Blackstrappers

This was kind of funny. I mentioned that when I took the bus from Portland, Maine, to Boston, Massachusetts, two days ago, I sat next to a woman from Coastal Maine who was trying to beat the hurricane and get to the Midwest.

She mentioned that the population of her town swells during the summer, when cottagers and vacationers come in from all over. She said there's a local term for the more transient of these: "Washashores." I loved that.

Then she said, "We used to call them 'blackstrappers,' because tourists would all have cameras on black straps hanging from their shoulders. That's ancient history now. Nobody carries a camera hanging from a strap any more! These days, they all keep their cameras in their pockets, of course."

Of course... :-/

...Not. :-)

Mike

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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Jim Hughes: "Although my wife and I now live full-time in Maine after 'summering' here for more than 30 years, we will always be regarded as 'people from away.' In the beginning, we also fit neatly into the category of 'Summer Complaints,' as hardy midcoast Maine winter folk called those who disappeared every fall with the coming of the first frost. We once even got tee-shirts made with 'Summer Complaint' proudly emblazoned across our chests!

"In the Camden-Rockport area, the throngs of camera-toting students from the Maine Photographic Workshops always used to be called 'Blue Dots' by the locals—after, of course, the Blue Dots for Sure Shots advertising slogan coined for Sylvania flash bulbs many moons ago by Tom Maloney, legendary publisher of U.S. Camera who supported that expensive hobby with his very lucrative public relations business.

"I still use thin black straps for my cameras. My favorite, made of leather, is an old prototype quick-release design using a dog-leash clip that was given to me by Bob Schwalberg—back in the day it was called, naturally enough, the Schwalberg strap, and it hung from the shoulder of many a well-known Leica shooter."

Comments

[Paul Van]

'Washashores,' that's a new one on me - but I love it!

There must be something about the whole 'earn a living from the ocean' mentality that encourages an 'us and them' mindset. Around here (Nova Scotia) we call them 'come-from-aways,' and I've heard that term used in other Atlantic Canadian provinces.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Rob Atkins]

My wife calls me an "Upstrapper."

[Patrick Perez]

Pocketsnappers?

Trouserphotos?

Longpantspics?

Patrick

[Alan]

I resent that, I still have a black strap....

[Mike Johnston]

Yep, I'm a blackstrapper till the end.

Wouldn't you think 99% of TOP readers are probably blackstrappers too? That was my guess...I just think it's kind of funny whenever I get a glimpse of how public perceptions of photography are changing.

Mike

[Dave Karp]

Yeah, my new digi-slr came with a strap emblazoned with an advertisement. I replaced it with a black one.

[Moose]

"Why do they call it tourist season if you can't shoot 'em?" I've heard that in Maine.

We're there, with my cameras and straps, pretty much every year. Usually out of season, though, Sept. most years, Oct. this year.

My primary strap is purple, black and a few other colors, but subdued.

The fleece on the other one is black, so it mostly qualifies.

Moose

[Bahi]

My strong impression is that where you'd see almost nothing but compact cameras twelve years ago in London (mostly film but some digital), you now see many, many SLRs and bridge cameras, all with straps. In that respect, it feels like the late 1970s again, when it seemed as if everyone on middle incomes (not just serious photographers) had gone for SLRs. That was before 35mm compacts sorted out autofocus and autoexposure…

My only quibble with the black OP/TECH strap I use is that it carries its maker's name on top, in really big white letters — all caps, tasteless and slightly weird.

[Sven W]

I'm a keen photographer but I'm only prepared to carry a pocket camera ... it's fine for 95% of what I want to do. The other 5% doesn't happen.

A couple years ago I went on holiday to Peru (Machu Picchu etc). Of the 20 people in the tour group only one carried an SLR; the rest used pocket cams.

A couple weeks ago I spent a week in Outback Australia (a long day's travel north for me) with friends. One brought along a shiny new Olympus MFT, which of course requires a strap. She quickly got bored carrying it so I got to play with it for a while ;-).

[Crabby Umbo]

I heard from someone onetime that people who retire to North or South Carolina are usually called 'half-backs', mostly because they came from New York/New Jersey, retired to Florida, hated it, and came half way back...

[richardplondon]

Bahi: there were lots of digital SLR users milling around the South Bank in London today (near Tate Modern, where I saw the Miro exhibition). Primed by having seen TOP's discussion above, I kept my eyes open - but didn't notice one single plain, non-camera-branded neckstrap.

Also the scene was greatly enlivened by the anthropological curiosity I think of as "dooh"s: people who faithfully fit and carry big petal-shaped lens hoods, as they have been instructed to do - but find them SO much more convenient, handy and out-of-the-way when left full time in that clever reversed position (grin).

[MHV]

"Blackstrapper" reminds me of that other great American pejorative term metonymically linked to a woven cloth item of travel: carpetbaggers.