Why is it that in movies and tv Photographers are allways losers?

[Domenico Foschi]

No camera has ever stolen any soul or bits of it.

 

[Thomas Wilson]

Brought to you by John Waters, a man who could play the ultimate in a creepy photographer.

Indeed.

I have run into Waters several times over the years, the most notable of which was on a flight to Houston. He is one strange fellow.

 

[2F/2F]

Indeed.

I have run into Waters several times over the years, the most notable of which was on a flight to Houston. He is one strange fellow.

Really? I never would have known that after his Unholy Trinity: "Pink Flamingos", "Desperate Living", and "Female Trouble"!

 

[Thomas Wilson]

Really?

Yes, really.

 

[Thomas Wilson]

Really? I never would have known that after his Unholy Trinity: "Pink Flamingos", "Desperate Living", and "Female Trouble"!

Oh, now I get it. That was sarcasm.

Silly me.

 

[2F/2F]

Oh, now I get it. That was sarcasm.

Silly me.

Sorry...added that last bit to make it more clear.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I used to live down the street from John Waters when I lived in Baltimore. At one point, I also lived a scant few blocks from the alley where he had Divine eat the doggy-doo in Pink Flamingos. Never really got to meet the man, but I did sit a row behind him at the movies once - it was Total Eclipse, the film bio of Arthur Rimbaud. I don't know if the theater at the Rotunda is still there, but that's where it happened. It was a 4-screen theater, and had rather nasty, sticky floors and reeked of popcorn. Much like any real movie theater ought to.

 

[arigram]

Good thing they haven't made a character based on me as there wouldn't be a photographer left today; everyone would have quit their jobs in shame and children would be horrified by the sight of a camera.
But, I've seen all the spectrum of the photographer's portrayal from the super hero, a generally sassy dude or seductive lady, to the pathetic loser and psychotic villain.

 

[removed account4]

jimmy olson in superman was a photographer
who used a speed graphic he was no creep ..

the lead in public eye was based on weegee
and while he photographed the things he did..
i don't think he was a creep or anything like that ...

now film makers are a different story ..
if you've seen the film peeping tom,
you know what i mean

 

[eddym]

I'd disagree.

If you look objectively at the character, he's got a creepy streak to him. Other people with broken legs during that era would've spent their days reading books. He spends his days spying on his neighbors with a long lens. It's just that since he was Jimmy Stewart, the audience "knew" he was a good guy and forgot about that part. Hitchcock liked exploiting that.

As I recall the movie, he didn't get his camera (with long lens) out until he began to suspect something was going on. I don't think he was spying and just happened to see the guy packing up his wife into a crate.

 

[eddym]

Hey now...

I thought Robin Williams played a fine psychotic photographer in 1 Hour Photo. It really got my stomach churning!!

Not a photographer; a minilab tech! And we know from another thread how weird THEY are!

 

[Domenico Foschi]

Peter Parker rules!

 

[skyrick]

"In the Heat of the Night" movie version.
Prominent businessman's body discovered early in AM. Police call on nerdy highschool photog to get crime scene photos. Less than one hour later (still dark AM) photog shows up at police station with 8x10s.

"Hey, who's paying for this? I had to buy chemicals and paper!"

Oh, really? At 4AM in Sparta, Mississippi? In 1967?

OK, I'm sure he didn't mean he had to rush out, purchase supplies to complete police task; just wanted reimbursement for supplies used. But I always loved that line.

Rick

 

[2F/2F]

Rick,

re: the Talkin' World War III Blues,

Isn't it "I'll let you be...", not " You can be..."?

 

[Tony Egan]

How about Audrey Hepburn the blind heroine in Wait Until Dark throwing a tray of chemicals in the face of the nasty heroin importer. My recollection is there is a scene in which her husband develops a print in the home darkroom where he dips it in the stop bath for less than the requisite 10 seconds. What a loser!

 

[skyrick]

Rick,

re: the Talkin' World War III Blues,

Isn't it "I'll let you be...", not " You can be..."?

Could be, the last time I heard the song was the DVD "Dylan at Newport" Aieeee! You've sown the seeds of self-doubt! I'll have to pull the DVD and listen again. Or maybe I'll replace my tag with another of my favorite musical non sequiturs: Neil Young's "Last Trip to Tulsa".....Well I woke up in the morning with an arrow through my nose, there was an Indian in the corner trying on my clothes.

Rick

 

[2F/2F]

"He said "Go get lost", and walked towards his Cadillac.
I chopped down the palm tree, and it landed on his back."

Just listened to it a few days ago. I was not in OK, but was the next two days. His first solo album is too little known by most people. "The Loner" and "I've Loved Her So Long" are some of my favorite songs ever.

Regarding the Bob Zimmerman song, if you got the words from a live version, he could have said anything!

 

[smieglitz]

There is something sinister about photography: it steals a bit of the soul and locks it in a box; manipulates the captured spirit alone, in the dark, in the dim red light of Hades, revealing it with sulfurous alchemy; and then imprisons the spirit's form on a bit of paper and pins it to the wall.

Well spoken Nicholas.

 

[Jim Chinn]

I don't remember all the specifics but IIRC most of the photographers portrayed in the movie The Killing Fields were decent sorts.

 

[benjiboy]

The disguise worked!

Lol, Well John it sure fooled me for about ten years.

 

[Denis K]

I think when you ask the public about a photographer they first think of a photo journalist and as we all know journalists aren't looked upon as the highest of the life forms (a good visual image of a journalist/photo journalist might be from this movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:His_Girl_Friday_reporters.jpg

Another strike against photographers is that in general, the professions that require you to utilize some visable tool aren't looked upon as highly as those that can be practiced without accessary equipment, just as those sports that require the use of the hands instead of the feet are look upon by Americans as requiring more skill.

Denis K

 

[Cheryl Jacobs]

Try being a female vocalist. We're all divas, sluts, or talentless bimbos.

- CJ

 

[MattKing]

Try being a female vocalist. We're all divas, sluts, or talentless bimbos.

- CJ

Cheryl:

Only to those who don't know better!

Matt

 

[2F/2F]

Try being a female vocalist. We're all divas, sluts, or talentless bimbos.

- CJ

Many in any profession or hobby could be described as the above or a linguistically gender-appropriate equivalent; men, women, boys, or girls. As always, there are a small percentage who are the exception. You must be one of them! (As are we all, right? )

 

[Sirius Glass]

Plumbers are rarely the serial killer but have you EVER seen the Hero Plumber character?

How many jobs are there that put a person in position to be around beautiful women all the time
Seriously I'm trying em all

Plumber are often heroes on the skin flicks we saw in college! They worked on the plumbing.

Steve