Comedian Louis C.K. recently went to the Middle East to entertain the troops and brought along his camera:
The gunners reached out into the open air and leveled their guns with a great slot and click sound. They trained them on the ground. I felt my hands tense up. I realized, for the first time, that both my hands were wrapped tightly around my Leica. Oh my god, my Leica! I have the greatest camera in the world in my fucking hands and I’m in the middle of this shit right here.
In that moment, ALL FEAR was gone. I was right where I wanted to be in the whole world. I reached into my pocket, which was difficult with the armor, and took out my light meter. I got readings out the window, inside, the floor under my feet. I did quick averages of the readings in my head. Now all my thoughts were of film. “Okay I’m at about 5.6 outside if I’m at 250 which is a good speed from a moving helicopter. If I want to get stuff outside, I’ll squeeze the fstop down to about 8. If I want inside the bird I’ll open to 2.8, 4 if I want a bit of both.” I set all these functions on the camera and started firing away. The helicopter leaned forward and we tore off across Baghdad.
[via MeFi]
“The rules are different here. When a bunch of paid customers come into MY theater to MY show and I want to make fun of their town, they can take it or go fuck off. But this was squarely their place. They built it and they were it’s only inhabitants EVER.”
Uh, no. Maybe several thousand years and countless generations of Iraqis and Mesopotamians have inhabited, likely that very spot, for millenia before the ignorant hordes of americans came in, and with the same zeal as the marauding mongols who sacked baghdad in 1258, ripped up the place – tearing a huge hole in the fabric of human history.
Painfully ignorant, and infinitely arrogant American attitudes like this are why the iraqis, afghanis, pakistanis, koreans, japanese, and all the other people’s of the world subject to 700 odd US foreign bases hate them (and their raping and killing of little girls too).
@1
You really just don’t get it do you.
First and foremost, he isn’t talking about the area he is talking about that room (possibly tent), the ones those soldiers inhabit and only they inhabit – it is their space, or perhaps more accurately put, ‘Their fucking space’ and he is taling about the difference between an audience that comes to into a comedy club which as a comic is your fucking space and being a comic that is suddenly in a subtlely (or not so subtlely) hostile space that belongs to the audience.
Beyond which, he is a comedian, and a comedian of particular sort, which means that is the filter he will write through – not one of geo-political concerns for diplomacy or even accuracy. Thank you though, your off-base reading and subsequent rant did give me a chuckle at your expense.
Painfully ignorant, and infinitely arrogant attitudes like this are why many people of the world cannot stand people like you and your need to desperately seek any opportunity to go on a condescending lecture.
All that shit about light metering is a hilarious and brutal reminder why Leicas are no longer considered serious cameras anymore. Leica cameras have captured thousands of seminal images in the past. But I promise you, almost every seminal image being made now is being made on something else.
Lizardman:
“First and foremost, he isn’t talking about the area he is talking about that room (possibly tent), the ones those soldiers inhabit and only they inhabit – it is their space, or perhaps more accurately put, ‘Their fucking space’ and he is taling about the difference between an audience that comes to into a comedy club which as a comic is your fucking space and being a comic that is suddenly in a subtlely (or not so subtlely) hostile space that belongs to the audience.”
No shit. His ‘space’ also just happens to be in a country suffering a military occupation. So it’s a bit more than the trivialities of comedy club vs. tent. I was SPECIFICALLY talking about that VERY tent, that very area, which could have been some world historical site for all we know, and now its merely some bivouac for some ill-informed soldiers and one mediocre comic with no education.
“Painfully ignorant, and infinitely arrogant attitudes like this are why many people of the world cannot stand people like you and your need to desperately seek any opportunity to go on a condescending lecture.”
I think all the people (particularly iraqis) who have shown their support for the journalist shoe-thrower would agree with me. That the US presence is a vulgarity and is rejected from depth of their souls (it’s a pun, get it?).
How about some more nuance, granularity and a dose of common respect in this conversation. You really need to make a separation internally between soldiers, the operating orders / rules of engagement and their command structure.
There is a difference between the people who sent the soldiers into battle and the soldiers who are stuck there while their families are safe over here. Yes the reasons for the war are Fubar, the ROE was lacking at points and initial command structure totally mismanaged things.
Of those soldiers over there most are fine upstanding citizens you would be happy to have as neighbors. They chose to serve their country and all of them deserve respect for following through on that choice and their commitment.
Not all the soldiers “In-Country” are baby-killers or even Combat Arms soldiers. Even for the troops that don’t pick up a rifle or are on the sharp end on a regular basis are living in life threatening conditions and horrible amounts of stress.
Morale visits like this are vital to try and relieve some of the stress of being in theater.
What Louis C.K. did was awesome and I thank him for it. Think about it this way, seeing him may be the last positive thing to happen to someone before they die.
@1
You really must be fun at parties.
@ IANM
Wow, just wow – I simply say again:
You really just don’t get it.
Of course, that makes me saying any more in response kind of pointless but here goes anyway…
You wrote:
“now its merely some bivouac for some ill-informed soldiers and one mediocre comic with no education.”
Well, thanks – I assume it is your intimate personal knowledge of all of the soldiers and Louis CK that allows you to make this statement? Funny is subjective so if your opinion of Louis is that he is mediocre then fine, that is your opinion but you know jack squat how well informed these soldiers are and how eductaed he may or may not be. You are willfully ignoring that he is writing as a comic who is doing a trip for troop morale and support in order to pontificate your views about the war and US policies (most of which I likely actually agree with). Louis CK wrote as comic travelling to perform for troops, if you want analysis and historically politically sensitive commentary you are barking up the wrong tree. Your expectations of him are completely out of line with what he is and what he is/was doing.
You also wrote:
“I think all the people (particularly iraqis) who have shown their support for the journalist shoe-thrower would agree with me. That the US presence is a vulgarity and is rejected from depth of their souls (it’s a pun, get it?).”
Well, I like to think that actually they would likely think you are an ass who is trying to interject your commentary where it does not fit – at least if they are at all rational. As for supporting the show-thrower are you equating understanding why he did it with support? I get why he did it and I sympathize with the urge but I would strongly disagree with anyone who supports the idea of assault with footwear. I do agree that the US presence is a vulgarity though and that we need to get out as reasonably as possible and should not have been there in the first place.
Well… staying out of the political… GREAT photos!!!
@ pewma
“Well… staying out of the political… GREAT photos!!!”
Don’t you have a little voyeuristic fetish going on here?
Yall can say what you want about the Leica *cough* @3 *cough* But they still make some of the heighest quality cameras in … well the world. And as for the light meter being oldschool tech? Try using one some day. It has a pretty neat thrill to it, though its hard to explain. Maybe its the fact that taking a photo feels much more epic when you put that much thought into it, makes you feel like you really are serious about the whole deal. Not to mention, you can still get better results at times, even with stuff like spot metering etc.
@ UEBERTRAGUNG
…I guess so. But when it comes to ogling beautiful and compelling photos, is that fetish so bad? I mean I DO check out shorpy.org about every day.