Priceless

Another installment in the long and frequently hilarious genre of advertising photographs showing cameras being used completely incorrectly. RFF member Robert Feldman posted this in "The Lounge" area there the other day*. He said it was an ad for Cole Haan shoes he saw on the side of a Chicago bus shelter. (He added that it might show a collapsible lens that hasn't been extended, too, but couldn't really tell.)

Common as these are, the funny thing is, you've got to figure that the advertising photographer—the person who took this picture for the ad—was aware how wrong it is. I can't imagine a photographer at that level not knowing how to use a mechanical Leica. So that means there's an art director in the background overriding the photographer's objections and insisting that it be done wrong because he or she thinks it "looks better."

The operating principle must be, "No one will know the difference!"

...While the photographer shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

In Norway, TOP reader Arne Marco Kirsebom saw this one, which is if anything even funnier. What, is he taking an eye-chart test? "Third line, please." "R, O, F, L, M, A, O." Not only is he using the camera to blind himself in one eye, but look at that camera-holding technique—"first, make a fist. Now pinch the camera between your thumb and the knuckle of your index finger. Now you've got it."

The text says "We are searching for consultants who have focus on business," apparently to heighten the comedy even further.

(This one really makes me chuckle. It could hardly be more dopey-looking if the model were pictured hitting himself in the head with the camera!)

Mike
(Thanks to Ernest Zarate, Bob Feldman, and Arne Marco Kirsebom)

*Here's the link, but you need to be an LFF member to access it.

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

robert: "How about this commercial where the models are pointing at the LCD...on the back of an M2 or M3. Or are they just having a bit of fun at the expense of the film reminder dial?"

Mike replies: You know, I just had an idea: Leica should provide a consultation service about the proper Leica camera to use, and the proper way to use them, in print and video advertisements. I'm perfectly serious. It would benefit Leica, because it would encourage ad agencies to use Leicas in their ads and commercials, which would amount to product placement for Leica. And obviously it would benefit the agencies, by making their ads look less ludicrous.

If anybody knows anybody who knows anybody at Leica, pass it on.

Ed: "According to online translation, it says someething like 'looking for (business) advisers with business focus.' Wonderfully, or perhaps deliberately, another meaning for the word 'søker' is viewfinder. I can't tell without context if it is a joke or cluelessness. From what little I know of Norwegians, it is quite possibly a joke."

G Dan Mitchell: "Pretty funny (and unbelievable) stuff. Musicians deal with this, too, when movies and advertisements attempt to depict them performing or (even worse!) conducting, with often baffling and hilarious results."

Dwig: "The pic in the Steria ad seems odd. It looks as if the model was holding something else and the camera was composited in later."

Mike replies: Quite possibly.

 - et - : "By chance, I got a message today with a link to a video that seems relevant to your subject. I think that you will find it entertaining, even if it is not directly connected to photography itself."

Mike replies: That's not relevant, but it's perpendicular. (Seriously, thanks—that was great.)

Roger Botting: "Back in my retail days when I sold miserable Kodaks to unknowing customers I had one customer bring a camera back due to a defect. She had managed to take a number of photos of her ear. Something had to be wrong with the camera. I thought that she was just a low end user until, in the wild, I saw other would-be photographers making the same mistake. Don't underestimate the inabilities of the users."

Comments

[David]

They did it as a joke.

[Bernd Reinhardt]

What do you mean? The poor guy is just trying the tiny little type on the ISO dial with his sunglasses on.

[Jim]

There is one with what is supposed to be a contemporary couple but they have a Super-8 movie camera.

[Ned Bunnell]

Come on Mike, I'm surprised you didn't know this is the latest case for your iPhone.

[Richard G]

Do you know I have sometimes used a Leica in this way, with the E39 lens poking through a wire mesh fence and me guessing the FOV just from camera orientation. But it's true, I wouldn't then be peering intently at the film reminder dial on the back, and I certainly wouldn't have carefully negotiated the nose of the collapsed lens through the fence. A couple of weeks ago I had my M9 on top of my head to get a better vantage over a barrier, but no-one's going to see that on a bus shelter ad any time soon.

[Don Davis]

..... or he is pondering which flash synch terminal he is to use.

