So my friend Danny and I were hanging out on Sunday afternoon, nothing to do, I had a few hours away from the responsibilities at home. And we were trying to figure out if there was anything to shoot, and we got in the car, aimlessly driving down empty streets, the same streets we'd been over one hundred other times. In last minute desparation, I turned down a major avenue to look for my homeless friend Leon, who gets the locals to stand in front of the camera. Leon hangs out on a street of the typical immigrant suburban mix - family, young men (undocumented) looking for day work, drug dealers, and a few people just passing through.

But on this Sunday, a big chunk of road was closed off for a festival, with mariachi bands, a stage with Veracruz dancers, booths of fresh Mexican food, and huge crowds. We parked, pulled out the cameras, and wandered around. Danny hip-shot with his Hasselblad, I had my Hexar (the old autofocus one) with a flash on top.

Well this really drunk guy spotted me with the camera and wanted me to take his picture. Odd in this neighborhood, usually people react strongly at the site of the camera, but today, everyone wants their picture taken. It might have been because, sheer coincidence, I have a Mexican shirt (a guayabera) I bought on one of my trips there. Anyway, I know he's totally drunk but there's nowhere to go, so I shoot. The flash, with exhausted batteries and just used, doesn't go off. He says, in a slurred voice speaking Spanish, "Take the picture." I indicate that I did but he shakes his head. The flash didn't go off, therefore I didn't shoot the picture. I shoot again. Still no flash. He gets angry and threatening. I put the camera up a third time, see the flash indicator light, and snap. All the anger fades after this, he smiles and walks off. I kiss my ass hello and walk off in the opposite direction.

40 and the Hat, Copyright 2001 Jeff Spirer

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), August 07, 2001

Answers

... and who says photography is not all about equipment??? You tell a good story to match a picture!

-- Chris Marolf (70214.2664@compuserve.com), August 07, 2001.

cool picture.........and I know the feeling about kissing your ass hello......although it's usually when they DON'T want their picture took :)

-- T.S. Sullivan (t.s.sullivan@netzero.net), August 07, 2001.

:) good stuff Jeff! (picture and story)

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), August 07, 2001.

Three cheers for context!

Just to drag the discussion kicking and screaming back to Pure Art (tm), is there any more of the kid on the negative? I rather like the way he/she is squashed down there at the bottom of the frame, with the manly-men towering above and leaning away.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), August 08, 2001.

Struan, it's only cropped on the left, mostly because I prefer the aspect ratio.

By the way, I used to get email of the responses and they don't come any more. Has anyone else seen this happen with a posting here? Or is it something I did?

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), August 08, 2001.

I think it says 'e-mails broken' or something when tryng to send them

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), August 08, 2001.

Yep, LUSENET lost it's email funcion. Bummer. That's funny, I didn't even notice the child before Struan said something. The drunk looks like he's got one hell of a headache. Or will soon.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), August 08, 2001.

Not to put too fine a stereotype on it, but I've run across "his kind" more than once. I've never had the guts to try and take a picture (and usually they don't ask). More power to you.

Any other pics from this day?

-- brian reeves (bri1217@yahoo.com), August 08, 2001.

Any other pics from this day?

I happen to like this one from the same day, very different. This woman was running a concession outside her restaurant.

Woman, Middlefield Ave. Street Festival, Copyright 2001 Jeff Spirer

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), August 08, 2001.

e-mails seems to be working again! - just thought you'd like to know that :)

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), August 08, 2001.

Email is working again but the comments are showing up in reverse order. At least on my system.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), August 09, 2001.