Don’t Mess With THIS Photographer

A photographer over in Asia is attracting a great deal of attention online after he was spotted shooting birds with his mirrorless camera mounted on a rifle-style stock.

Here’s the short clip that has been going wildly viral online (photographer to bird: “say hello to my little friend”):

Leon the Professional

While it may look humorous and/or bizarre to passersby — and like a threat to law enforcement, especially in the United States — these types of stocks aren’t new in photography and can help photographers stabilize heavier camera kits. In this case, the photographer likely has a much easier time shooting his setup on a stock than if he were to use the large lens handheld.

The Zenit Fotosnaiper is one manual film camera that came outfitted with a stock. Even Leica made camera rifle prototypes that look remarkably like firearms, and they’re worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction today.

The Zenit Fotosnaiper (left) and the Leica Gun Rifle Prototype (right). Photos by LordKalvan (CC BY-SA 3.0) and WestLicht Auctions, respectively.

But if you do get your hands on a vintage camera stock or build your own, you should probably be very careful about where you decide to use it. While bird photography might be an acceptable genre, shooting street photography with it probably won’t fly very well in most places…

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