Adelboden " The Movie "

Well,
I'm a bit sensitive about the whole issue of photographing/videoing foreigners in their native country.

When I was only 18 (1979) I got arrested as a spy in Zambia for photographing a Zambian woman carrying a suitcase on her head (interesting modern adaptation of traditional customs I thought to myself). The real issue was that she was standing outside a railway station, and at the time there was a very high risk of guerilla bombings with favourite targets being railway stations and post offices.

Anyway, I thought I was going to be shot, because they were all armed, and yelling at me about how I was a spy, and I couldn't possibly prove I wasn't. And they took me away and hustled me off to see their commanding officer.

So, if I ever photograph or video any of our holiday I will stick to photos of the snow etc.

Not that I think there was any real danger of Ian being shot for his video, but as I said I am pretty sensitive about this matter. And I thought it was a great video.

Ally

AllyG wrote:Well,
I'm a bit sensitive about the whole issue of photographing/videoing foreigners in their native country.

When I was only 18 (1979) I got arrested as a spy in Zambia for photographing a Zambian woman carrying a suitcase on her head (interesting modern adaptation of traditional customs I thought to myself). The real issue was that she was standing outside a railway station, and at the time there was a very high risk of guerilla bombings with favourite targets being railway stations and post offices.

Anyway, I thought I was going to be shot, because they were all armed, and yelling at me about how I was a spy, and I couldn't possibly prove I wasn't. And they took me away and hustled me off to see their commanding officer.

So, if I ever photograph or video any of our holiday I will stick to photos of the snow etc.

Not that I think there was any real danger of Ian being shot for his video, but as I said I am pretty sensitive about this matter. And I thought it was a great video.

Ally

:shock: Mistaken for a spy... now that's an interesting story. Who saved you?

I went through my local church, presbyterian, now part of the U.R.C, with a group of young Christians led by a Minister who used to be a missionary out there. We spent a month sleeping on the floor in church halls etc. and travelling around the outback, meeting the local young Christians, and visited his old mission station, right up in the North.

And, fortunately, we were with one of these local men when it happened. The soldier came and took me away, and then of course the others noticed that I'd disappeared, and eventually realised what had happened to me.

They sent the local man in after me, to try to convince the army officer that I wasn't a spy. And in the meantime I tried to calm things down a bit by giving the officer the film out of my camera. It was my Dad's camera, a very expensive Minolta, that my brother had bought in a pawn shop, and I didn't want to lose it (even thought at that moment I really did think they were going to shoot me).

And, of course, they weren't speaking English (there are loads of languages in Zambia so I couldn't even tell you which language it was), but the upshot of it was that they let me go. And they gave me my passport back. But I haven't been back to Zambia again - just in case!

Ally

Not many people who can say they were once arrested for espionage!

Well,
the really frightening thing about it was that I couldn't prove I wasn't a spy. And this officer just kept shouting at me that I was a spy. I mean, how can you prove a negative like 'I am not a spy'.

And the most awful thing about it, was that afterwards, when I'd been rescued, the others were really horrible to me about it. I can remember the Minister being really nasty, and me crying my eyes out, and no-one seemed to realize that however frightened they'd all been, it had been much worse for me. And it was a genuine accident. I knew we weren't suppose to take photos of railway stations, but I was really just taking a photo of a woman carrying a suitcase, and I forgot that she was standing outside a railway station.

Ally

Ladies, why would anybody be interested in a daft English bloke talking into his camera, the poor lift system may be a reason why the average age in resort and slopes was 168, all the kids had cleared off some where else, and anyway in the words of an odd fella who lives across the pond " I'm a luvver not a fighter ". :mrgreen:

Ian Wickham wrote:Ladies, why would anybody be interested in a daft English bloke talking into his camera, the poor lift system may be a reason why the average age in resort and slopes was 168, all the kids had cleared off some where else, and anyway in the words of an odd fella who lives across the pond " I'm a luvver not a fighter ". :mrgreen:

You could have been in big trouble. The secret Swiss defense plan in case of Russian invasion, is to load up the cookoo clocks and chocolate on to the ski lifts and hide them up in the mountains until the Russians have been chased off by the Swiis cavalery on bicycles. That poor lift system is a strategic defense asset :lol:

Trencher

Trencher wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:Ladies, why would anybody be interested in a daft English bloke talking into his camera, the poor lift system may be a reason why the average age in resort and slopes was 168, all the kids had cleared off some where else, and anyway in the words of an odd fella who lives across the pond " I'm a luvver not a fighter ". :mrgreen:

You could have been in big trouble. The secret Swiss defense plan in case of Russian invasion, is to load up the cookoo clocks and chocolate on to the ski lifts and hide them up in the mountains until the Russians have been chased off by the Swiis cavalery on bicycles. That poor lift system is a strategic defense asset :lol:

Trencher

Trencher you have now got me worried, I did see a lot of bicycles. :shock: