City slickers

When I first began to turn street photography into an art form, I had to overcome my fear of photographing strangers so I would often photograph the evidence of people, or photograph them from the back when they weren't looking, as you saw on yesterday's blog. Obviously, I have overcome that fear, as my family and friends will concur.

I have learned that the consequences of sneaking up on someone and getting caught are far more grave than just plain saying, "You guys are just too cool to pass by. Do you mind if I crawl around on the sidewalk and take your picture?" Typically, the only ones that say no are older women who haven't checked their makeup since they got up that morning and street or flea market vendors selling genuine knockoff Rolex watches, or Gucci handbags, belts and scarves made yesterday in China.

Here I was attracted by the dignity of the gentleman's hands on top of his polished chrome collapsible walking stick between new size 13 sneakers. One sock was up and the other one down but not so far that his newly creased trousers still covered the tops. Obviously these old friends meet here often, yet not so obvious was the thrill of having their picture taken together, but I left them laughing together.