I was at the G8 Summit taking pictures. I left the ecocamp at 2am with a black bloc intending to blockade the M9 - a major supply road to the Glenneagles hotel where the summit was held. I was arrested in Bannockburn at around 5.30 carrying my rangefinder and an Olympus E1. Though I had none, they didn't bother to ask for identification. I had stuck closely with a videojournalist who was also arrested.
I was held, abused and humiliated for 40 hrs before court and being bailed with impossible conditions imposed. The cops still hold both of my cameras. When I was interviewed, they brought my cameras in and I was forced to show them how they operated.
Reviewing the pictures on the Olympus, frankly, most were out of focus, if anyone can offer tips on running in the rain, stopping, and trying to make the autofocus lock (manual on the camera is hopeless), please post them! And Olympus, move the af switch!
It contained pictures of naughty behaviour by both cops and demonstrators. A report is being written before they will be returned. The G8 was in July. The report concentrates on a sequence of pictures of a Police van being smashed to pieces with a fence stake. They haven't mentioned anything about the picture of the armourplated robocop hitting a retreating, unarmed demonstrator around the head with a nightstick. I was too scared of the ones chasing me to stop and finish the sequence but it was pretty horrible to see.
The videographer had his tapes and camera returned, we watched them on the bus back from court.
The Olympus is on finance. On and off I've made some money shooting (mainly) live bands, I bought the camera expecting to pay for it this way. My old Canon film rig was stolen so I had nothing to sell. I've eaten sh*t for months as a result.
Sorry, winge over. The thread is about rangefinders though, and it's the Canonet I miss most. I hope they messed up the development of the film though, I'd have chucked it if I'd remembered what was on there.