in a plastic bag which I
sealed with tape, put two-sided tape (used to tape carpets on the
floor) on the bag and stitched it in between the two pairs, body cap
down. A pair of trousers that are *not* as tight as Mick Jaggers pairs
("you don't want my pants to drop down, now do you?" :-), and a long
sports collar that hanged over, and it's completely invisible if you
don't know. And of course, at stadium entrances the guards are not
allowed to search you in *those* areas... The only thing is you have to
learn to walk normally (like a "man" :-) with a $750 camera hanging in
between your legs...
Now part two, how to smuggle in a long lens? I got the idea when I saw
an ad for a Diastone telelens-to-telescope adapter. The guards don't
mind when you bring in a telescope, now do they? Even when it looks a
bit unconventional? No they don't. I attached it to a Tokina
80-200/2.8, and mounted the Olympus 1.4xA converter too, giving me a
280/4. Yes this is one of the nice things of this Tokina - it has no
fixed rear element allowing the 1.4xA to be mounted. For those of you
that don't know this lens - although it is much smaller than those from
N*k*n and C*n*n, it still is as big and as heavy as an 300/4.5 Zuiko.
Anyway, I put it in a inconspicuous lens bag, with the Diastone adapter
clearly visible on top - and the body searching guard "bought" it (he
also "bodysearched" the lens bag to see if I didn't have a camera body
hidden in it... :-). The most thrilling part was maybe even right
*after* the body search, when I had to climb the stairs *up* to the
second ring of the stadium. I was afraid my "big shapes" would be
visible from downstairs ("is this an OM in your pocket, or are you just
happy to see me?" :-).
But everything went well and the first thing I did when I was upstairs
was finding a man's room to remove the body and slide it in the inner
pocket of my leather jacket. Once seated, my neighbours couldn't
believe their eyes when I unwrapped the stuff and mounted the lens to
the OM-3... I got some applause, and a free beer too.
[ BTW, these telescope adapters are nice accesoiries, also for field
work. Because there is no matte screen, the image is very bright, and
the magnification is much higher than the lens mounted on a camera. It
turns a 200 into a super tele. ]
I shot one roll of Fuji 800 and one roll Fuji 1600. I didn't bother
too much about the constant changes in light intensity caused by the
light show - I used F2.8 and a shutter speed of 1/250 all the time,
mainly because the people on stage where still too small to let their
face cover the OM-3 spot meter area. I also used a home made
"stringpod" to -hopefully- prevent those shaky shakers. For this I
attached the camera base plate of my Manfrotto tripod to the tripod
mount of the Tokina. The base plate has an eyelet at the bottom; to
this I attached the shoulder strap I used to carry the lens bag. For
those of you who missed the stringpod thread a while ago - when you put
the other end of this strap or string under your foot and build up
tension, you get some monopod-like effect gaining maybe some 2 stops
for hand-held photography (thanks again, Doris, for the idea).
Was the 280 mm focal length enough? No, my seat was in the middle of
the stadium; the distance was - I guess - more than 50 meters, and
could have used a 600 mm. I could have smuggled in the 300/4.5 and the
2xA converter instead, but then - what film speed would you need for a
600/9.0 and maybe a shutter speed of 1/500? Better enlarge those shots
that are really sharp. I'll just be glad if a few pictures are really
sharp and properly exposed.
How was the concert? Good, of course. They should have learned it by
now.
Hans
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