Then and now

Group vacations.

I was reminded of a picture I took in the early seventies when snapping this yesterday:

Japanese tour group, 2011. G1, kit lens @ 18mm, 1/2550, f/3.9, ISO 320

Here’s the earlier version, from the Tower of London:

Japanese tour group, 1974. Leica M3, 35mm Summaron, TriX.

Not much changes. The same unity of focus, the same group mentality, the same adherence to instructions. Nice people, though. Had the big earthquake been in San Francisco, the headlines would be replete with tales of looting and theft. All we saw in Fukushima was peaceful cooperation, courage and decency,