[Herman Krieger]

An early selfie -

[David Sear]

There is another good one on the opening splash screen of PS Elements 11. A guy is carefully framing the shot with a Mamiya TLR with the viewfinder lid closed. I think it's a C330 but I'll happily stand correction. It's a few years since I used one.

[David L.]

Maybe he's a kind person taking photos of tourists? Yeah right. That's what I've seen when I handed my camera (film cameras and DSLR's both) to someone for a photo of my wife and me. It's weird to explain they actually have to look through viewfinder and they can't comprehend. 2nd mistake, I have Leicas and it sure looks like a collapsed lens. Maybe he's a lover of nuthin' but bokeh, eh?

[Michel]

The hiring company name is Steria. Perhaps this photo is a nod to their dropped prefix - HY.

[Johan Grahn]

How about those many movies with scenes showing press conferences? All the photographers are clearly NOT photographers! Why is it so hard to make them look like they actually know what they are doing?

Or is it just that all professions are shown in a funny way in movies? I don't know much about music, don't know how to play an instrument. Is it the same with musicians? Or how about plumbers and carpenters?
Maybe the whole idea is not to show things how they are really done, just to illustrate something.

[Doug Reilly]

Jeepers, clearly, he's setting the ASA dial on the back of the M3 so the meter reads correctly. And, he's also using the DIN numbers.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

That top image is, indeed, a Cole Haan ad. This same scruffy, sockless hipster is featured holding that camera in various scenes in the campaign.

(I'm going to imagine that Elliott Erwitt was not part of that shoot.)

Next year perhaps that same scruffster will be holding a Leica T!

[Robert Hudyma]

These images reminded me of the following post showing people using their Leica M cameras:

http://leicarumors.com/2011/03/10/leica-m-shooters-dont-forget-to-take-your-lens-cap-off.aspx/

[Phillip E]

Two messages from this post: Fuji = Leica & the optical viewfinder is so old school that it's pretty much invisible to most people now days.

[Jim]

I can't think of the product but there is a TV commercial like that which bugs the heck out of me every time I see it. Goes to show how effective their ad is.

[Steve Braun]

In a similar vein, for the last several years one of the top two big box retailers has used a photo as the image inside their picture frames from 3x5 up to poster size of a "photographer" pointing and old Nikon F Photomic at you with his finger depressing the rewind knob as the shutter button!

[Bob Casner]

A number of times I've seen people in commercials using view cameras with the image seen on the ground glass RIGHT SIDE UP, which invariably has me yelling at the TV "Noooo ..."

[Simon Griffee]

I'm crying here!

[Tom Simonsen]

Of course 99.99% of the people who see the ad with the Leica won't see that there is anything wrong. The second photo, I think about 95% won't notice anything wrong ;)

[Dave Sailer]

Not like in the olden days when film was film, cameras needed winches to hoist, and people had sweat stains in their armpits. Vintage Photos of Photographers at Work: http://bit.ly/1ryk7An

[Rich]

Same with musicians. Pretty sure The Cantina Band in Star Wars IV were just actors miming...

[robert]

How about this commercial where the models are pointing at the LCD...on the back of an M2 or M3. Or are they just having a bit of fun at the expense of the film reminder dial?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2brPjoutmQ

[Stephen Scharf]

Great comments, and I also made analogy of these silly ads with movies. You know the one where there's a car or motorcycle chase scene, and the sound of the motor is virtually nothing like the actual sound of the motor of car or bike in the scene, and both have an infinite set of gears to shift through.

[Antoni]

But there is no photographer to shake her eyes and roll her head (whatever) - from what I know about advertising photography, the magic happens in Photoshop post-production. In the first case, he was probably holding a smartphone, but the client rejected the shot and wanted more "classy" and "retro". What would you do, half a day before deadline? In the second case, the face, the camera, the hand and the view are probably just stitched together from stock photos.

[David Brown]

Yes, it's the same with musicians.

[Charles]

Do you also complain about Picasso's one eyed paintings? This is art not reality. The Norwegian ad evokes the cyborg (and Picasso) - it's actually quite creative. The bigger question - why is the scruffy look so 'in'? Maybe you need a camera as an accessory to pull it off.

