Message text written by "\"Let us not speak foul in folly!\" - ][<en
Phollit"
>I was amazed that no one even looked mildly surprised that I was taking
photos of the cafeteria.

When I recently took photographs of the interior of a NY Thruway stop
people
did take notice. <

Having taken pictures seriously from the age of 14, I am uncomfortable with
the amount of attention a camera attracts.  Sometimes I have preferred to
make mental notes and write something later.  They can't see me memorizing.
 But a picture is worth 1,000 words and is a great assist to memory.  The
silence and low-light performance of my little digital camera helps it to
remain inconspicuous, although digicams are still unusual enough to attract
attention. Quite often, though, people are not aware I have been taking
pictures. I keep the color screen, all sounds, and the flash turned off. 
Back in the 1920s, when the Leica was the only 35mm camera, when most
cameras were large, bulky objects, diplomat Erich Salomon used his to take
candid shots of his fellow diplomats.  There is a famous picture of Georges
Clemenceau taken just at the moment he noticed Salomon photographing him. 
I once owned a 1938 Leica very similar to his. It was almost silent and
small enough to carry in a pocket.  It had the sharpest lens of any camera
I've ever owned.  Once I used it to photograph, by available light, a
rehearsing symphony orchestra who had been very unhappy with the previous
photographer's flash units and noisy cameras.  They thanked me afterwards
for taking great pictures of them while they hardly were aware I was there.
 The Olympus digital I use now reminds me a lot of the later Leica M5. I
tend to take it with me a lot and take a lot more pictures than at any time
since I stopped having my own darkroom. 
--
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