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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.

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Sunday, November 02, 2008

entry arrow2:15 AM | Ambush Photography

I was looking at my photograph below with Akihiro Sato again, and it got me thinking: What is strange about this picture? I just got my answer. It's a rare photo of me with a celebrity. And this one I consider kinda "accidental." You see, I was snapping a photo of Mark and Aki together, and when I was done, Aki waved me over to where he was. And like an automaton attracted to beautiful things, I found myself gravitating towards him (who wouldn't?), and then Mark took our photo. Eh.

Which got me wondering. I've been with a lot of famous people -- dined with them, trekked with them, talked with them, got drunk with them, whatever -- but I don't have a lot of photos of me with them. Most of the time, I just don't feel like asking for a snapshot with them and me.

I find this strange. Because I'm not exactly immune to the whole allure of celebrity. So why don't I usually feel like asking for snapshots with celebrities? Then I read what Clint Eastwood had to say about this sort of ambush photography in film critic Roger Ebert's blog: "It is the Chinese Water Torture. And 99 times out of a hundred, the stranger they hand their camera to looks through the lens, pushes the button, and says 'It isn't working!' and then the fan has to walk over to the guy and demonstrate the camera and say, 'Now try it'. And then it isn't working again. Looking at someone looking puzzled at a camera, that's the story of my life."

I realized this is the very reason why.

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