The espresso bar staff were Chinese-Italian, and they were fascinated with my camera. Now, I should point out that I have been shouldering my tripod and camera through Venice all week, and I typically just lean it up against the counter when I order. It never gets a comment or raised eyebrow. It't not exactly a normal looking camera. I shoot my panoramics with a Hasselblad Xpan, which looks like an old fashioned rangefinder camera, but bigger. It is a distinctive looking instrument. Last week I spied one, across a piazza, around the neck of a man stepping out of a hotel, and we drew towards each other as if by gravitation. He was a Norwegian wedding photographer in town to oversee the produiction of his custom albums (apparently another Venetian specialty. I have been seeing some amazing bookbindery shops.) He had a Xpan, and we had a common bond. At any rate, in this bar everyone wanted to look through the wide-angle viewfinder. It made making portraits of the baristas a snap.
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