Pictures from the middle of the road and some new friends

Hey guys, been a while. Thought I would check in with a few pictures that I took today. It has been a fairly dreary winter thus far. Just cold and wet. Not even any good snow to enjoy. Today, I thought I would try a different perspective on downtown. Hope you like.

Of course, walking downtown always means watching people...

I also met a couple of guys today that I would like to share with you.

This is Vincent and Jesse. I met them both under the walking bridge today. They were escaping the rain and trying to stay warm. Both happen to be from the West. One from California and the other from Arizona. One stays because he is on probation and the other stays because he hasn't felt the need to move on yet. They seemed somewhat reticent to talk with me at the beginning, but after a few minutes, opened up. It was not much of a conversation, but a pleasant diversion from the weariness of the day. Topics ranged from places to visit to places that history has already visited. We left on amicable terms. I told them to say hey if we happened upon each other again.  Who knows. Maybe they were only friends for today. The question is whether or not that moment was used or wasted...

Contrast

If you have been following me for any length of time, you have seen several different occasions when I have taken pictures of homeless people. Today is another such occasion.

During the MainX24 event, I noticed this scene on the side of the road. In the background, you see the Chattanooga Choo Choo. On the right, there was a display of a new bicycle system for downtown Chattanooga. You paid a $75 annual membership for use of the bikes. Rides up to 60 minutes are free, but $5 per hour after that. I think it is geared more toward tourists than anything (especially since the first site installed was in front of a hotel)... but I digress...

The guy on the left was what caught my attention. With a fancy hotel behind, new bikes with computerized docking station in front of him, and teeming hordes of people walking through the neighborhood, this man decided that it was time for rest. Using the bushes as a chair, he propped his $20 bike (if that much) up and took a snooze.

It struck me that the owners of the biking system were getting people to pay usage fees on something that low-income people have known for a long time. If you just  took the $75 and put it toward your own two-wheeler, you could have one to ride whenever you wanted... WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY EXTRA FEES!

I may be making much ado about nothing, especially since this seems to be geared toward tourists. But my friends and I are not tourists. It was pitched to us as a new form of public transportation. Just seems like a tax on people who can't do math to me...

Thinking about trying some more people pictures...

Several times I have met people while out taking pictures. These folks have either asked me to take their picture or let me take it when I asked. The first one was a homeless man who called himself "Conan". I called this guy the "guitar man". He played country music and made up songs about passer's by.

This past week, I ran into a guy at the Cemetery who was visiting his father. I got good feedback from people who liked hearing his story. Another popular post was of a guy crossing the street behind me.

All that being said, I am thinking about doing some more random "interviews" of the people I talk to on daily basis. It is fairly simple for me to walk up and talk with strangers, so it is easy enough to find subject matter. I probably won't do it all the time, but if you guys wouldn't mind, from time to time, I might feature someone interesting on the blog. What do you guys think?

The Man in the Mirror

Every once in a while, you see something that makes you stop and think. Too frequently, I tend to pass right by and not take in the things that should make me pause. 

When I saw this man walking down the street, I knew I wanted a picture of him. But I couldn't get me, the camera, and the composition lined up quickly enough to get the right shot. After I had given up and started to load myself into the truck, I saw this in my mirror. I grabbed my camera and pushed the shutter on whatever settings were input from the last shot. 

For me, it has a very emotional reaction. My first response is one that I talked about earlier. Sometimes though, it seems like we plow through life regardless of the wreckage we leave behind in other people's lives. Life is about living each moment, but more often than not, that moment is defined by the ones that led up to it. Look around. See where you have come from. Know where you are going. What do you think? What do you see in this sliver of time?