Re: Party pics, Russian-style,
If you start with the political comments again, we will all live to regret it. William Robb wrote: - Original Message - From: Lon Williamson Subject: Re: Party pics, Russian-style, I do wish, though, that any leader who wants to start a war would be required to lead the troups, on the ground, out front, riding a horse and waving a big bright flag. I think the world would applaud if you all sent GW off to lead the charge into Iraq. But please, not on a horse. Horses are too nice to waste that way. William Robb -- Daniel J. Matyola mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Stanley, Powers Matyola mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Suite203, 1170 US Highway 22 East http://geocities.com/dmatyola/ Bridgewater, NJ 08807 (908)725-3322 fax: (908)707-0399
Party pics, Russian-style
My wife is Russian, and our family spent the weekend visiting her relatives in Brooklyn, New York. Saturday night was the main event, the celebration of her cousin Ilya's 50th birthday at a Russian restaurant. (The vodka flowed like water.) I went armed with two SLRs: A Super Program and a Ricoh XR-P. About an hour into the event, I began to have flash problems with both cameras and had to quit. (The Super Program needed a new camera battery and new AAs in the flash; the XR-P's dedicated flash was a freebie that I had been told may work erratically.) Just then, the real photographer arrived: a 50-something Russian man sporting a Nikon digital SLR on a large flash bracket. It's just as well that I can't shoot anymore, I thought; I wouldn't want to step on his toes. Well, this guy took maybe 20 pictures of people dancing and teenage girls posing by the window. I brought him a stool to stand on to get a better angle of the dancers, but he declined. Then he left. No table shots! (I hadn't taken any, either.) When I asked Ilya why the guy had taken so few shots, he explained how it's been proven that each time you take someone's picture, you take away part of their life energy. Whoever owns the print can hurt the person in the picture by--I dunno--tearing up the photograph. Ilya didn't want a stranger taking too many pics, not knowing what the photographer might do with them. Three years earlier, my live-in mother-in-law wouldn't let us keep a candid I had taken of my older daughter sleeping. It's bad luck to be photographed while you're sleeping. No wonder these people lost the Cold War. At around midnight, the photographer returned with mounted 8-by-10 color prints at $10 each! They were sharp and well-lit, I thought. But several of the relatives declined, saying that too many flaws showed up in their faces or that he hadn't posed the girls well. They look like your photographs, my mother-in-law's sister explained to me. (Hey--I don't claim to be a pro...or a poser!) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Party pics, Russian-style
I found that a very interesting slice of life tale... Thanks for sharing it with us, Paul! keith whaley Paul Franklin Stregevsky wrote: My wife is Russian, and our family spent the weekend visiting her relatives in Brooklyn, New York. Saturday night was the main event, the celebration of her cousin Ilya's 50th birthday at a Russian restaurant. (The vodka flowed like water.) I went armed with two SLRs: A Super Program and a Ricoh XR-P. About an hour into the event, I began to have flash problems with both cameras and had to quit. (The Super Program needed a new camera battery and new AAs in the flash; the XR-P's dedicated flash was a freebie that I had been told may work erratically.) Just then, the real photographer arrived: a 50-something Russian man sporting a Nikon digital SLR on a large flash bracket. It's just as well that I can't shoot anymore, I thought; I wouldn't want to step on his toes. Well, this guy took maybe 20 pictures of people dancing and teenage girls posing by the window. I brought him a stool to stand on to get a better angle of the dancers, but he declined. Then he left. No table shots! (I hadn't taken any, either.) When I asked Ilya why the guy had taken so few shots, he explained how it's been proven that each time you take someone's picture, you take away part of their life energy. Whoever owns the print can hurt the person in the picture by--I dunno--tearing up the photograph. Ilya didn't want a stranger taking too many pics, not knowing what the photographer might do with them. Three years earlier, my live-in mother-in-law wouldn't let us keep a candid I had taken of my older daughter sleeping. It's bad luck to be photographed while you're sleeping. No wonder these people lost the Cold War. At around midnight, the photographer returned with mounted 8-by-10 color prints at $10 each! They were sharp and well-lit, I thought. But several of the relatives declined, saying that too many flaws showed up in their faces or that he hadn't posed the girls well. They look like your photographs, my mother-in-law's sister explained to me. (Hey--I don't claim to be a pro...or a poser!) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Party pics, Russian-style,
No wonder these people lost the Cold War. I found the general story funny and the quoted statement offensive. I lived in Russia for 31 years and took many pictures and only read in books about something similar somewhere overseas. The case you described exsisted, I am sure, but leads to not very correct generalization. I personally thought that we lost that war because of wrong ideology and economy and also because of huge losses in the WWII. Best regards, Gleb Baida, Ph.D. Russian. ___ GO.com Mail Get Your Free, Private E-mail at http://mail.go.com
Re: Party pics, Russian-style
Paul Franklin Stregevsky wrote: [big snip] When I asked Ilya why the guy had taken so few shots, he explained how it's been proven that each time you take someone's picture, you take away part of their life energy. Whoever owns the print can hurt the person in the picture by--I dunno--tearing up the photograph. Ilya didn't want a stranger taking too many pics, not knowing what the photographer might do with them. That's an odd one. I spent two years in Russia and married a Russian woman. I found that many Russians have a variety of superstitious beliefs, but this is one I never heard mentioned. While I was there I attended a lot of parties and people took pictures like crazy, and nobody ever objected or raised this concern. My wife still takes lots of pictures -- at parties, at the office, etc. We have drawers bulgingly full of 4x6 prints. Perhaps it is a regional thing. I was in Moscow and that is where my wife is from. Maybe this belief is from another part of the country -- it is a very big place. :) Bob Harris New York City
Re: Party pics, Russian-style,
- Original Message - From: Gleb Baida Subject: Re: Party pics, Russian-style, I personally thought that we lost that war because of wrong ideology and economy and also because of huge losses in the WWII. Wasn't the cold war caused by wrong ideology? William Robb
Re: Party pics, Russian-style,
My apologies (Eezveenee), Gleb. Gleb Baida [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I found the general story funny and the quoted statement offensive. ... The case you described exsisted, I am sure, but leads to not very correct generalization. ... I personally thought that we lost that war because of wrong ideology and economy and also because of huge losses in the WWII. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