[Lynn]

The first picture is the new collector's Retro version of the Leica T, to be released at Photokina at a 3x price premium. Rumour has it the name will be Leica Stellar.

[Greg]

Maybe the Leica has a digital back like my Olympus XA1 conversion

[Phil Maus]

The Norwegian ad goes right past funny and a good ways into the insult to intelligence region. Really. I don't mean this at all as a general reflection on Norwegians either, as we Americans have operated at this infantile level in our advertising for some time now. At least we're not unique in this area!

The obvious point you make about the photographer taking the photo - I think in this case, I'd have to simply refuse to cooperate until the Art Dictator got it through his clearly thick head that this looks not only wrong, but completely asinine.

[William Barnett-Lewis]

Seen too many stupids to worry about pictures like this. What I have done is enjoyed the cameras. Whether the M3 in your first image or the Signet in General Powell's teen-aged selfie, I find the tools themselves more fun.

It's like when I saw this image earlier tonight
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmVfWrICYAEHxG5.jpg and the first thing _I_ saw was the Rolleiflex in Mr. Capa's hands.

Would that I could use mine even fractionally as well... :(

[Frank]

Sure enouth, the second ad with Mike's comment together made me roll on the floor.

[MarkB]

I'm pretty sure the Norwegian ad is a "photoshop disaster" to match the tagline.

The hand and shadows around the face (and camera) suggest he was originally holding something on a stick like a magnifying glass. Plus, I doubt his expression would be so non-plussed having just crushed his frontal and maxillary bones with a Fuji.

[Nigel]

I can't see the problem with the first picture - it's just another Leicaphile gazing at his precious......

[Michael Bearman]

What you mean he isn't hitting head?!

[A. Costa]

I've seen my fair share of horrors in entry-level drum kits ads. It seems that the art directors are more concerned with a nice composition than with how the drummer must act - but at least the "player" has the excuse of being a total noob at drumming...

[Mani Sitaraman]

What is that lens on that Leica M camera? Is that a reversed silver lens hood? What is it?

Also, thanks for the laughs, Mike!

[Chris Crowe]

Did they actually have the cameras on set or where they shopped in later??

[toto]

In advertising, artistic license trumps all.

[Bob Rosinsky]

Blame the art directors, not the photographers.

[Daniel Oi]

IRL I've seen some strange camera grips, e.g.

Maybe he thought he was holding one of these,

[Mike Plews]

For some reason whenever a Speed Graphic pops up in a movie it looks more authentic if it's focused at about six inches. I guess you need to see some bellows or it just isn't right.
Anyway, still folks shouldn't feel rained on here. Some times the way TV crews are portrayed is hilarious. I remember seeing a movie where they had a guy doing a live shot with a CP16 which is a film camera, nice trick.

[Nigel]

Speaking of unusual camera handling...
http://kodakerydotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/big-bertha-camera-photographer.jpg

[John]

It happens in golf too.

[Andrea]

I saw an ad on the BBC news channell, intended for investors in an asian country I do not remember exactly: it features a caucasian person in various settings (business meetings, taxi, day out...). In one situation, the guy pulls out a camera and takes a picture. What's the point you may say? Well, he does so with his left hand. Being left handed myself, I'd really really want such a camera, which to the best of my knowledge, is still in Santa's territory...

[Minnow]

Add the think bubble "It costs HOW MUCH?" and all becomes clear.

[Richard]

Other people, other than photography buffs, won't notice and, those who do, mostly won't care. I know I don't care if they advertise in this manner. And the rest of us shouldn't much care either, because it really of little importance, as it doesn't in the least affect anything.

Advertisers put cars on clouds and anyone who drives a Hummer would know that's pretty silly, yet we don't care do we?

[DA]

I don't know, perhaps it is because I have never actually owned an M (and only tried one in a store), but what I see in the Youtube video is three girls taking a selfie -- not looking at the back of the camera. Note that the back of the camera is facing the viewer, not the women.

[JG]

Speaking of musicians pretending to play their instruments, I still laugh every time I see this video of Nirvana "performing" Smells Like Teen Spirit on the U.K. TV show, Top of The Pops:

http://youtu.be/S0MzeMfcGxA