We had a "camera swap" of used equipment in Cincinnati today. There were about
30 dealers in a room about the size of two tennis
courts.
My favorite conversation of the day happened at the booth of a guy who had 35mm
rangefinders on the table but a collection of framed
and matted B&W prints in the corner, on the floor.
Lama: "Wow! That's some kinda great print you have there! Can I take a close
look?" I walked to the wall, got down on all fours,
and very carefully moved one print aside to get at the eye-catcher.
Dealer: "Well..... Okay, but be very careful."
Lama: "Oh, yeah, I will. I can see that this stuff is valuable..... Now
*THIS* is what it's all about!"
I held it up to better light.
Lama: "This is great."
Dealer: "That's an Uhich."
Lama: "Oh, I don't know about him yet."
Dealer: "Fifty-five hundred dollars."
Lama: "Yeah, well, it shows. It's fantastic. Jesus Christ! You have an
original Cunningham!!"
Dealer: "Not much interest in prints today."
Lama: "Camera collectors aren't art collectors....."
Dealer: "It's like...."
Lama: <nothing>
Dealer: "Do you remember...."
Lama: <nothing>
Dealer: "Don McClean's song [Vincent] where he goes 'This world was...."
<silence>
Lama: "never meant for one as beautiful as you."
Dealer: <swallows hard>
Dealer: <softly> "yeah."
New customer: "Hey, look at the guy crawling around on the floor! He's looking
at prints!"
Dealer: "He's looking at a [Minor White]."
Lama
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