Nostalgia

I was driving down State Street earlier today, and in front of the Granada I saw a vintage car, as well as a huge green screen. In front of the screen were a slew of men dressed in 1920's attire. Within minutes, I had parked and arrived on the scene with my camera in hand. It turns out, they were filming the introduction video for the SB Film Festival. So I stuck around for over an hour shooting photographs. 

It turns out that the classic automobile I had spotted while driving by was a Mercedes from 1920's. The proud owner was quick to shed some light on the significance of his car. The manufacturer of the car was Mercedes. Not Mercedes-Benz, just Mercedes. It turns out that Benz once was an entirely separate automobile company. In about 1926, a couple years after this car was made, the two manufacturers merged forces and created the luxurious cars that we all know and love. I also found interesting the fact that the symbol for Mercedes was a three-pointed star (See photograph), while the Benz logo was wreath-shaped. The emblems combined to form the current Mercedes-Benz symbol. 

Smile, Your'e on Camera

     There is a lot of psychology behind the fact that when someone is being observed or when there is a camera nearby, their behavior changes. The majority of stores are well aware of this fact, so they put up a sign that says "Smile, You're on Camera". Whether there is actually a video camera in the store or not, the possibility is presented, thus lessening the likelihood that customers will steal.

     In times of yore, when a film photographer would take pictures of a person, he implemented the same psychological concept as mentioned above. At the beginning of the photo-shoot, he would start taking pictures of the person with no film in the camera. The subject was totally unaware. After about five minutes, the hope was that the person's unnatural and fake facial expressions would vanish as they became more comfortable in front of the camera. Once this veil of artificiality melted, the photographer would load film into his camera and start taking pictures that would actually reflect the subject's personality. Although this unique method of portraiture was not too common, it speaks volumes against the common belief that a 'Say Cheese' snapshot is acceptable.