PC gone mad

[Ken Down]

Recently I was in London and popped along to the Museum of London where
a charming young lady from the Press Office was kind enough to stand in
front of my camera and talk about her favourite exhibits. On the basis
of a subtle hint from me, one of those "favourites" was the recently
discovered Roman burial which was in the news a year or so back.

After she had done her thing I moved in for detailed shots of the
limestone sarcophagus and the skeleton and was surprised to find the
damsel hovering anxiously at my elbow. I lined up the shot to show the
full skeleton and, because of lack of space from any other angle, did so
with the feet in the foreground and the skull furthest away.

"You can't do that!" the girl exclaimed, all but putting her hand in
front of the lens in her eagerness to stop me taking the picture.

"Oh?" I was eager to please but puzzled at the prohibition.

"We have to be careful about pictures of the dead," she explained.
"There are <hiss>issues</hiss> about showing the pelvic area."

I shrugged and zoomed in to show just the rib-cage and skull. "Is that
better?"

She checked in the viewfinder and cleared the shot. What I forgot
(honestly!) is that the viewfinder shows what would appear on a
television screen, which is cropped slightly. The actual shot includes a
certain amount on each side and, naturally, the full picture appears on
the computer screen. When I came to edit the film I was purturbed to see
that the offending region is visible in the picture (not because it
disturbs me, but because I don't want to get the obliging young lady
into trouble).

Anyway, if any of you lusty young chaps are tired of looking at the
pneumatic beauties so fully depicted in Playboy and Mayfair - to say
nothing of FM and Loaded - do pop along to http://www.nwtv.co.uk and
have a look at the film of the Museum of London. Not only will you get
an idea of somewhere to take the family on your holidays but, <hushed
voice> you might even catch a glimpse of what would have made you
seriously short-sighted 1,900 years ago.</hushed voice>

PC. Bah.

Ken Down

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[David Harrison]

On 6/3/2004 11:12 PM, Ken Down said:

> "We have to be careful about pictures of the dead," she explained.
>"There are <hiss>issues</hiss> about showing the pelvic area."

Good grief.

I blame evolution, for providing us with a pelvic area in the first
place.
Didn't Mother Nature realise how much offence this would cause? :-)

cheers,

David H